This is the first series of blog posts on how to organize your wardrobe once and for all. After all, learning how to organize your wardrobe will save you so much time and energy on a day to day basis. Who wouldn’t want that! As women with ADHD we have to get dressed every day and sometimes more than once for different activities – no wonder without a system in place our clothes can get messed up quickly. I hope you enjoy this series and here is to being able to find what you want, and when you want it.
Identify your reasons for organizing your closet – When it comes to your closet, there are a few common things that I have heard and said so many times, that you are bound to resonate with at least one – this would usually be the reason you want to get your space more organized and you want to identify the reason so you will have more motivation to get it done.
Have you found yourself saying any of these in the past few days – “I haven’t got anything to wear”, “I can’t find”, “My…. Is in the wash”. These are all common complaints heard in most households, and the main problem with organizing your closet (or lack of it) is being able to find what you need, when you need it, and it being clean and ready to wear. Once you know why you want to get your closet organized, it will give you momentum to get it done.
Take everything out of your closet – It helps to get your closet completely empty when you get started, as you can see what you have in terms of clothes and also space for storing once they go back in. You may find it difficult to go through your clothes if you take out only thing at a time, it is time for a clean slate, to really make a positive change so why not just go for it.
Assess the space that you have to work with– If you miss this step you will miss a trick. If you have plenty of space then you will be able to put all your clothes back where you had the, but more in an organized way, or you may have to think about storing them somewhere else. Think about where else you can put your clothes, but word of caution here, you don’t want to move the problem and that other room just becomes another dumping ground for clothes clutter. Think about the closet space in your home and mark out places that you would be able to easily store your clothes. By now you should have some idea on what space you have to work with, what should go where.
Sort through each item – Pick up each item of clothing and make a decision about it right there and then- don’t procrastinate or this step may overwhelm you and you won’t get any further. The best way to sort your clothes is to create a pile for each of the following
Keep Frequent Use- These are the clothes that fit and goes with other items, these are the clothes that you wear often or in the past three months
Keep Infrequent use – These are the special occasion outfits, such as evening wear, wedding dress, maternity clothes
Keep – Out of season – This is whatever is not worn in the season you are currently in
Keep Action – These are the clothes that needs to be brought to the dry cleaner or needs to be mending. You won’t wear them until these clothes get done so they are of no use or value at the present.’
Charity Clothes that are in good condition that can go to the goodwill or Salvation Army.’
Throw Away – These are the clothes that have stains or old that no one will be able to wear’
So now that you have looked at the space, gone through each item of clothing and made a decision about what category it belongs in, got all the items out of the house that you are not planning to keep and auctioned item that needs to be fixed so you can start wearing them again. Give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done. Next week I will be talking covering how to organize the clothes that you have left.