Hi everyone!

If you read my goals for 2021, you saw that a major goal of mine is to declutter my house. My first project is my closet. This may sound silly but I get so attached to certain items which makes it so hard for me to pass things along. However, it is a new year and I am ready to make a change. I find myself often getting overwhelmed with the amount of clothing I have and just the clutter of it all. One thing I want to try and do is only keep “staple” clothing items and build outfits off of those. I have a pretty simple style. I mainly wear all black, and if I wear anything else it’s likely neutral in color. So, all of the bright, patterned clothes in my closet never get worn! Do I still keep them year after year? Yup! I have that “but maybe I might need it for some occasion sometime in the future” mentality, and it is not working for me. To be realistic, we are 1) in a pandemic (nothing is happening) and 2) when I have an event or something I always end up buying something new that fits my style, rather than reaching for old clothes I barely wore to being with. So, I am writing this post to share my “process” for decluttering my closet. I hope you enjoy it!

Step One: See what we’re working with

The first thing I do when decluttering is take everything that I am going through out and throw it in a pile. While this can be really tedious, it will be more effective in the long run. By pulling everything out you are bound to look at every single item rather than just browsing at your closet. It also means that once you’re finished sifting through your items, you can put everything you’re keeping back in an organized manner. I color-coordinate my closet. As I mentioned, there are not many colors which makes this a fairly easy process. This is the method I prefer because it really helps my decision making when I’m trying to piece together an outfit.

Step Two: Make designated piles

When I go through my closet I always make multiple piles: donation pile, sell pile, keep pile, and if necessary, a trash pile. I always end up donating the majority of my clothes. It feels good knowing someone will be appreciating items that have run their course with me. Fortunately for the people I donate to, I often impulse buy items I don’t wear and they often end up getting completely new items. I usually donate to different organizations, but sometimes will ask around in my circle if they know any families in need first. I love when I do this because I often hear back how thankful they are and it makes me so happy to know the items are appreciated and going to good use. Before I donate anything my little sister gets first dibs. She usually finds some gems that look way better on her than me! When applicable, I also toss some items. This is usually when the items are stained, torn, and just really worn down.

Next, I make my “sell” pile. There are some items that are just really hard for me to part with. Typically, these are the pricier items. To help me finally part with these things I use Poshmark. For those of you that don’t know, Poshmark is an app that makes selling items from your closet so easy! I typically don’t sell online because it takes so much effort but with Poshmark even I find it manageable. Of course, these items don’t always sell, but I like to list the items for some time just to see if anyone would purchase. I typically keep a box of these things so I know where to find them if someone makes a purchase. This has been really helpful for me when it comes to parting ways with certain things.

Finally, I make my “keep” pile, this is all of the items I am going to hold on to. When deciding what items to keep I ask myself some of the following questions:

  • Does this item make me happy?
  • Do I feel confident when I wear this?
  • How often do I reach for this?
  • Is this too similar to other pieces in my closet?

Step Three: Organize!

Once I have all of my “keep” items, I start putting them back in my closet. This is my last chance to ask myself “are you really going to wear this?” I usually end up donating a few more items at this stage. Then all the items go back in tthe closet, hopefully with more space than before! As I mentioned above, I color-coordinate my closet. This honestly just makes me happy.

Step Four: Repeat

Well, not right away, but at least once a year I try and go through and reevaluate my closet. I even suggest doing this every season, especially if you store items away. For example, when springtime comes and I bring out my lighter clothes, I will go through and see if there is anything I should donate/sell. This helps me avoid starting the clutter again.

Overall, decluttering makes me feel at ease. A cluttered space equals a cluttered mind. In addition to my closet, I also emptied out all of my drawers and used the same method. I already feel so much better about my space! Lastly, it is really important (for me at least) to make conscious decisions when purchasing clothing items. Impulse buying is where all the problems begin. This year I want to be strategic with my clothing purchases.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I had a lot of fun writing it! What are some of your decluttering tips? Leave them in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

xo Rickie