The average American family spends $1,700 on clothes every year. That may not seem like that much divided amongst family members, but the problem is not many of us get rid of stuff.
So, it just accumulates in our closets. Five On Your Side wants to help you declutter your closet to help organize your wardrobe and relax your mind. To do that, I invited a professional organizer to my home to pick apart my closet.
My wardrobe is a big part of my job and my closet is a reflection of that. It’s packed full of work dresses, shoes, more dresses and more shoes. All the clutter can be a little overwhelming when it comes to finding what to wear.
Professional organizer Susan Stewart of Perfectly Placed has been transforming closet for over 10 years.
When first seeing my closet Stewart laughed, "It's not that bad, I’ve dealt with worse."
She did, however, take note of how full it was.
"We try to fill the closet and think it’s all about maximizing every inch but nothing looks good when every inch is maximized," she explained.
Stewart has some very simple, easy ways we can turn our closets into usable, works of art:
- USE THE SAME HANGERS
"It's just going to give you a nice clean line," she said.
- COLOR CODE
"It makes it look prettier and hey pretty things matter," she explained about how it’s easier on the eyes.
- HELP BOOTS STAND UP STRAIGHT WITH ROLLED UP MAGAZINES OR POOL NOODLES AND SANDLES CAN BE PLACED IN A BASKET
- DON’T OVERCLUTTER
“You really want to think more like two-thirds to three-fourths, think about white space."
- IF SOMETHING NEW COMES IN, SOMETHING OLD HAS TO COME OUT
The last tip is a lot easier said than done. But Stewart says there’s a way to weed out the stuff you don’t need anymore.
"If you're really having trouble knowing what can go and what can stay and you don't know when was the last time you wore it, you can turn all of your hangers backwards and then when you wear something you put it in forward," she explained.
Stewart says if after 3-6 months you still have hangers facing backwards, those are the clothes that have to go.
The same idea pertains to jewelry.
"Remember the 80-20 rule too. 80 percent of the time, you're wearing 20 percent of the stuff you have," said Stewart.
