Spring Cleaning & Declutter Buster: 3 Tips to Declutter Your Closet
~ by Ginger Burr
What does your closet look like? Ignoring the chaos takes effort (even you are unaware of it) and keeps you from creating a personal style you love. The first step in creating a wardrobe of your dreams is to know what you already have (or don’t have) and be able to locate it easily. If your closet looks like your children regularly have play dates in there or you’ve been using it as a repository for every article of clothing you’ve ever owned or a catch-all for homeless items, then creating some semblance of order is key.
Since I know that some of you are now hyperventilating at the thought of cleaning out your closet, I promise I’ll break it down into manageable pieces! No matter what, please don’t just close the door one more time and relegate your closet woes to ‘out of sight, out of mind’ – I suspect that has not been working for you so far! Let’s get to the heart of it now so you can breathe a sigh of relief (and, hey, maybe even feel excited) every time you get dressed.
You have two options. (No, moving and leaving everything behind is not an option!) You can get someone to help you, even if all she does is sit on your bed, sip a glass of wine and say encouraging things or, you can do it yourself in these 3 basic steps that will enable you to do it quickly, easily and nearly effortlessly and, yay, with immediate results:
1. Every time you open your closet door remove one item you never wear (or at least have not worn in the past year). Surprised? It’s that simple. 
Think about it? Are you really ever going to wear that sweater from Mom that droops to your knees, or those patterned leggings your 13-year old daughter told you, you have to have? How about the sweater with the band around your bum that makes your hips look four times their size? We often hang onto these items thinking…well, what if…? Ask yourself this question: has the what-if ever happened? Hmmm…that’s what I thought.
If you are not ready to get rid of the garment right away, simply pack it away for future reference (I doubt you’ll ever miss it).
Here’s the key: Do this once or twice a day for a month and watch your closet transform!
2. Change your hangers. Are your clothes hanging haphazardly on a variety of plastic, wooden, quilted, novelty, and (gasp!) wire hangers? If so, please recycle all your wire hangers at the dry cleaner and immediately replace all your hangers for one type. When your clothes hang uniformly you can actually see what you have!
3. Ask yourself one of the most revealing questions about everything you put on: “Do I love it and think it is beautiful?” If you cannot answer a resounding ‘Yes’ to that question then it goes in the pack away or donate pile. While this might be the simplest task, it is not always the easiest. But, if your ultimate goal is to have a closet full of clothing you adore then this step is critical. Be ruthless and it will pay off over time with a closet full of clothes you love!
These 3 steps take nearly no time at all so they are extremely doable. So many women tell me that their spirits lighten, their shoulders straighten, and their energy feels happier just by doing these simple first steps every day.
Ginger Burr is a fiery compassionate fashion consultant providing tips, tricks and inspiration at her website Total Image Consultants.
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‘Tis the season to detox and de-clutter. Starting up on March 20th, we’ll be hosting our be clean program. If you’re feeling the spring cleaning bug, this is the perfect program to help you clear out the old and make space for something better. You can read all about the program here:
