Closet Cleanout – Start The New Year Fresh!

The thought of a good closet cleanout to start the year off right always feels exciting!  

But, as we all know, purging your closet is a huge job. It always begins well. Everything comes out of the closet and onto the bed. Then, it’s deciding piece by piece what to keep and what to toss.

Halfway through, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and haunted by thoughts like, “Why did I waste so much money on this?” or “I can’t believe this doesn’t fit me anymore,” or “What the heck was I thinking when I bought this? “

With negative thoughts in your head and a mountain of clothes piled before you, it’s easy to stuff it all back into your closet and save your cleanout for another day, maybe.

But please don’t do that!

Cleaning Out Your Closet can change your life! How?

1. A good closet purge makes you feel good: Cleaning out your closet gives you a sense of accomplishment and mastery over your wardrobe. It’s one step on the way to style confidence.

2. It opens the wardrobe up to new possibilities -Just like anything in life, you can only let something new in once you get rid of the old. It’s the same with clothes.

3. You’ll save time getting dressed – 44% of women need help finding an item in their closet once a month, slowing them down. Seeing what you have clearly and knowing it fits and is in working condition makes it faster and easier to get dressed.

4. You’ll wear more of your clothes – The average woman wears about 20-30% of her closet clothes. Too many clothes overwhelm us, and we reach for the same old. When you see what you have, it’s easier to switch it up. 

5. Less stress, More Joy – Having a decluttered wardrobe is freeing and lets you focus on other things besides worrying about what to wear every day. 

6. You’ll make money to Reinvest. When you resell clothes you don’t wear; you can use your earnings to buy new clothes you love and will wear. 

The Key to a Successful Closet Cleanout

To follow through and make your closet cleanout a success, you must get FOCUSED and have a PLAN.

Before you begin, you need to think long and hard about the types of clothes you need for your 40+ lifestyle and the image you want to project at this time in your life. From this, you can determine your clothing needs, which makes things a lot easier when you are in your closet looking at clothing and deciding what to keep and what to part with.

Getting focused is particularly important for women our age because many changes in midlife affect how we dress. For example:

• Maybe you’ve left the 9-5, are now working from home, and need more casual work outfits.

• Perhaps your children have left the nest, and you want to travel more when things ease up, so you need travel clothes. 

• Have you gained a few pounds with menopause? Does your current wardrobe work with your new curves, or do you need a few new pieces?

• Or, could you be stuck in a style rut, hanging on to boring clothes you’ve worn for decades but are now determined to dress more creatively and find a new stylish look?

 Determining all this first before you start digging deep into your closet gives you a clear plan for what you need. When you have a goal, a closet edits much easier.

Now, here’s how to clean out and organize your closet to create a refreshed 40+  wardrobe that meets your taste and lifestyle

Getting Started

Time – It always takes longer than you think. I like to set aside at least half a day  (4 hours or more on the weekend) or a couple of hours a day to do one section at a time—for example, tops on Mondays and pants on Tuesdays. 

Space- Be sure you have plenty of room to work in. You will end up with a few large piles of clothing, and stepping all over overstuff will be a confusing mess. If you don’t think your bed will be big enough, you might need to move a  couple of things around in your bedroom or bring in a folding table to put stuff on.

Tools – Having all your closet organizing tools by your side will keep you on track and save time. You’ll need

• Thin, non-slip velvet hangers are better than wire or the thick white plastic ones so many of us have. Wood is excellent but thick, heavy, and takes up space. Rolling rack– I will explain in a minute.

• Full-length mirror – a must. Don’t waste time running to the bathroom to check an outfit in the mirror and then stand on the toilet for a full-length view!

• Masking tape and a marker – for marking items that need fixing.

• Dressmaker pins, fashion tape – when you tweak clothes to see how much they should be hemmed or altered.

• Camera– for photographing outfits. Sometimes, it’s hard to see what an outfit looks like, but you usually know right away when you photograph it and look at the photo. This is my number one trick when I feel confused about something.

• Plastic bins for things you want to keep for sentimental reasons but want out of the closet will depend on how you store items, such as under your bed or on closet shelves.

The Clear-Out Process

Now comes the tedious but essential step of cleaning out your closet. Everybody has their way. Some like to pull everything out of their closet onto their bed. While this initially feels great, it causes a lot of stress after an hour or so when you realize how slowly you are getting through the mess.

I recommend chucking it down. Pull out one section of clothing at a time onto a rolling rack. For example, start with your sweaters. Pull them out, put them on the shelf, and go through them individually.

Next, do your blouses and then your pants. If you can have a couple of rolling racks, all the better. As for shoes, jewelry, and accessories, leave those to the end. 

