The Lazy Girl Way to Purge Your Closet
Ahh, spring. The time where we all get a little itchy to clean our houses, get our lives in order, and just generally be better, more organized people.
Oh wait, is that just me?
I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but I always find myself wanting to purge, simplify, and just make my life a little quieter and slower. And, I don’t know about you, but one of the most chaotic and messy places in my home is typically my closet. And organizing my clothes? Always helps!
In our old house, we whipped our master closet into shape and had a beautifully organized space that held exactly what we needed and didn’t drive me crazy at all. In the new house? Well, let’s just say we’ve put zero effort into organizing our closet and the current system in there isn’t exactly working for us. Someday we’ll get around to overhauling the closet so it’s a bit more functional for our needs, but until then I find that the best way to help things feel a little more organized is to get rid of what you don’t need.
So, that’s exactly what we’ll be talking about for today’s quick life hacks post – the easiest way (EVER) to purge your closet of anything you don’t need.
This is the best lazy girl way to clean out your closet because it requires no mess, no standing in front of the mirror and trying on all of your clothes, and literally no time except for the maybe two minutes it will take you to complete step one. Seriously. It’s that simple. And when all is said and done, you’ll be able to purge your closet of all of those things you swear you’ll wear someday but never actually do, and keep it to just the things you feel great in and want to wear.
Sound good? Let’s do it.
HOW TO ORGANIZE AND PURGE YOUR CLOTHES
STEP ONE: Turn all of your hangers around backward.
You’ve seen this trick before, right? Well, I’m telling you – it works! Grab every hanger in your closet and flip it around so that the opening is facing you. It makes it a little more awkward to take a hanger off the rack, but it won’t majorly inconvenience you.
Once you’ve done that, you’re basically halfway to a cleaner closet. I’m telling you – it’s that simple.
STEP TWO: As you wear clothes, hang them back up the right way.
Each time you go to hang something back up in your closet after you wear it, be sure you first grab the hanger off the rack and flip it back around so it’s facing the “right” way. Over time, you should slowly begin to flip many of your hangers back around and you’ll (hopefully) have more facing the right way than the wrong way.
STEP THREE: At the end of the season, purge anything that’s still backward.
The last step is that once a certain amount of time passes (I like to do this seasonally, so as the seasons change I can refresh my closet a bit, but do what works for you!), you should go through and grab anything that still has a wrong-facing hanger. Those pieces are obviously not working for you anymore, and you can safely get rid of them without worry that you’ll miss them!
Of course, it’s not always that simple. There are a few caveats that I want to make sure to mention, just for you to keep in mind:
- Some things aren’t meant to be worn regularly. You might have a super fancy dress or an event-specific outfit that is important to have when you need it, but you don’t wear it other than that. It’s fine to have these pieces, and you can totally make that decision as you go. I’d just recommend pushing those back to a corner of the closet where they won’t get in your way (we’ve all go those weird hard-to-reach corners, right?!) but you can still access them when you need them.
- Try not to pay attention to what’s still backward. I have a tendency to notice what’s still facing the wrong way in my closet and try to work it into my outfit. But that defeats the whole point of this exercise! The goal is to figure out what you naturally want to wear and what you gravitate to. And, if that means you tend to wear the same five shirts over and over for months on end (hello, my name is Amanda and I’m an outfit repeater…), then so be it! This is about embracing what you actually like to wear and feel good in, without having to stand in front of the mirror for hours on end trying on all of your clothes. Don’t overthink it!
- Find your sweet spot with the timeline. Some people recommend doing this over a 30 day period – I find it easier to think in terms of seasons and weather change (so, as the weather starts warming up here in Texas, I’ll be grabbing any of my backward sweaters or winter clothes to purge). If that’s too long for you and you need to get rid of some clothes stat, then try doing it for a month and see how that goes – after all, if you don’t even think about wearing a shirt for an entire month, do you really need it in your closet?
- Obviously, the choice is still yours! If you go to purge any of your clothes that haven’t been worn in the last few months and realize that you just haven’t been in the mood to wear your very favorite shirt, you don’t have to get rid of it. You make the rules here. If you want to hold onto something to see if you’ll wear it again soon that’s perfectly fine, but try to be realistic – if you can’t remember the last time you’ve worn something, maybe it’s time to let it go.
This is the simplest strategy I’ve found for getting rid of clothes that I’m not wearing anymore, and I love that it doesn’t require any actual time or energy on my part! This same strategy could also be applied to things you keep in drawers (like pants or t-shirts) – I’d just find a different way to store them (maybe you toss them in a storage box and pull them out as you wear them, or push them all to one side of the drawer and move them over each time you use them). It might require a little more creativity, but the same principles apply – if you aren’t wearing it, you probably don’t need it!
Now, I officially challenge all of you to go flip your hangers around today! Decide how long you’ll keep ’em like that, and (if you’re anything like me) prepare to be shocked at how little of your clothes you actually wear.
What can I say? When I find a shirt I like, I wear it…over, and over, and over, and over…
Did you miss one of the posts in our life hacks series? Catch up on the other posts below:
This has worked for me! I set a reminder in my calendar for 6 months.
Glad to hear it works for you, too!