Of all the tidying and decluttering jobs I have to do, my least favorite is the closet. There’s just too much stuff in too small an area, and this means my inclination to declutter is very low.

There are two options with cleaning out a closet, to empty everything out, clean the closet and put back only what you need. Or you can attack it area by area. If you procrastinate about totally gutting your closet, then maybe you feel you can attempt decluttering one small area at a time. Here is how to get started.

Categorize each area: your hanging clothes, his hanging clothes, shoes, sweaters, purses, the floor, the high shelf. Know where each defined area starts and finishes. Then tackle each small area one at a time. This is where you can gut each small area, throw things out, donate things and put back exactly what you want. By breaking up your large task into smaller ones, the whole closet can be decluttered without the stress of doing an overwhelming project.

Don’t look at each item in your closet and ask if it has value and than decide to keep it, ask yourself how many of each type of item you actually need. You may have 100 pairs of shoes that are in good condition and fit well, but maybe you only need 10 pairs. The other 90 are taking up space and cluttering your closet.

Do you have clothes that are too small for you that you are convinced you will slim into one day? Be real, throw them out. If you do slim down, you will enjoy treating yourself to new clothes. Maybe keep one size smaller, but ask yourself if you should really be keeping clothes that are two or more sizes too small.

Are there other things in your closet apart from clothes? Is your closet really the correct place to store them? Don’t use your closet as storage for things that don’t belong there.

Declutter and clean your closet regularly, I recommend once a year, and then the task won’t be so overwhelming when you do it.

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