Questions to Ask Yourself

During this step, it’s essential to go through every article of clothing and ask yourself the following six questions:

• Is this damaged? ( and worth fixing?)

• Does this fit me? -Don’t hold onto things that don’t fit. It’s too depressing, and you will want new things if you plan to lose weight anyway)

• Is it good quality? – Young women can pull off $8.99 blouses made in China. Our bodies are softer and rounder in midlife, and we require clothes with more structure. Cheap clothes are flimsy, see-through, and look cheap on us.

• Is this age-appropriate? – Most clothes are ageless. It’s all in how you style them, but common sense dictates that things like thigh-high skirts and daisy dukes, cutesy tops, or something trending for teens will not serve you well.

• Do I wear this? – This is always tough. If you don’t wear it, why? If you like it and it fits, but you have nothing to wear with it, it’s not an automatic toss. If the opposite is true or doesn’t fit your lifestyle or needs, toss it.

• Do I have duplicates – I wrote a whole post about this! If you have one too many, yes, definitely get rid of your least favorite.

• Does this fit my current lifestyle? – Do you have a closet full of evening gowns but never go out anymore? Do you have business suits still staring at you now, but you are retired? If they are part of your old life, they need to make room for things in your new life.

• Do I love this? Does it bring me joy? – Of course, this is key. If you don’t love, love, love it, you’ll probably never wear it, or if you do, you will feel unhappy. Give it to someone else who will give it the love it needs. Would I repurchase it? Are you stuck on how much you love it? Then, ask yourself this question, and you will know for sure.

You may be able to answer these questions right away, or it may take some trying on. But if the answer to these questions is “no,” the item will likely take up valuable space in your wardrobe and need to head out the door.

The Piles

As you weed through your clothes, create five distinct piles: Keep, Donate, Sell, Fix, and Trash. This will make it much easier to get everything taken care of once you finish.

I like to go through all my chunks of clothing, one by one, slowly emptying my closet and creating my KEEP pile on my bed. Once the closet is empty, I clean and vacuum it, and then I’m ready to put everything back in. Here’s how I finish up.

Next Steps

1. Organize by Item and Color

Everyone has their way of organizing that feels right to them, and you can get pretty obsessive-compulsive about it. I like to divide it into five sections: tops, bottoms, dresses, jackets, and special occasions. Within those categories, I start with the whites on one side and work my way through colors to black.

I am a color person, meaning when I get up in the morning, I choose what color I feel like wearing that day and then look for clothing, so having all the colors together helps.

This method also enables you to mix and match clothes better. You have green pants, and you can automatically go to the colors you know will look good with green and pick a top. Everything is in one place.

2. Get clothing tailored or fixed ASAP

Now is the time to get any ill-fitting or damaged clothes you found during your clean out tailored or repaired. Whether a sweater needs to be de-pilled, a skirt hemmed, or something needs head-to-toe tailoring, don’t delay; it will just end up back in your closet. Don’t worry about fixing it if you don’t think you will wear it again. I’ve done this a few times; it wastes money.

3. Sell or donate gently used clothing

Drop off unwanted clothes at a donation center, or if the item is in good enough condition, you could try selling or consigning it. Online marketplaces like Poshmark or eBay are a great way to get rid of unwanted clothing and make some cash along the way. Try a consignment shop or website like TheRealReal for the best offer for high-end or luxury pieces. 

4. Make a Shopping List to Fill in Gaps

If your closet cleanout made you realize you have a few missing key items,  create a shopping list to fill in the gaps. Remember to ask yourself those same key questions you used when clearing out your wardrobe to avoid bringing in items that don’t meet your needs. If you’re unsure what to buy, start by creating outfits first and see what you might be missing. Don’t rush to buy these items, or you will end up buying what’s available now instead of what’s best. Take your time to fill in the holes.

5. Photograph Outfits

Once you’ve sorted your wardrobe, photographing outfits will simplify getting dressed. I like to lay out several outfits and mix and match pieces to create different looks for different occasions. You can lay out some looks for traveling, date night, dinner with friends, casual days, or other events that fit your lifestyle.

Then, when you don’t know what to wear, you can sift through the photos and come up with an idea. Once you start doing this, you will love it because it saves so much time in the mornings.

I hope this guide has given you a few handy tips for a successful closet cleanout. A wardrobe edit is a great way to define and refine your 40+ style and make getting dressed a breeze. No more standing in front of a closet full of clothes and feeling like you have nothing to wear. You’ll be in charge of your wardrobe, love all your clothes, and feel confident in your style.