Wardrobe Taming -- Day Seven
[ 15 September 2007 ]
Wardrobe taming series:
Day One 
Day Two Day Three Day Four Day Five Day Six Day Seven Day Eight
Okay my darling, it’s time to organise that closet!
Now, I know you have a few piles in your bedroom or living room or wherever. I’d like you to subtract the items you’ve worn this week — the stuff that you previously thought was unwearable or an impossibility, but has proven otherwise. Hopefully many of those items have proven themselves to be worthy of the space they take up. Put them back in your closet with everything else that you normally wear with no fuss.
You will still probably have a few things on your bed. Some of these you might wear at some point in the future, but you need to be really honest with yourself. Can you really imagine yourself rocking that neon orange muumuu? If you can, hang it up with everything else & make a resolution to wear it in the next week.
Look at the things on your bed which you’ve decided you will probably never wear. What are they, & why will you never wear them? Take notes in your clothing journal (for future reference), then take those items & put them in a big shopping bag. We’re going to deal with those tomorrow.
It is now time to organise your closet! Have a good breakfast, put on some excellent music, & get to it!
Things to keep in mind:
Organise your clothing by colour & type
If you do this, it means you always know where things will be & where they go when you’re done wearing them. Put all your black stuff together — black shirts, black skirts, black trousers. Then your other colours. This will make your life about a million times easier, both in terms of putting an outfit together & finding things!
If you don’t have the storage space, buy some
If you have to go to IKEA & pick up a chest of drawers, do so. An over-stuffed closet is a joke, you will never find anything & everything in it will be crushed beyond recognition anyway. Other things you can buy include shoe hangers, shelves, baskets & pegs. I tend to hang up my most expensive/delicate things, & then fold everything else in my chest of drawers. I also have a unit of wire baskets & each one holds a different type of thing — scarves, belts, slips, hats, etc.
Sort by season
If you have the space, put away the clothes you’re not going to need this season. In summer, I tend to put away my heaviest sweaters because I know they’re not going to get any use. I stash mine in plastic bins in the bottom of my cupboard, & of course, you should always use any moth-repelling devices you have!
Get rid of your old hangers
If you have any wire hangers languishing in your closet — or if everything you own is on a wire hanger — give yourself a slap on the hand & then throw them away. Wire hangers are devastatingly bad for your clothes. They will wear out the shoulders of your garments & they stretch & distort clothing. Get rid of them, they’re nasty! You want either wooden hangers or padded ones. There’s not really any excuse for not buying good hangers — if you’re buying an expensive coat, the least you can do is drop a few bucks on hangers which are going to maintain your clothing. You can buy big packs of them at IKEA & other places. Do it now!
Other tips
Never hang wool — it loses its shape! Keep your shoeboxes, stack them & stick a Polaroid photo on the front. Make sure everything has a place! Otherwise you’re going to spill over into closet craziness all over again. Invest in a full-length mirror if you don’t have one. How else can you see what you look like?! Try to ensure your closet gets adequate light. Sometimes just placing a lamp near the wardrobe makes an enormous difference. Make sure all your hangers face the same way. Do up the top button of every hanging item, it will help hold its shape. If you share a closet with your partner or someone else, assign yourselves one side each.
Extra For Experts:
12 Secrets of the Closet Pros from realsimple.com.
Top Ten Tips for Organizing The Closet of a Highly Successful Person
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
Tags: how to,
productivity Share this! + Email This + Del.icio.us
+ Facebook
+ Stumbleupon
+ Technorati
Comment
Read more tagged how to...
Wardrobe Taming -- Day Six Wardrobe Taming -- Day Five Wardrobe Taming -- Day Four Wardrobe Taming -- Day Three Wardrobe Taming -- Day Two Wardrobe Taming -- Day One How To Be The Life Of The Party (Podcast) Corset Remix
Read more tagged productivity...
Wardrobe Taming -- Day Six Wardrobe Taming -- Day Five Wardrobe Taming -- Day Four Wardrobe Taming -- Day Three Wardrobe Taming -- Day Two Wardrobe Taming -- Day One EFT Negative People
Gala, enlighten me. Is closet synonymous with wardrobe? I always think of a closet as something you can walk into, possibly the influence of too many episodes of Cribs? Haha. Nobody British says “closet”, so I’ve never really been sure of its exact meaning!
Organising my closet/wardrobe will have to wait until I move house, or house-to-flat, I am afraid, but I will save the advice (as I do most of your articles!).
what about plastic hangers? mine are a bit thick but quite lightweight. or are they just as bad as wire ones?
Gala…I would love to see photos of your closet!!!
This makes me feel like getting all the clothes off my floor! You always inspire me to get organized, thanks! :)
I must tame my closet soon! You are featured on my blog today! Enjoy! (I also put that link about the fashion segment that reminds me of you!) You must travel to North America and show the big guns what you’re made of!
Thanks for all the tips. I have been thinning my closet over the past few months. My problem is I have a lot of unworn dressy items. I work in a factory where I get dirty so nice blouses and definately dresses are out. I rarely dress up so my good things languish. But I hate to part with them. Sigh.
Lady Julianne Eternity — Yes, it is! I usually call it a closet, but I don’t know the origin of the word (whether it is primarily British or American)!
trixie — As long as they have a bit of girth to them, they should be okay. The real problem with wire hangers is that they’re so thin that they dig into clothing. The thicker the hanger the better, in my experience!
Micol — It’s really not that thrilling, unfortunately!
adele — I’m glad to hear it, kitten!
Liberty Post — Awhh, thank you for the lovely post & the link to the video, it’s fantastic!
Virginia — I addressed your problem briefly in part eight of the series, which I just posted. Hope it helps!
Thanks for this awesome series. I’m an artist that works from home and have three little kids, 4,3,1. I’ve not only started wearing everything in my closet, I’ve started wearing it just because. And I feel great. My neighbors have asked me, where are you going today? when they see me out playing with my kids. And my husband says I’m coming out of my shell and he’s so proud of me. You have a very free-spirit about you that I love, and I’m slowly but surely getting there myself. You are delightful.
Mandy — That’s fantastic, I’m so happy for you! A lot of us have been conditioned to think that wearing a tracksuit all the time is just how it should be, & don’t even question it. People feel better when they look good, so why not look good all the time?! Much love to you!