I have been on a bit of a shopping kick lately. As each new purchase arrived I hastily stuck it in my closet, vowing to  make room for it later. Over the past couple of months it became clear that I needed to declutter my closet. My sweater stacks were more like piles. I used every nook and cranny to stash shoes. Oh, and it took more time than I cared to admit to rummage for  a bra. It wasn’t fun to shop in my closet, even for the cute new things I’d recently acquired!

So I decided to use my biannual closet swap to make some room for my new treasures. Every Spring I put the heavy winter sweaters and boots away and bring forward the lighter weight knits and sandals. This year I would add some radical honesty into the mix, employing a few tricks to make my closet shoppable again.

Everyone has a finite amount of closet space. I have a very nice walk-in closet that I share with my husband. Your closet may not be as big as mine (or maybe it’s bigger!) but we all have some mix of hanging, shelving and drawer space to work with. Here’s a run down of how I decluttered each of my spaces to make my closet feel fresh, Spring-forward and fun to shop in.

Hanging Space: The Hanger Trick

When I went to declutter my closet, the first challenge was hangers. My first instinct when I ran out was to buy some more. They aren’t that expensive (I use this velvet variety) and I can get a pack of 25 or 50 easily. But my better angels reminded me that more hangers take up more space. More space taken equals less shoppable hanging bars. So, instead of buying more hangers I decided to free some up! I needed to clear at least as many hangers as I had new purchases.

I targeted my knits and tops since they hadn’t been decluttered in awhile. Then I scanned visually for what no longer fit, was out of style, or was a bad purchase that I never actually wear. It takes some radical honesty to admit that my boobs are never going to shrink enough to wear the top I used to love. Or to face the fact that I threw some money away on something I don’t really like. I let the regret have its 90 seconds, then I removed the offending items into donation bags. No new hangers needed! But the bigger problem was my shelves.

Shelf Space: The Good Boxes

How to declutter my closet shelves? My shelf space houses my sweaters, denim and shoes. Most of the new things I’ve gotten lately are (you guessed it) sweaters, denim and shoes. A quick visual scan provided some decluttering candidates: A pair of Adidas high tops I routinely pass over in favor of Nikes. A couple of pairs of neglected skinny jeans. A sweater I love that unfortunately has a visible hole in it. Sadly, removing those few items did not give me the space I needed on my shelves. So I looked deeper and found…shoe boxes.

Is anyone else a sucker for a good box? I don’t keep my sneaker boxes but I have many pairs of designer shoes and for some reason find it so hard to part with the boxes! In my defense, I house my off-season shoes in their boxes on my highest shelves. They do serve a purpose. But what I discovered upon closer inspection is that I had a decent amount of shelf space taken up by boxes. Just boxes, with no shoes in them! There are shoes that never need to be in boxes because they are seasonless. They always stay on the shelves. If I end up donating or selling those shoes, the boxes will not be involved. So why exactly, was I keeping the boxes? 

I am embarrassed to say that it was very difficult for me to part with those boxes. There were 5 of them. Letting them go freed up an entire shelf! But it was hard – and I had to push through some major discomfort. Sometimes the gravitational pull of feelings defies the logical argument, but I eventually pulled through. Because I knew it was the right thing to do for my closet! 😂

Drawer Space: The Bygone Era

Maybe this is TMI but my boobs used to be much smaller. Somewhere in my menopausal journey they grew several cup sizes. Along the same journey I decided I don’t much care for underwire, and wireless bras began migrating into my drawers. I have to say, I don’t pay much attention to the drawers where I keep my intimates. I have never been into lingerie and don’t spend a lot of time agonizing about what I’m wearing underneath the clothes I do care about.

The short story is, I had a lot of bras (and bathing suits!) that were no longer relevant for my current body shape. I just simply hadn’t encountered them because they were at the bottom of the pile of bras in my drawer!

As I set out to declutter my closet,I found once I excavated them it was a completely different experience to open my bra drawer and select what I needed. Easy to open, no rummaging and everything clearly visible. It didn’t take a lot of time but boy, did it make a big difference in my closet!

The Closet Refreshed

At the end of this exercise (which took a couple of hours) I reveled in my newly shoppable closet. Everything neatly hung (with a few hangers to spare!), folded and contained in drawers. It only took a couple of hours because I didn’t take apart my whole closet/dressers. Rather, I used the Spring swap as a reset to help me make room for the things that mattered in my wardrobe today and focused on just a few space-offending categories.

Now I have 4 bags for Goodwill and one small pile of designer items I’ll consign through The RealReal. For me, parting with clothes takes a lot of mental energy so I like the step after that to be as easy as possible. And now my closet feels so refreshed!

