The following is a sponsored post by Value Village. All opinions are my own & I only recommend products or services that I personally use and believe my readers will enjoy.
It’s 2015 and many of us are itching to get our lives organized. So to get us fired up and purging how about we clean out our closets and tackle all the clothes we have stored in there. Chances are you don’t need a bigger closet, you just need to weed through and purge what you have in there. How many times have you stood in front of your full closet and heard yourself say “I have nothing to wear”? What we really mean is that we have clothes but not enough time to sift through all the items we don’t love, have to be ironed, need mending, need stain removal, need to be dry cleaned, don’t fit, don’t match, no appropriate accessories to go with and so on and so on. Until today! Today I will show you how to go through your clothes and do a necessary purge so what you are left with are things you love and are excited to wear.
I just did my closet last week and it was another big purge-a-thon for me. Last year I went down through 3 sizes (and 25 pounds!) over the course of the year and it was important that I only kept clothes in my closet that actually fit and weren’t too big and baggy on me as the weight came off. This helped tremendously with my weight loss motivation. Oh and I know that sounds expensive but I buy the majority of my clothes at thrift stores, including my favorite thrift store, Value Village. This is a great way to transition through different sizes without spending a fortune.
For those that might not be familiar with Value Village stores (or Savers stores as they are called in parts of the US) they are a family of thrift stores operating more than 330 locations in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. Value Village stocks an ever-changing selection of about 100,000 items on the sales floor, and up to 10,000 fresh pieces are added daily with over 90% of the merchandise being less than $10.00. Value Village has one of the largest recycling programs in the world, giving gently used goods a second life and diverting more than 650 million pounds of goods from North American landfills each year.
4 Step Process for a Clothes Closet Clean Out:
1. Quick Purge
Start by doing a really quick purge to toss out the items you know that you don’t love or wear ever. Make a toss pile either on your floor or on your bed.
2. Try Everything On and Purge Some More
Now let’s deal with the items you are on the fence about. It’s time to try these things on. Take about 10 things out of your closet at a time and try them all on. You heard me. This can be the difference between keeping something you “think” you love and tossing it once you are reminded why you don’t. Give yourself a good look over in front of the mirror. Go through my list below (I’ve shared this list before but it’s a good one!) to determine what should stay or go.
Org Junkie’s Tips for Parting with Your Clothes
1. If you haven’t worn something in a year then out it goes regardless of condition, price or size. Why a year? Because you cover every season in that period of time. If you haven’t worn it during the year, you probably never will.
2. If you have a piece of clothing that you wear but are annoyed with it every time you do, seriously stop it.
3. If it’s waiting to be mended and it’s been waiting for a long time then enough is enough already.
4. If you hate to iron and your ironing pile sits there totally neglected while you wear all your favorite clothing over and over again, why do you still have an ironing pile?
5. I’m not opposed to keeping your “skinny” clothes (and I know we all do it) but for goodness sakes you don’t need to keep all of it. Styles change, your tastes change, your body shape changes so chances are good that when you get back to that size you’re going to want new stuff anyway.
6. If you absolutely love a shirt but never wear it because you have nothing to wear it with, well guess what, a mate isn’t going to magically appear in the night. Follow the one year rule.
7. Sentimental clothes that you aren’t wearing shouldn’t reside in your closet. Either take a picture of it and preserve the memory or limit yourself to one tote of “clothes to show my kids so they can laugh their heads off at me someday”.
8. Don’t hang onto something that is “just alright” because you don’t have something better yet to replace it. Let it go now unless it means you go naked, that wouldn’t be right.
9. You don’t have to do it all at once. Try organizing in stages and be motivated by your success. One day you could do shirts, the next day shorts, etc..
10. Try everything on. This one I can’t stress enough. Do not hold something up and say oh this is so beautiful I’m going to keep it. That’s too easy and what you might not remember is that, although it’s beautiful, the buttons gape at the front showing off your woman parts. Nope we don’t want that now do we. Get rid of it.
11. You only have the space that you do. Jamming your clothes into the closet and fighting with them every single day to find what you need won’t make your closet grow in the night. It will only make you grumpy…every single day. It’s not worth it.
And just in case you need a daily kick in the pants reminder, here is a copy for you to print out and stash away in your closet if you need to 🙂 Click on the link below for the pdf file.
Free Printable – 11 Rules to Help You Declutter Your Clothes
Ahhh now doesn’t that feel good? You know it does! By now you should have a great big pile of clothes ready to leave your house. My purge pile from last week looked like this. Best feeling ever!
