Have you ever been out shopping and discovered a piece of clothing that you just “had to have” only to get home and find that you already have four items just like it? Or ever stood in front of your closet staring at the things hanging in front of you and thought, “I have nothing to wear”? This was me and I got sick of wasting my time in the morning searching for something to wear only to find myself pulling out the same pants or blouse several times during a week and I was tired of feeling like I was wasting my money when I went shopping.
This was because my clothes were all hung in various forms of disarray based on how I last did laundry or where I could find space at the time. The result is that my long sleeve black shirt was hanging next to a yellow dress which was next to a pair of green skinny jeans. No wonder I was spending 20 min staring at my closet pondering what to put on for work that day! I couldn’t find anything and I didn’t really know what was in my closet, because I couldn’t see my clothes clearly!
Now imagine instead that when you go to your closet, all your black tops are together, all your blue tops are together, all your grey tops are together, you get the picture. Now next to those colored tops you see all your pants hung in the same way. When I did this, I discovered I had way too many things in one color which resulted in not having enough variety in my wardrobe to give me options. No wonder I was frustrated every morning! When there’s ten blue tops, two white ones and one grey it becomes obvious why I felt like I was wearing the same thing over and over which lead to the “I have nothing to wear” syndrome.
I encourage you to try it and see what happens! Here are some tips to get started:
- start simple.
You are not required to take everything out of your closet and take inventory of what you have. Start moving the already hung clothes into groups of colors. You’ll quickly find out what you have to work with. If you’re on a roll, start moving all the pants to one side of the closet and keep your tops at the other end.
- arrange things by season
Think of your clothes in terms of Summer and Winter. Take the items that are for the opposite of what you’re currently living and put them away for later. For example, if it’s currently summer when you do this, take all the winter items out and store them. Staring at a comfy long sleeve sweater in the middle of summer will only frustrate you. This will not only free up space in your closet, but you’ll discover if you lots of cold weather items and not enough summer ones or vice versa.
- keep dresses separate from shirts and pants
By keeping the dresses separate from your shirts and pants you’ll be able to focus your attention when you are searching for an outfit to wear to work or to a dinner party.
- hang all your pants
It’s easier to see what items go together when they are all hanging in front of you. I even hang my jeans. This frees up space in my dresser for workout clothes, undies, pajamas, etc.
Happy hanging!