Organizing Your Closets

The change in seasons is a great time to organize your closets. The stores are filled with new styles that you want now but I’d like to encourage you to clean out your closet first. You’ll need a couple of large bags, one for donations, one for trash.



Let’s begin:

Start at one end or the other but move methodically through the closet so as not to miss anything.
You can break this up into sections (maybe work one hour at a time) or tackle the whole closet at once (possibly 2-4 hours depending on the size and amount of clothing)
Use your bed as a sorting area. Create 3 piles: Keep, donate, undecided.
Sort the section by section putting the clothes in these 3 piles. Once everything is out, try on the undecideds.

Keep this in mind when deciding what to keep or donate:

Keep only what fits now.
Keep only what you wear now. (that means in this past year)
Keep only what makes you feel Great.
Keep what others have complimented you on.

Do NOT keep

Extra sizes for “just in case”
Maternity clothes that are years old
Clothes that were specific to a job that you no longer wear.
Anything that needs repair especially if it’s been in need of repair for more than a year. If you really liked it, you would have taken care of that by now.
Anything that you have not worn in 2 years.
Anything that is not comfortable, especially shoes.

You may keep that one good outfit that you need on special occasions but that you may only wear once or twice a year. But it should fit, be in good wearable condition, and be flattering on you.

Now bag up all those items that are damaged and not worthy to donate. Take that to the trash.
Bag up all those items to donate. I’ll give you some suggestions on places to donate at the end of the article.

Put your clothes away in an orderly fashion. Suggestions would be to group by type of clothing, such as tops, pants, skirt, dresses, jackets, casual clothes, work attire, etc. You can further group by color or sleeve length on tops, for example hang your sleeveless, tops in front of the short sleeve, followed by long sleeves.

Keep only what fits in your space and what you can find easily. If your clothes are so packed that you have trouble wrestling the hanger off the pole, then you have too much in your closet. And you probably aren’t seeing everything, therefore, you’re not wearing everything. According to the National Association of Professional Organizers (www.napo.net) we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time.

Now make a list of items you need to make complete outfits. If you find yourself often saying, “I don’t have anything to wear.” It may be because you only have a hodge-podge of items, nothing that really goes together. Or possibly you’re not shopping wisely by buying items that are a great price but not a great deal. Or are you a fan of retail therapy? Buying while in a bad mood usually leads to bad choices. A good idea is to get to know the sales staff at your favorite stores. They are there to help you find clothes that fit and flatter your shape and style.

Okay now for the suggested donation centers in SCV:

The Assistance League of Santa Clarita
24364 Main Street
Newhall, CA 91321
661.255.1991
www.assistanceleague-alsc.org

Single Mother’s Outreach
24271 Main St.
Santa Clarita, CA 91321
661.288.0117
www.singlemothersoutreach.org

Domestic Violence Shelter
661.259.4357
www.dvcsantaclarita.com

Goodwill
24840 Pico Canyon Road
Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381
661.705.1040
www.goodwillsocal.org

Goodwill
26883 Bouquet Canyon Rd.
Santa Clarita, CA 91350
661.297.0303
www.goodwillsocal.org