No exaggeration. This past few weeks I have been going through my closets, as I have done for about a decade, and realized that this helpful hint needs to be shared with as many people as possible!
Every year, at the beginning of the year (or whenever you choose to designate as your cleaning day... spring cleaning? Birthday cleaning? for me... it's a New year's resolution cleaning...), turn around all of your hangers. Instead of putting them onto the rod from the front, as you're used to, turn them so that you have to hook them over the rod from behind. Put all of your things from shelves onto a bottom or top shelf. Cram them in if you have to. And put all of the things from your drawers into as few drawers as you can manage.
Every time you need something, get it out. When you wash it, put it back away in it's proper place.
By the end of the year, the things you WEAR will be in their proper place. The things you haven't cared enough about to bother to wear within the past year will still be on backwards hangars, on the bottom (or top) shelf that's hard to reach, or crammed into the bottom drawer.
Purge those things. Either give them away, or toss them, or sell them at a yard sale. For things you can't envision parting with (a favorite old silk blouse), it's ok to keep them if you are a seamstress who wants to use it for a quilt, but take it out of your closet and put it into your quilting project stash. Be very picky about what you are willing to add to your stash.
There will be a few exceptions to this rule... the formal dress that you did not have a chance to wear because you didn't go to any formal events this year... the interview suit that, likewise, did not see any interviews. But more often, the reason you did not wear something is that you saw a little stain on it, or the collar doesn't stand up nicely any more, or there is a problem with the hem and you don't like it enough to fix it. Or maybe it's no longer your size and you're hoping to get back into it someday. (for those, understand that the day you can fit into skinny clothes again, you will prefer a newer, more updated wardrobe choice than the old skinny clothes that are the style of a decade ago.)
You will have to say "goodbye" to socks without mates undergarments that have holes in them, and pants that lost their shape. But recognize that if you have not worn these things in a full year, you will most likely never wear them. Let them monopolize valuable real estate in someone ELSE's closet! You can use the space in your closet to see the remaining clothing more clearly, organize yourself and ... well, fill it up.
I mean, if you threw away your formerly favorite white sweater because it had a stain on it and you couldn't wear it for the past year, but you really love having a white sweater and consider it as a staple in your closet, you now have space to bring in a new, WEAR-able white sweater!
And honestly, you will never know how great it feels to drive to the Salvation Army with a trunkload of stuff that used to clutter up your closet, until you've done it once. After that, you'll be hooked.
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