Welcome to Part 3 of “Planning a closet overhaul” – where I actually sort through my clothes! Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 2.2 first to see how I’m (trying to) keep everything organized in my Filofax Saffiano.
It feels like it’s been a long time coming, honestly – I finally had time to actually sort through my clothes! A few Sundays ago, I pulled everything out of my closet and sorted through it. Here was my process:
- I have two closets that I use, so I started by taking things out by category. I started with the smallest, pants/bottoms. Starting with the smallest and most easily sorted category helps you get started without getting overwhelmed. The first step was to find everything in that category and lay it out on my bed.
Closet empty (except for winter sweaters)
All clothes on my bed! - Next, I selected the pieces I really truly love (as many bloggers have said, the pieces you would love to wear right that very moment) and took them into the guest bedroom. Physically separating the clothes was important for me – it made me actually choose which pieces are my real favorites.
- I roughly grouped the remaining clothes in piles – things that no longer fit, things that I like a lot (that maybe aren’t perfect, but will do for the moment), things that I’m so-so about, and things that are functional (i.e., workout clothes – I may not love my bright yellow college logo teeshirt, but it’s really comfortable for working out).
- I repeated these steps for the rest of the categories, being sure to take out everything (with the major exception of my winter sweaters – these were all neatly folded and easily visible – see post here – and not a priority for me right now. I’ll repeat this process with these in the fall/winter!) and look at it, try it on if necessary, and make a decision.
- Finally, I took a photograph of all the clothes in my “love” pile (and started to upload them to the Stylebook app, but quickly got bored) – it was fascinating to see how just by looking at these clothes, I could see my color palette taking shape before my very eyes!
- After assessing everything, I reviewed the notes I had made in my planner as I was working, and sketched out how to organize the two closets. Then I started putting everything back in, in ideally a more thoughtful order (and using shoeboxes, of course!). For the time being, I’m only getting rid of the clothes that don’t fit. I want to hang onto the rest for the summer, and analyze how often I wear things, what I like, and what I don’t – that way, I can make more conscientious decisions both about what I buy, and what I decide to donate.
My trusty Filofax, capturing my ideas and notes!
Sketches for how I wanted to organize my closet space - As I put things back into my closet, I tallied numbers – first, how many items in each category fell into my “love” pile, and then how many in the rest. This is really telling for me – I have so many shirts – and I have so many shirts that I don’t wear and/or don’t really like! This in particular is going to help me really be much more aware when shopping…!
So, this revision of my closet has been really helpful for several reasons: first, it’s helped me analyze what I actually have in my closet, and how much of it I actually wear. Second, and most importantly for the moment, I’ve re-organized my closet into a functioning tool (it was a bit of a mess since the move to my new apartment) where I can actually see and get to the clothes I might wear – and put them away again, too! Third, it’s given me a fairly good idea of my style preferences, and also of where the holes in my wardrobe are.
While it’s taken me quite a while to actually get to this stage, I think it was certainly helpful for me to wait this long and take so long to study things. Pinterest, style blogs, and style books are all really helping me to think carefully about these things, and not rush. And my planner is there helpfully tracking everything! I’ve also started looking into capsule wardrobes and I’m loving the idea, but I’m not there yet – maybe for the fall/winter!
Coming next in Part 4…list-making and keeping a closet inventory!
Organizedly yours,
L.
Check out the other parts here:
The Organizeaholic 
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