Decluttering Closet Clutter

I am going to be honest here. I was not looking forward to today’s 10 minute Tuesday project. Sometimes just looking at the “before” can be enough to make you put off a clean up. I was even nervous to share the before pictures here on the blog!

So I gave myself a little pep-talk, I reminded myself that sometimes the hardest part is just getting started. “It is only 10 minutes. You don’t have to spend the whole morning in there.” Plus, knowing I got to share the project with you all was one of the reasons I started this blog! So no more procrastinating. I am just jumping in!

Frankly, I do need to spend the whole morning in there, which may have been the inspiration for our recent Space For Living poll, “What percentage of your clothes do you wear regularly?” A whopping 81%, including myself, wear only 50% of their clothes on a regular basis, while the remaining 19% wear only 20% of the clothes they own. I am not referring to off season clothing that you pull out once a year. I’m talking about a closet full of items that don’t fit, are worn out or you just don’t like for one reason or another.

Ready for this week’s 10-minute challenge?

For 10 minutes, pick through your clothes and grab all the items you know you are not going to wear again for whatever reason. Be brutal; don’t forget those dingy PJ’s, socks and underwear you are holding onto! Get your timer ready because I don’t want you to spend any more then 10 minutes on this. You don’t need to rearrange your closet or line up all the shirts up facing the same direction. None of that!

Are you still feeling some trepidation about getting rid of items? If that is the case, put all your unwanted clothes in a bag and hide them under your bed. Mark your calendar one month from today to donate your clothes. If in one month, you don’t find yourself searching for that shirt you put in the bag you are not going to wear any of those items and you can donate your bag with no regrets. You will know that you don’t need all the extra stuff and hopefully someone else will get use out of them. Plus, now you’ll have an easier time finding all the stuff that you do want to wear!

There are lots of reason why we keep clothes, or anything for that matter. Maybe we are sentimental savers or we are hoping an item might fit someday. An item or two that fits into that category is okay, but set a clear limit. Give yourself a reasonable number of items to save that takes into account how much closet space you have to save. I have 3 dresses from my grandma that I am saving and that is a comfortable amount for my space. As far as items that you are hoping to fit into, I have found that by the time that day arrives it is out of fashion and I am itching to buy something new anyway. A closet full of someday clothing is not helping you in the morning when you’re searching for something to wear .

Okay, here is all the loot I dug out in only 10 minutes!!

10 sweaters
6 tank tops
2 pairs of pants
1 set of PJ’s
2 pairs of pants
1 set of PJ’s
3 dresses (one from high school!)
2 necklaces
16 pairs of socks
45 hangers

I found the clothes from the current season easiest to throw out because I knew which items I’d been wearing and which ones I never seem to select.  So sweaters were the first to go. I had been holding on to a lot from the good ol’ teaching days and now it felt good to say goodbye to 10 of them. Socks were also easy to throw out because Santa’s bringing us some new socks for Christmas.

Then there are the hangers! I think when my husband and I got married we combined our hangers without thinking twice. They have been hanging out behind our closet door for too long! Does anyone even know who I could donate all those hangers to?

Here is what the closet looks like after my 10 minutes of de-cluttering.

Much better! It’s not perfect, but remember, during 10-minute Tuesday’s perfection is not the goal! The goal is to get started! We have plenty of hangers for laundry and any new clothes we acquire (we might still have too many hangers, but for now I feel good about the amount I kept).

The only place that received a tiny bit of further organization was the sock drawer. I do not have a before picture because it was an unforeseen result of decluttering! I had the baskets in there already but now they’re sorted into running socks, comfy sock, and nicer dress socks.

So here it is all packed up and ready to be donated. There were some things, like socks and stained tees, that went straight into the trash.

All and all it was rather painless and I feel a sense of satisfaction to get all the extra stuff out of the closet.

What do you think? Do you think you can get more stuff out of your closet in 10 minutes? Is your closet already in a state of perfection? What else can you de-clutter? Toys to prep for Christmas? Medicine Cabinet? Magazines? Can you run through your house de-cluttering for 10 minutes? What you have de-cluttered recently? Ready, set, go!