Quick Closet Organizing for Spring
It’s Spring! If you are looking for an organizing project that will get you ready to enjoy the new season, this is a great time to clean out your closet.
Come on, dig out all your winter weather clothing, and move the short sleeves, skirts, and sundresses to the front. It’s an easy project that will get you ready for the season.
In the world of professional organizing, we call closets “Prime Real Estate”. This is where you should store everything you use regularly. Because it is such an important storage location you need to evaluate what you are keeping there more often and now is a good time to do it.
Here are a few tips on how to start and complete the project in one Spring afternoon.
Step 1 – Set the stage for success.
You will need to make four categories for the decisions you will make about each item: Keep, Donate, Trash and I don’t know. Everything will end up in one of these categories. To complete the project, I want you to be able to make a quick decision about each item. The kept items will end up back in your closet. The donated items will end up in bags to go to charity. The trash items will also end up in bags, so make sure you have clearly separated these two. The “I don’t know” category will help you not get bogged down with making decisions at the beginning of the project.
Step 2 – Evaluate what you have.
I know you don’t want to do it, but take everything out of your closet. I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed by starting this way, (it will get better quickly) but this is the best way to evaluate what you have. This is a great time to pull out the vacuum cleaner and dust cloth and clean those never-seen corners of your closet.
As you pull everything out, you need to sort items into groups, like pants, shirts, skirts, dresses, suits, sweaters, shoes, etc. Now it’s time to evaluate what you have. Look at one type of item at a time. Ask yourself these questions: Do I love it? Have I worn it the last Spring? Does it fit me? Is it in style? Don’t take the time to try things on. It will really slow you down. You should work as quickly as possible making these decisions.
The clothing that you answered “yes” to will go back into your closet. But not quite yet. Just put them aside and keep making decisions until you have evaluated everything.
If you answer “no” to any of the above questions about an item of clothing you need to let it leave your space as a donation or trash. How do you decide which it is? I tell my clients “If it is nice enough to give to a friend then donate it”. But if it is stained, ripped, faded, or ugly, let it go.
What about those items that you hesitate on? This is where the “I don’t know” pile comes in. You’ve hesitated because these items may have more meaning to you. We’ll revisit this pile later.
Step 3 – Time to organize your closet.
Are you saying, “That is what I thought I was doing all along?” Well, it is, but now is the time when you will see the benefit of all your hard work. Let’s start with the “keepers”. Hang or fold everything neatly. Keep each category together. Locate where each type of item will live and put it away. Do you like your shoes on the floor, on shoe racks, or in boxes on the shelf? How about sweaters? Since Spring is here, will you relocate your heavy winter sweaters to another area of your home or would you prefer an under-the-bed box? If you have space, by all means, store your sweaters on the closet shelf. If you really want to do a bang-up job you can sort further by separating pants into dress pants, casual pants, and jeans and continue doing this with each category.
In the world of professional organizing, we call closets Prime Real Estate. Click To TweetStep 4 – The final decisions.
Now let’s make some space. It’s time to take out the trash and donations, all the way out of your house. Put the trash bags at the curb and the donation bags in your car so you can drop them off right away.
There is only one pile left. I want you to go back to your “I don’t know” pile and reevaluate each item again. Look to see how much space you have gained in your closet. If the “I don’t know” pile will crowd your closet and negate all the work you have done so far, you need to ask yourself if they are worth keeping. At this point, you may need to try on some things. This is the hardest part for a lot of people, but keep your focus because this is the last step.
Wow. You finished! Take a moment to stand at the door of your closet and look at the great job you did. You should be proud. Now you are ready to celebrate Spring with an organized wardrobe. Are you excited to get dressed tomorrow?
For more tips on creating an awesome closet read:
10 Reasons You Keep Clothes You Don’t Wear and 10 Quick Questions about an Organized Closet
Subscribe by email
Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
I highly recommend doing this with someone else. I’ve always been diligent about going through my wardrobe, but when I did it with my sister, she pointed out things that I liked that really weren’t flattering and helped me make better decisions.
Thanks Janet. Getting a different perspective is always good. Also, working to organize any space can be quite lonely, so it’s a good idea to have some support.
I’m so glad you talked about taking everything out. We end up getting rid of more when we take a look at each piece in the light of day, and can see how many duplicates we have. Plus, this gives us that chance to wipe everything down, which makes it smell clean and fresh. So important to make this space work as well as it can, and now is the perfect time of year to tackle it!
I agree. This is where Marie Kondo gets it right. Taking everything out and touching it, helps you realize how much stuff you have.
You are so right, you’ve got to take everything out of the closet so you can start organizing,step-by-step. I have drop cloths made from old sheets just for that purpose. I cover my bed and get started. It always feels good afterwards!
The bed is a great work table for this type of job! I think it’s fun to review every item.
Great tips! I’m a fan of organizing my closets seasonally. I love that you mentioned taking everything out of the closet. It is so surprising how many items get stuck in the back of the closet.
I think moving things out and into a new space helps to realize how much you have.
I love organizing closets and especially when it’s time to make the seasonal clothing switch. It’s a great time to do a big edit. However, as an alternate, if you don’t have a large chunk of time to do this, it’s OK to work on one section at a time. Removing everything at once can work, but factor in your energy level, time available, and tolerance for clutter. It could be overwhelming to empty an entire closet at once.
Yes! That is when it looks worse before it looks better. Sometimes that is when clients feel overwhelmed and panic.
Great tips for a complete closet refresh, and I love your advice about actually cleaning the whole closet. If you’ve lived someplace a long time, it’s easy for dust bunnies to get into those corners and crevices.
I will say, this year, as people have lived in their work PJs since last March, I’m not sure “Have I worn this since last spring?” will be an apt measure, but hopefully it will work again in the future as a good measure of what to keep. But I’ll add that I have one pre-closet organizing tip, and that’s to quickly go left-to-right, wall-to-wall, and remove every “empty” hanger in the closet. It’s amazing how much extra space that reveals, making it easier to go through the process.
I agree with you, Julie. Putting all the empty hangers makes a lot of space. People don’t think of that. A closet is someplace that people don’t CLEAN, so when you are decluttering and organizing is a great time to do it. I really pared down my clothes during the pandemic. I still have “nice clothes” but rethought how I’m going to dress moving forward.