HOUSTON, Texas – Take a look at your clothes in a new light and update your look using clothes in your own closet with these tips from Houston organizing expert Nancy Devlin.
There are two ways to to tackle this:
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- Take everything out of your closet and put it on your bed to sort it.
- Tackle a small section of your closet at a time. Attempting a complete closet clean out could be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have a large chunk of time to dedicate to the undertaking.
Sort your clothes into four categories:
- Keep
- Donate
- Repair
- Consign
Try on everything. The exception: Clothes you wear for work and you know work for you. While trying on each item, ask yourself these questions:
- Is it comfortable?
- Does it make you feel confident?
- Is it in need of repair or cleaning? If so, will you take the time to fix it?
- Where would you wear it?
As you try on your clothes, try putting items together in new ways to make different outfits. Coordinate not only tops and bottoms, consider the accessories you’d wear with each outfit. When you find an outfit that looks great, take a selfie to remember the ensemble. This will help you when you’re in a rush to put together an solid ensemble.
Put clothing back in your closet using these tips:
- Have plenty of a single type of hanger available. Rehang your clothes using a single type of hanger for a cleaner closet look.
- Create sections in your closet for tops, bottoms and dresses. Sort each section by color (light to dark) as well as length (sleeveless to long-sleeve tops).
Throughout the process, put donations in a bag. Once you’re done cleaning out your closet, put the bag in your car and make plans to drop off your donation as soon as possible.
If you have valuable but no longer wanted clothes, take photos and post them online.
Nancy Devlin owns and runs Efficient Living, a Houston-based organizing service. From file management to full-home decluttering, Devlin has helped her clients transform chaos into order since 2009.
