The 80/20 Rule, also known as Pareto's Principle, is especially true for the clothes we own versus the clothes we actually wear. One of the simplest ways to clear out clutter is to reduce the amount of stuff we have!
January is Clean-Out-Your-Closet-Month, so make time this week to go to your closet and turn all the hangers around so your clothes are hanging backward. Once you've worn an outfit, hang it back up in the regular direction.
At the end of the year, you'll have gone through every season and many occasions, and you'll be able to see at a glance which items you haven't worn. Then you can ask yourself "Why?" If it's a fancy dress but you just didn't have any fancy occasions, keep it. If it is missing a button or needs to be hemmed, sew on the button or take it to the tailor within a week or else get rid of it. If it will look great on you if you just lose another 5 pounds, get rid of it immediately and instead wear something that looks great on you now (and reward yourself with a new top if you do lose those last 5 pounds!).
Halfway through the year, when some of your hangers are turned in one direction and some are in the other, your closet will look a bit chaotic, but I promise it will be worth it when you're left with a closet full of clothes you love to wear!
Two more quick tips to clean up the closet:
- Use the same style and color of hangers to streamline the look (look at every organized closet ad and you'll see they all do this)
- Keep like colors and styles together (the ads do this too ... but seriously, who has only white clothing???)
