Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
October 10, 2018 Issue No. 259
Twenty-Minute Closet Refresh
I can easily spend an entire four-hour session with a client working on their closet, but sometimes that isn’t their priority. Still, most clients want to give their closet a once-over. Here’s what you need to know to do my quick-and-easy closet refresh. Obviously, the more clothes, the longer it will take… but in twenty minutes any closet can look better.
- Do a quick sweep from one end to the other and pull out empty hangers. Set them aside.
- Any clothes on the floor or tossed over the bar? Put them on hangers (unless of course they should be laundered, donated or thrown away).
- Starting from one end, methodically look at each item:
- Make sure everything is facing the same direction, buttons all facing one way and hangers hooked over the bar in the same direction.
- If you have spare hangers, use this opportunity to rid yourself of any wire hangers from the drycleaners. Call me Joan.
- For each item, look to see if it needs to be laundered, mended, donated, or thrown away.
- After everything is hanging neatly, spend a few minutes putting like with like: Long dresses together, short dresses together, suits together, and so on for skirts, jackets, pants, jeans, shirts.
- Don’t forget your shoes. Now that all your long clothes are together, tall boots may fit nicely under shirts. Stack rarely worn special-occasion shoes in boxes on an upper shelf if you have space, or on the floor under more-frequently worn shoes. (Rarely worn shoes that are not special can be donated.) Do any need a visit to the cobbler? If they’re too far-gone, toss them.
There may be more to do, but spending twenty minutes can perk things up, and you may discover some clothes you forgot you even had.