Great Closet Purge of 2014

Last weekend I did a big closet purge/reorganization.  I got tired of having clothes that don’t fit mixed in with clothes that fit.  Clothes I don’t like or don’t wear anymore mixed in with clothes I still wear.  It was time for a major purge and reorganization.  Everything came out of the closet and drawers, and only the clothes I like and still fit went back in.

Here are some before photos.

Before:  Everything was mixed together.  Short-sleeves with long sleeves and sweaters on top.  Short-sleeves with skirts on bottom. 

Before:  Too many tops I never wear anymore.  And short-sleeves were mixed in with long sleeves.

Before:  Short-sleeves arranged in ROYGBIV colors.  And skirts.

Before:  Too many clothes I never wear anymore crammed into the cubbies.

Before:  Too many purses, bags, hats on the hooks.

I spent about six hours going through all my clothes.  Some really old clothes just got tossed in the trash.  Those that were in good condition but I either don’t like or don’t fit anymore got in the donation pile. 

The donation pile got huge.  That box is really tall, all filled with stuff.  I ended up donating a lot of sweaters, because I had a disproportionate amount of sweaters for someone living in San Diego.  I hardly ever wear sweaters!

Here are some AFTER photos.

After:  All long-sleeved tops on top, all short-sleeves on bottom.  Instead of sorting by ROYGBIV colors, I sorted them by one of each color until the back, where I had extra blues and blacks. 

After:  The reason I did it this way is so I can more easily wear all my clothes.  I just grab one from the front (assuming it goes with a bottom), wear it, then at the end of the week wash them and put them into the back.  This way I’ll wear what I have.

After:  The boxes on the top shelf store my extra purses, hats, and souvenir t-shirts that I don’t wear often.

After:  All skirts and dresses in the back.

After:  So much less clothes in the cubbies!  Short-sleeve layering t-shirts on the bottom.  Long-sleeve shirts in the middle.  The top cubby has clothes that I still love, but doesn’t quite fit right now.  I hope to fit into them in 2-3 months.  If I don’t fit into them in 12 months, they will be given away.

I didn’t take a “before” photo of my pants cabinet, but it was so jam-packed that it was difficult to even take a pair of pants out.  Now this is all I have in the cabinet.  These all fit.

I’m really happy I spent the time to do this.  My last big purge was a couple of years ago.  It feels really great to be able to select only the clothes I like and fit each morning!