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My Decluttering Mission – I’m a Closet Slob

Last Updated: BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 74 Comments

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My closet is a disaster zone.

That is why one of my goals for January of 2015 is to declutter my closet.

It is a scary thing to see right now. Currently, I slam the door shut whenever Wes is about to walk past my closet, as I know he will be absolutely horrified if he were to take a look into my closet. In case you are wondering, my closet is not in our bedroom, it’s in the hallway as our house has a weird large closet in the middle of the house.

I want to declutter my closet for many reasons.

One, we plan on putting our home on the market in a couple of months, and no sane home buyer is going to walk into my closet and want to buy this house.

Two, when we eventually do move, I don’t want to deal with this mess and be forced to bring it all with us. Instead, I want to have the least amount of things possible in order to make the move a little easier.

Below are some of the things I plan on doing in order to successfully declutter my closet. If you are wanting to learn how to declutter your closet as well, I recommend you read the rest of this post and take part in my decluttering challenge!

 

I’m not going to be sympathetic towards my clothing.

One thing I am guilty of is constantly saying “Oh, but I will wear this one day!”

Nope, nope, nope.

When I go through my closet and declutter this time around, I will not be sympathetic towards my clothing. I’m going to get rid of anything and everything that I know I will not wear.

No excuses this time around!

Around one year ago I started flipping hangers around so that I knew for a fact what I was wearing and what I was not. Well, there are a TON of items in my closet that I haven’t touched in forever, so I just need to get rid of them.

 

I’m going to have a donate, keep, sell, and throwaway pile.

I started doing this a little bit already, and I already sold $59 worth of clothing just the other day. I don’t know if I have much else to sell, but I do have a huge donate pile and a massive throwaway pile.

You are probably wondering “But what are you throwing away?”

Trust me, I have a TON of garbage in my closet that I need to throw away. I have shoe boxes, shopping bags, things that have broke around our house, and more all just hanging out in my closet. I am not sure why I kept all of this garbage but that is what a lot of my closet consists of.

This is one of my important decluttering tips. You should have multiple piles so that you can organize everything. Once it’s in a pile, don’t look at the item again!

 

Here are some of the other actions I plan on taking in order to declutter my closet:

  • If I add something to my closet, then I need to get rid of something as well. If one thing goes in, then one must leave! I don’t think this will be much of a problem though as I have somewhat of a clothing ban in place.
  • I need to organize everything in my closet once I am done decluttering. Everything for the most part is just folded or placed in random piles that don’t really make any sense.

Do you have a decluttering goal for 2015? What decluttering tips do you have for me?

 

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About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  3. Michelle says

    I have paper that has to be sorted through and I have been avoiding this project like the plague. In fact, my important papers are all in beautiful storage boxes (really-the boxes are pretty). When I get back my goal is to go through and get rid of 2 boxes a week until they are all gone.

    Reply

  4. Taylor Lee says

    I raided my closet a couple a weeks ago, and I’m very happy to report it is in tip-top weeded-out shape.

    My tip is: use organizers. My hanging shoe rack is the BEST and having that one additional shelf in my closet makes all the difference between mess and, well, organized mess.

    Reply

  5. Sarah says

    Ooo good luck!! When we moved across the country, I started decluttering my closet 3 months in advance lol that way it wasn’t a massive undertaking the week we were leaving. Little bits here and there works great and is never overwhelming! I think I ended up donating over 12 full garbage bags full of clothes, yikes!!

    Reply

  7. Andrea says

    Decluttering makes me feel so much more relaxed after it is done. Less stuff to worry about and less mess to look at. I went through my closet in the fall so my closet is working well for me now. Good luck!

    Reply

  8. Shannon @ Financially Blonde says

    The first weekend of 2015 we went on a big decluttering binge and I am glad that we did. For the first 9 years of our marriage, we moved around a lot so I learned to not get sentimental and not horde things. So when we go through de-clutter time, I imagine that we are moving and ask myself if I would pack and unpack the item, if not, I throw it or give it away.

    Reply

    • Michelle S. says

      I have a lot of sentimental things that will be very hard to get rid of. I’m not sure what I will do. TMI probably right now, but I still have many things from my dad or that remind me of my dad that would be very hard to get rid of.

