1-Day Closet Purge

closet purge closet purge

If your wardrobe is full of pre-baby, maternity, and everything in between, it’s time for: a closet purge! It took me just one day to go through six years of stuff, and it was totally worth it. Cleaning has never felt so good!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

1. Clear out

  • I took everything from my closet and dumped it on my couch. I have to warn you this is somewhat of an overwhelming approach, but it certainly forces you to start.

2. Sort into piles

  • Sort by definite giveaways, keepers, things that need to be ironed or cleaned, things beyond repair, and stuff you aren’t sure about – that was definitely the biggest pile.
  • My advice here is to be decisive, be quick, know that it’s going to get worse before it gets better, and you just gotta keep going!!

3. Try on

  • I didn’t realize how much my body and my style has changed since having kids. This was tough – I made a decision not to hold onto old favorites hoping one day they would maybe fit and really focus on what looks good on me now. If there were similar items I picked my favorite so I’d have less redundancy in my closet.
  • It is extremely helpful to have someone there for encouragement. Katie from the office was nice enough to join and give me her fantastically honest opinions.
  • When we were done I was so proud of these two huge garbage bags of giveaways because I know my clothes, especially the work stuff, are really going to help someone.

4. Arrange clothes back in the closet

  • I was kind of obsessed switching to wooden hangers. For my pants, I tried these awesome open-ended ones. I then piled everything into categories on my bed like tank tops and dresses and then it was finally time to put them back in the closet with as little interruption as possible.
  • I put things that I wear less frequently in the back and vice versa. I want to mention that with wooden hangers you can’t fit as many clothes in which I think is actually a really good thing for me. Also, for items that slip you might need some anti-slip grips.

5. Clear the floor

  • Our closet is supposed to be a walk-in closet and it definitely isn’t. We hung up the belts and the scarves and got a great storage bench that you can open up and put in duffel bags and random stuff in to keep them out of sight. Now the kids can sit and hang out in my closet.
  • We didn’t go crazy with wallpaper or chandeliers but Presley did make a couple of drawings that I think look really cute. I hung up my jewelry which looked great.

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Elle Walker is a co-founder at What's Up Moms and the mom to three kids (10, 7, 5). In her spare time, she loves testing out kids activities (often muttering, "Pinterest, you lie"), to find the best activities that minimize set-up, reduce costs, and uses stuff up around the house. Follow her behind the scenes at Instagram @whatsupelle. {{Privy:Embed campaign=591322}}