The Great Closet Clean Out!

These are my very best tried, tested and true tips to not only make organizing your closet effective & easy but to also help you learn why you buy the things you do, help you to become more conscientious about your buying decisions in the future & to dress for the body you have now! Not the one you had 10 or 15 years ago because you are beautiful, amazing and more than enough exactly as you are!

Plus i’m sharing all my best tips in this blog that has helped literally thousands of people in my previous Community Closet Cleanout Challenges as well as my private one-on-one styling clients. This is exactly what I have them do before we even start to think about our first shopping trip and that’s because I want to clear out the clutter, all the old clothes that no longer serve who you are today & make room for the clothes that make you look and most importantly FEEL amazing!

If you’re a recent college graduate and have your first “grown up” job you probably don’t want to show up in your old college kid clothes. Or if you have really sky rocketed within your network marketing organization and you have found yourself speaking on webinars, on stage, in videos, doing a lot more photo shoots then guess what?! You are now a Personal or Lifestyle Brand and you are probably appearing in photos and videos immediately all over social media.

Do you properly represent the Brand that you have now become?  How you package your brand, aka yourself is like a company’s logo. It’s how you present yourself, the image you are portraying and how people will first judge you before they can hear a single word come out of your mouth. Maybe you’re a busy work from home mom and you find yourself living in yoga clothes. You workout in your workout gear, get them super sweaty, shower…sometime during the day and then you’re right back into fresh workout gear yet again even though you’re done with your workout! I get it! I totally get it! It’s super easy to get stuck in what’s comfortable but I can tell you that pants with a zipper and a button can be super comfy too!

Questions to ask yourself to decide what stays and what goes. Let it go! Let it go!! Free yourself!

1. When was the last time I wore this?  If it has been more than a year it’s time to let it go. Just let it go! If it’s something you love you would have worn it! If it’s been over a year it’s very unlikely you’ll wear it again and let’s be honest, you’re not going to like it more later!
2. Is it still in fashion?  If you buy a lot of highly trendy clothes they will go out of fashion as quickly as they came in! If you still have Von Dutch, Ed Hardy, Affliction and blinged out jeans for the love of all things fashion let’s get rid of it! That goes for our husbands/significant others/boyfriends too!
3. Do I LOVE this?
4. Would I buy it again?
5. Does this fit me right now?
6. Is it flattering?
7. Is it in good condition? No stains, pilling fabric, snags, etc.
8. Does it need altering/tailoring? Will I bother doing this?
9. Does this convey the message I want? Does this fit my brand? If you are a “public figure” on social media or in real life and in front of a lot of people or on stage for your work or brand this is especially important to ask yourself!
10. Am I holding onto this only for sentimental reasons or obligation? Tell yourself that your memories live in your head and heart. NOT in old clothes that you will never, ever wear again! It’s the truth! You will always have the great memories without becoming a hoarder.

The next step. Let’s do this already!

1. You will need at least 2 garbage or big shopping bags. You’re probably going to need a lot more. Do not put the clothes in the bags just yet! We will need them at the very end for a good reason 🙂
2. You’re going to create 3 piles; Maybe, Donate & Toss. I know it doesn’t look so pretty during the process but we need to see what we’re getting rid of and not just stuff it into bags just yet. This is to help prevent making the same shopping mistakes again! What’s the difference between the Toss & Donate piles? The Toss is for anything that is badly stained, damaged or really worn out. The rest goes to the Donate pile. *You may create an optional 4th pile for clothes to “Consign or Sell”. I know many people who have amazing wardrobes filled with high end designer pieces that are in great condition. You can take them to resale, consignment stores especially for your special occasion dresses and designer children’s clothes. Remember that most places will only accept items that are in very good condition and have been dry cleaned. There’s also ebay too! I personally know myself well enough that I won’t ever get around to doing this so it all goes into my donation piles!
3. Turn on your fav music playlist or podcast and get started!
4. (Optional) Depending on how much time you have, how much clothes you have in your closet(s) and how bad your problem is… if you need to get really REAL with yourself you may want to go all out and take everything out of your closet. Seriously. Everything as if you were moving! Edit from there by only allowing back into your closet the pieces you love & really will wear based on the questions above. If you have a clothing rack this is a great way to see everything hung up especially the “Maybes”.
5. I personally start on one end of my closet and go one by one assessing each item to see if it gets to stay in or if it has to go. I cannot emphasize enough that we don’t need hundreds and hundreds of items jammed into our closet. If you can see it, you will wear it!  My vision for my closet,( yes I have a vision!) is to have it look like a boutique filled with carefully chosen clothes that flatter my figure right now, not the body I once had or working towards. You want clothes that best flatter the amazing and wonderful person you are right this second. Yes, we are all a work in progress but when you feel great in the clothes you wear now, I promise you that you will feel much more confident and it will help you reach whatever goals you may want to reach in the near future!
6. Anything that is a maybe, get it out of the closet and in its own pile or on the clothing rack. Anything that is a toss, set it aside in its own pile/area. Don’t think twice about those. Just let it go!
7. Once you have gone through everything take an honest look at your closet. Have you truly gotten rid of all the clothes that no longer serve you to best flatter you and are representative of your personal style? Go back and scan through each piece again if you need to. Be honest with yourself. Let it go!
8. Grab a bag and start with your Toss pile. Before you put everything in the bags do a quick estimation of how many of those items you got great use of and wore regularly. Next grab a bag for the Donate pile. Repeat estimating how many of the pieces you wish you never bought, still have tags and think about why you bought them in the first place. Was it on a whim? Was it because it seemed like such a great deal at the time? Now that you look back, was it? Estimate how much you could’ve saved and remember the next time you shop to think twice about buying something just because it’s on sale or clearance. It’s still a waste of money if you don’t use it no matter how great of a deal it was!
9. Now for the “MAYBE” pile. Carefully go through each piece again and ask the above questions again to see if you should keep or donate. Do you have the space for it? Will you wear it in the next 6 months? The items that you decided to let back into your closet, turn the hangers around so that they are backwards. Now, some closet organizers say to turn ALL your hangers around and every time you wear something turn it back around the right way. But for me, being a bit Type A about organization, the few hangers that are turned around backwards would drive me a bit nuts and my eyes would go immediately to them so for me, that technique works better.
10. If you have the time in this session go through your shoes and then your drawers. If not, schedule it into your planner/calendar for the next session. Think about how GREAT and EMPOWERED you will feel to finally get it done. Think about how much you are getting rid of that you never wore, wore only once or were bad buys. Next time you shop think about how you are going to make better decisions and not get wrapped up in a big sale. I have more tips on this for another time but for now, pat yourself on the back, kick your feet up and congratulate yourself for a job well done!

Now that you have all the simple steps to finally get this done the right way, it’s time to get to work! You will be so happy when you see your newly cleaned out closet!

My Personal FAV Closet Organizing Tools

• MEGA Space Saving, Non-Slip Velvet Hangers 
• High quality, heavy duty Garment Rack
• Super powerful, 1800w, Hand Held Steamer 

With Grit & Grace, xo!

Tiffany, aka Coach Glitter 🙂

Coach Glitter Media is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com