      Reply

      • Gary @ SuperSavingTips says

        My wife and I have been working on decluttering one room at a time over a period of weeks. We also have a number of sentimental items, and the ones that remind us of loved ones are especially hard to part with. One idea my wife found was to take a digital photo of the item, so you can hang on to the memory without taking up the space. That doesn’t work for everything, but it’s worth considering, especially for larger items that just don’t find a spot in your home.

        Reply

  9. Robin says

    You should decide that two weeks from now, you will post a picture of your newly cleaned out closet on here, whether you’ve done it or not. That will motivate you! In some of my more challenging areas, I find it helpful to have an unbiased person to help (my mom) who will say – why are you keeping this? It works!

    Reply

  10. Stephanie says

    I work with people on their closets a lot and one thing I have to always remind them, if it’s a huge disaster – don’t feel bad about throwing things out. I know it’s bad for the environment and everything else, but honestly, if you say you’re going to ‘donate’ and never do, it just creeps back in. Fold it, put it in a box out on the curb with a free sign, and list it on Freecycle. Let the garbage man take anything left. It’s a painful lesson that’ll make you buy less from now on!
    I’m sure yours isn’t that bad though, right?! Good luck, you can do this 🙂

    Reply

  12. Anna says

    Best of luck!
    I went through all of my last week ruthlessly! It feels great though; I have less outfit choices now but having less decisions to make every morning can only be a good thing, right? x

    Reply

  13. cece says

    I do that too where if I buy something new I have to remove something from my closet. I cleaned out my closet over holiday break and it felt so good to get some of that stuff out of there. It’s so hard for me to let go so I thin there are still things that I haven’t been wearing BUT I’m going to make it my goal to wear everything I own over the next year and if I don’t I should toss it. I’m also over shopping. Just over it. I buy things when I actually have a hole to fill in my wardrobe or a need and that’s it. It’s too much stuff and too much money and I’m over it.

    Reply

  15. Christina @ Embracing Simple says

    I did declutter December with my closet, and tried to be absolutely ruthless in what I was donating. I found that if there were items I hadn’t really worn in quite awhile, it helped me to think about how someone else could really benefit from the item more than me if I just donated it. Then it makes you feel good about getting rid of it all 🙂

    Reply

  18. Amy says

    Decluttering is so invigorating!

    Have you checked out Twice? liketwice.com/SxQOz (yes, that’s my referral link.) It’s basically an online consignment store. They give you a prepaid mailing label, and you send them your unwanted clothes (no more than five years old), in excellent condition, and they purchase those they want from you. You can choose to be paid in Twice credit, or cash. I go with the latter. 🙂 I consider it a win-win: decluttering AND making a little money!

    Reply

  19. [email protected] says

    I just did some serious decluttering last week; I didn’t get rid of many things (a few) but I re-hung everything that wasn’t on a matching hanger and re-sorted everything so it’s in good order now (skirts with skirts, sweaters with sweaters, etc.) It looks so much better and I am much happier with it!

    Reply

  21. Cindy says

    We go through our clothes every couple of months. It helps us decide what we really wear frequently and clean out what we don’t.

    Reply

  22. Sarah says

    My decluttering goal for this year is to go through all my craft supplies. They are out of control. As for your closet, have you looked into the idea of a capsule wardrobe? I started mine at the end of August last year and so far I’m in love. The idea is to have about 10 pieces (per capsule) that all mix and match and those give you about 30 different (or more) outfits. It’s helped me to shop with a purpose instead of just buying something because I like it.

    Reply

  23. Michelle @ Modern Acupuncture says

    I just cleaned out my closet, too! I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one who gets “sympathetic” with her clothing. Sometimes if someone bought me an item as a gift, I feel bad getting rid of it – even if I never wear it! But this time around I was very strict and didn’t make excuses. If I couldn’t remember the last time I wore it, out it went! One organizing tip I have is to arrange your clothes in groups that make sense for outfits. Shirts that go well with certain blazers, for example, I try to group together with the blazer so it’s easier to get dressed in the morning. Do you do this also, Michelle? Anyone else?