My purge pile included 29 tops, 2 pairs of shorts, 3 skirts, 3 pairs of pants, 5 pairs of capri pants, 6 tank tops, 2 sweaters, 3 belts, 3 wallets, one purse and one scarf. That’s 58 items from my closet!!!!
AND I even parted ways with my favorite bedazzled reindeer sweater. Oh yes I did, such a sad day indeed but it’s just too big for me now. I think everyone should have a bedazzled wild life sweater in their closet, don’t you? hahaha.
3. Sell or Donate
Now what to do with all your castaways? Well you could try to sell it all if you’ve got the time via Craigslist or Kijiji or even local Facebook sell pages in your area. For me I like to get it out of my house as fast as possible without a lot of work but it’s still nice to get something for it though as well. Value Village provides the perfect solution.
During the month of January (and other select times throughout the year) they offer a donor program where you are rewarded for dropping off donations. For every large, full box or shopping bag you are rewarded with a 5% discount on anything you buy in store up to 30% off (check your local store for current promotions as new ones are added often). These types of promotions make me so happy because I get to save additional dollars on already reduced prices! It’s a win-win! I took advantage of this awesome program back in August for back to school shopping for my youngest and got some amazing deals with my 20% discount earned. If you are interested you can read that post HERE.
4. Organize Your Closet
Now it’s time to organize all that’s left back into your closet. In 2013 I ran a series where I discussed all things closet organization for 31 days straight!! I provided many ideas and resources for maximizing your closet storage space. Check it out and get ideas by clicking on the banner below.
So friends what are you waiting for? Get in your closet and start purging today! I promise you it doesn’t take as long as you think it will but I know time is at a premium which is why I recommend only taking out 10 or so items at a time. Whether you tackle your entire closet in one day or do a little each day, you will get there and you will feel great!
If you feel like showing off your purge pile (and why not!) tag me on Instagram @orgjunkie so I can come celebrate with you 🙂
For more information about Value Village please visit these various channels:
Facebook: Value Village and Savers
Instagram: Value Village and Savers
Pinterest: Value Village/Savers
Twitter: Value Village/Savers
Happy purging!
Justine says
If you love this sweater so much you should keep it and do a pillow cover with it. Like so you can still enjoy it and it won’t clutter your closet anymore.
Justine
Marcia Francois says
Laura, I’m still thinking about 58 items!!!!
WOW – I wonder if I’d have any left 🙂
Congrats again on your weight loss. I joined Weigh-less on Sat and I want to lose 6.8 kg which is 15 pounds. EEK!
Susanne says
I did my purge right before Christmas because I lost weight too and was tired of putting something on in the morning and hating it because it didn’t fit anymore and the having to rechange 3 times before I found something that looked like it fit right. But after reading this #2 hit me and another item is going in the donation box. It’s a sweater I really like, love the color and style but everytime I wear it I’m annoyed at how the collar and shoulder pull down and I’m always pulling on it. Don’t know why it was so hard to say good bye to it but I am now!
Haley says
I purge my closet throughout the year and am still surprised how much I can let go when I do a concentrated purge. I think my boyfriend got rid of 4 paper bags of clothes the other day! I was so proud. We are doing the 31 day purge because we plan on moving in the spring and a week in I had a car load of stuff I took to Savers!
Havok says
I’ve been telling myself I need to go through the closet, but because it’s not “full” and I still have a few hangers, that I dont’ need to. But I’m horribly, horribly wrong! I have quite a few things in there that I know I won’t wear…just taking up space! It must be time to go through everything, as “closet organization” has come up twice today so far (in the span of an hour and a half)!!
Becky L says
I just took a winter sweatshirt out. Not worn last year. In a pile of get rid of me stuff. Still have a few maybes. Still need to go thru a tote with my mom’s sweaters. Wool and am sure someone could use them now. She is gone. Was not sure what or when to let them go when she was living. Even tho she did not need them in the nursing home. That would free up space in another room and totes to use elsewhere. I have a plan!!
Keri says
I so need to do this. My closet is so crowded and I rotate through about a dozen of my favorite outfits. I used to buy vintage dresses and have several that I got with the plan to take them in. Like 2 years ago. I’m obviously doing fine without them!
Dara says
I’ve been meaning to purge recently for the new season as well, so these are all good reminders. However, I often discover that when I go through my clothes I find one or two pieces I used to love but hadn’t worn in ages and suddenly they become my favorites again. So my two cents is to try to buy what can last stylistically in case you just go through phases of likes/dislikes.