Closet Cleaning

Guess what I did yesterday?

Here’s another hint…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo3vHKimpi4

Cleaned out my closet. Yep. It’s that time of year to make way for spring and summer clothes.

And umm no, my closet doesn’t even compare to the beauties pictured above:) And it was no where near as fun as SJP and friends had cleaning out her closet while popping champagne! (note to self — next time).

So, before I began this “painful-to-me” task I contacted my good friend Kristin Van Dusen of

design + conquer

to get some tips to make this brutal task more efficient and dare I say

more enjoyable

and … Guess what?

She delivered!

So, of course I had to share her tips with you and I’m 

thrilled to have her guest post today. Take it away, Kristin…

Kristin Van Dusen, Certified Professional Organizer.

design + conquer

here!

Closet giving you trouble?

No problem just follow these tips and you’ll have this task

conquered

in no time!

Look at the current set up of your closet and begin removing everything by section.

Use your bed and bedroom floor space as a staging area to divide everything into 5 categories:

1.

Keep

2.

Donate

3.

Consign (if you want – otherwise combine with donate)

4.

Action (take to dry cleaners, needs to be fixed, etc.)

5.

Come back to later

Don’t spend longer than 30 seconds trying to decide which category to put something into.

If you get locked up just put it in the “come back to later” pile and re-visit it after you have gone through everything else.

Beware of keeping items for emotional reasons.

When you keep an item for emotional reasons, every time you see this item you have a sub-conscious mental dialogue with yourself that stirs up various negative feelings. From guilt (“I can’t get rid of this – my mom gave it to me”) to foolishness (“I can’t believe I wasted so much money on this”) to just plain feeling bad about yourself (“I used to be able to fit into this”).

That’s a whole lot of negative mental chatter every time you enter your closet.

Once you have narrowed down your keep pile (

remember only those things that

make you feel good

when you wear them!

) sort them by category- shirts, pants, dresses, jeans, suits, etc.

Hangers are everything!

Be sure you have wooden hangers for coats/suits, satin padded for delicate items, and slimline hangers for everything else

here

Once everything is out of the closet and sorted, it’s time to clean the closet.

At a minimum use a damp cloth and a vacuum.

If you’re really motivated you can even slap on a fresh coat of paint.

For items such as sweaters that are better folded, you can put them on a shelf with dividers, you can place them in a hanging canvas bag or use an acrylic sweater drawer from

The ContainerStore.

I use these multi-purpose drawers ALL THE TIME as they come in a variety of sizes (shoe, shirt, sweater, etc.).

Thanks Kristin! xoxo – you really are a life-saver! If you want more information on Kristin and

design + conquer

 you can contact her

here

!

 Random Thoughts

Also impressed again  by this … I mean really … how does she do it?

here

to learn more. This chick Cara needs to come to my house and transform me. Like Tonight.

Before I go

here

. You’re coming tonight right?

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