    Reply

  24. The Asian Pear says

    I’m starting to wonder how your husband has room in the closet for his stuff by how you described the closet. 😉 Seriously though, I organized my closet a few years ago. Take inventory of your clothes, lay out an attack plan for storing them (ie:which clothes need to be folded, which can be hanged, etc). If you’re not planning to do major closet work, think of frugal storage ideas (Target, Container Store, Ikea, DollarTree, etc.) Make sure your space has ROOM TO GROW. People tend to forget this and often are back in the same mess in less than 2 years time. That’s all my tips. Good luck!

    Reply

  25. Mrs. Maroon says

    We made some progress in the closet just this morning! Proved to be a great morning activity to wear out Mini Maroon #1 before nap time… He carried everything from the closet through our bathroom to a pile in the bedroom. He made a lot of trips! The closet so often becomes the dumping ground for those odds and ends that don’t have a home otherwise. I fear it will always be an on-going battle. But if we keep up with it regularly, I hope avoid letting it get too out of control!!

    Reply

  27. Mrs. Frugalwoods says

    Sounds like a great plan! You’re wise to do this before you try to sell the house and move all of your stuff. I definitely did not do this before our last move and hence moved a bunch-o-junk we then got rid of. Whoops. This is a much smarter approach ;). Good luck!

    Reply

  28. Michelle says

    I did this last year, it’s so refreshing to have less but I may have to do it again. I tried the turning hangers around thing but it didn’t work for me 🙁
    Whatever you do, when you get it all purged, don’t go out and buy new stuff. Big mistake on my part.
    Now I’m getting rid of all my other stuff that has been stored in my parents basement for 4 years. Most of it, I figure if I’ve done without it for this long, it can go! I’ve donated and trashed quite a bit. There’s some stuff I have to sell too.
    A tip I have is if you don’t want to get rid of something, move it to another area and then come back to it. Usually your brain has wrapped itself around getting rid of stuff and you end up throwing it away.

    Reply

  29. Alexis says

    Every year starting in January, after I do all my laundry, I attempt to wear all the seasonably appropriate clothes in my closet without wearing them again. I’ll wash them and fold them nicely and refuse to wear them until everything in my closet is worn. Once I get down to the bare bones, it’s easy to make a decision on whether something needs to go or not. I’m getting ready to start it now and hopefully it means cleaning out some worn out things or things I’ll never wear in the near future!

    Reply

  31. Fig @ Figuring Money Out says

    I’m planning to buy a new dresser soon so there will definitely be some decluttering when that happens! Luckily, I don’t have an overabundance of clothes though since I tend to declutter and donate clothes twice a year or so.

    Reply

  32. Gina Horkey says

    It only gets worse when you have kids, LOL! We just got rid of a ton of toys (since Xmas brought so many new ones) and I try to hand-me-down all of their clothes, so someone else can put them to good use.

    My current closet isn’t out of control, but I don’t wear a lot of what I have, so should spend some time going through it again. I love the rule about getting rid of something when you bring something new home!!

    Reply

  33. Lyn @ Pretty Frugal says

    Haha, I totally have a trash pile in my closet. It’s just where random stuff goes to die – packaging from bedding, empty shoe boxes, old shopping bags, broken hangers.

    I just went through my closet this weekend and got rid of a bunch of random things: v-neck tshirts whose necks were now more of a u-neck, button-up shirts that have been dried too many times and now gap at the chest or unbutton themselves, and a few shirts with unsalvageable stains or busted seams. I kept them to wear under other things like sweaters, but it was time to go. So they went (along with my garbage pile).

    My sister and I installed shelving in my closet last spring and it has been a life saver. I can fold my jeans and sweaters and stack them on the shelves instead of hiding them in a drawer and forgetting what I have. I’d previously been using hanging organizers, but the actual shelves are so much better!

    Good luck decluttering! It feels awesome to stand back and admire your handiwork at the end of the day.

    Reply

  34. diane @smartmoneysimplelife says

    Decluttering is on my agenda, too. And, not just my closet!

    I’m running an online retail business from home so there’s stuff EVERYWHERE. It’s got to the point where it’s really distracting and stressful. Plus, my daughter just moved back from uni, so her stuff is everywhere, too.

    I’ve already started on my clothes, I created a ‘limbo’ box of clothes I love but don’t fit (I’m a little more Rubenesque than I used to be), if I’m not back to my usual size within 12 months, I’ll donate the box.