Need more than just a closet refresh? My Bedroom & Closet Room Guide is one of my most popular guides. It takes you through the process of decluttering your whole closet – category by category, in the most efficient and painless way ❤️

The post I Decided to Declutter My Closet for Spring—Here’s What I Learned appeared first on Method Seattle.

Every Fall I swap my closet. For years our primary bedroom closet was not big enough to house my generous wardrobe (a mainstay of my then career in fashion retail.) Everything ‘off-season’ I kept in our guest room closet downstairs. The closet swap was a big job in those days, requiring multiple trips up and down the stairs. Because it was kind of a pain, I developed some rituals around it to make it feel less like a chore and more like a fun activity.

Today our closet is twice the size and my wardrobe reduced significantly so there is room for all seasons. The closet swap is easier because there is less stuff and I don’t have to cart anything up and down stairs. And the ritual has evolved further to represent an opportunity to declutter instead of just swapping seasons. 

Here are the swaps I focus on each Fall as I prepare for ‘sweatah weathah’ and take advantage of the chance to keep my closet beautifully shoppable!

Spring/Summer for Fall/Winter

Keeping to the original purpose of the closet swap, I bring the colder-weather categories forward while banishing the warmer weather items to less accessible spots. This exercise can vary in its flavor for differently sized closets and different climates. If you are in a southern clime with less seasonal variation there may not be a lot to swap. Working with small closet real-estate means you may be pulling the spring/summer clothes out of the closet completely so you have room for fall/winter. If your closet is of the large, walk-in variety it may be a matter of merely switching some categories around to make the current season items visible and easy to grab.

In my closet, I don’t need to touch my hanging categories at all. But I bring my bulkier sweaters and long jeans down from higher shelves. Then I move shorts and sleeveless knits up high. A bigger job is putting my sandals away in their shoeboxes up high around the perimeter of the closet. Next I my boots from captivity. This exercise is a bit cumbersome, I admit. But that is why I bring the party vibes and take my time about it!

New for Old

I use my bi-annual closet swap to make room for anything new I’ve acquired over the previous months. Because I do like to shop, the new stuff sneaks in and I don’t edit anything old in real time to make room. If I already have a lot in certain categories then things start to look pretty messy over time. Until it’s time for the closet swap!

The two categories that are abundant for me in this stage of midlife are sweatshirts and sneakers. Because I wear them a lot I’m often tempted by new and fun versions that make their way into my closet. For instance, three new sweatshirts and 4 new pairs of sneakers joined my wardrobe since my last swap. Since I didn’t really have room they were kind of shoved/tossed in. During my swap I purposefully created room for them.

First I decluttered my sweatshirts. I donated 3 total; two were part of sets I got during the pandemic and wore to death. One was an impulse buy (also during the pandemic!) that I never wear. That created room for my three new guys. Sneakers were a different story – I only found one pair to donate. Which lead me to the third opportunity to swap.

Space for Deadwood

I often tout the value of space as a mindset shift when decluttering. What I mean by that is to place the same value on open space as you do on the things taking up the space. In a closet setting that means giving yourself room to ‘shop’ your closet. 

My new shoes caused the space allocated for sneakers to overflow. Instead of neat rows, they were more like piles – not very visually appealing and hard to ‘shop’. And because I only got rid of one pair of sneakers I still had a problem.

The solution was to allocate more space for sneakers by decluttering a different category and shrinking its footprint. What I discovered in this year’s swap was how many empty shoe boxes were taking up the real estate on my high shelves. Over the past few years I’d done a good job of editing out shoes I no longer wore (heels!) but I somehow didn’t edit the boxes.

Once I got rid of the excess boxes I used the space to place other shoe categories that I wear less frequently than sneakers. Which in turn gave me more sneaker space. Now I have room to see all of my sneakers. And can easily grab the pair that tickles my fancy that day.

I also took the opportunity to peruse through my other clothing categories, looking for things I don’t really wear anymore. I found several tee shirts, workout tops, a pair of sandals and some leggings that were languishing at the back of drawers. Those drawers look and feel so much better now!

Chaos for Order

The closet swap is such a good ritual to keep your closet decluttered and shoppable. But if you haven’t even done one you may find it overwhelming to start cold turkey. If your closet is a source of stress, I recommend starting with my Bedroom & Closet Room Guide instead of a swap. It will guide you through a full closet reset, including preparation steps, decluttering and organizing. I’ve included so many category-specific tips, hacks and product recommendations. You can turn your closet into a shoppable boutique, no matter what size it is!

Happy Fall and Happy Closet Swapping to you!

The post Closet Swap Therapy: Declutter, Refresh, Repeat appeared first on Method Seattle.