    The rest is probably destined for the bin! I tend to where clothes to death… working from home means I can sit at the computer in my favourite, holey t-shirt and it doesn’t matter. After that’s done, I might need to ADD to my wardrobe!

    I really need to get serious about it though…

    Good luck with your clutter challenge!

    Reply

  35. Nina @ RichLife.io says

    I am in the middle of decluttering my entire apartment. My wardrobe is the first one I did. I finally threw out everything that is no longer wearable. Some of this was clothing from when I was 16 (that is 12 years ago!) which I just kept because I felt it was still good. Great, but it doesn’t fit nor suit a woman of 28. Same with old night gowns which are frayed at the seams. Even if I were to repair that the fabric is becoming so fragile it will soon rip somewhere else. I also parted with a few items that I never wear because they are highly impractical. Younger me thought it would be a good idea to have a wool sweater with a roll-up collar and three quarter sleeves. I’ve tried wearing things under it, and I’ve tried to soften it because it also itches like mad, but I have given up on it now. All these items are much better off being donated. The donation containers take everything and sort it into sell or recycle, and the money goes to charity. I’ve a few good items that I will list online myself, but the rest I am happy to see go to a good cause.

    I was brought up with the mindset of “save things for the future” and while that mindset might have worked in the past, it no longer serves me well now. I discovered a stash of old empty CD cases in another closet. They’d been used in the past but I had gotten rid of all the contents as I am no longer a poor student who might not have paid for certain things. So in a bag for recycling they went, and I have half a shelf back to store things on that matter.

    I’ve been posting about what I’ve been doing on Facebook, and while most encourage it, a well-meaning friend said I “don’t have to throw things out, they could be useful someday”. He suggested as a software developer I might want those empty cases in the future. I doubted myself for a moment and almost ran back out to get them, but honestly who is going to want software in an old case with scratches and faded colours? More importantly, who still uses CDs or DVDs to put things on? I have some leftover DVD-Rs I decided to keep but honestly I think it was early 2000s when I last used those. Everything is just online these days, or on a USB stick if there is no network connection. Very confusing as said friend is a software developer too.

    To end my long commect, the best decluttering tip I read lately is not to hold on to things out of guilt. If you say keep years and years of birthday and christmas cards because you feel guilty, it might be more worthwhile to get in touch with people instead of fretting how you only send them cards on special occasions. Keep the important ones, or the ones that are truly special, but you don’t need to keep them all because you feel bad. It’s the gesture that counts. I personally only keep the cards of the last year, as a visual reminder of having people who care about me. And I have some special ones in my memory box, like of family members who have passed away.

    Reply

  36. Jessica says

    I tend to keep the closet with my clothing pretty organized, but the closet with random junk is our problem. I’ve been working to declutter it and have found things we’ve moved across country and then two more times after that and still haven’t used. I tend to get overwhelmed with big projects that require a lot of decisions like decluttering. I find it helpful to do a little bit at a time, so it’s not so daunting. Good luck with your closet!

    Reply

  37. Anne @ Money Propeller says

    I am on a similar “purge it all” mission at the moment. I keep having a blogging problem, though. The “I could just recycle/throw that away right now” thought is immediately followed by “but then I won’t have any pictures or records of it for a post.” It’s a weird life we live!
    I want to get rid of so. many. things right now. Here’s hoping that one of these weekends I can get to it and take loads of things to the thrift store.

    Reply

  38. Jayleen @ How Do The Jones Do It says

    It sounds like you have a great plan for decluttering your closet. I do this about twice a year as the hubby and I share a small walk-in and it would be out of control if we didn’t. We usually pull everything out and put back the keepers in a new place. Like you, we also have the garage sale and ebay piles.

    Reply

  39. nicole dziedzic says

    I have no sense of organization too when it comes to my closets, all mine could use some saving! Especially my hallway closet, I try to avoid it all together, something I should tackle but when I see the mess I walk away.

    Reply

  40. Don @ Breath of Optimism says

    My trick is to look at what I haven’t worn lately and get rid of those items first. Odds are, if I haven’t worn it recently, then I get rid of it. If it is a piece of summer clothes and it’s winter out, then I just try to remember when I wore it last. If I can’t remember, I get rid of it.

    Reply

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