What Should I Toss in My Next Closet Clean Out?
Goodbye 2024 and hello 2025!
I’m not sure what your 2024 year was like, but mine was filled with lots of travel, friends, moving, high cortisol levels (ha), running with my dog on the beach and new people, places, and things. Out of all of this, I think the most memorable time was getting ready to pack and leave to drive west with my husband Ryan - packing up to leave forced me to go through all my clothes and purge what I didn’t need, didn’t fit, or I just in no way or reason should have in my closet.
You know the memes where you see someone wearing a bunch of random things they find in their closet, just living in curiosity at what they’ll find next?
Yeah, that was me.
I should probably be embarrassed by this, but I think I got rid of five LARGE garbage bags of clothes. Five.
Normally, I try to clean out my closet every 6 months - once a year depending on the year and how much I bought.
A question I get asked a lot is, “What should go and what should stay?”
Here are 6 steps I recommend to use when cleaning out your closet:
Start with the area of your closet you wear the most and work towards what you wear least. (I find it helps ease into the (sometimes) overwhelming mental hurdle of a cleanout.)
Does it fit you? Be realistic—do those pants actually fit your thighs the way you want them to? Do you have to adjust the waist every time?
Did you wear it in the last year? (More than twice?) I use “within the last year” as a guide as that encompasses all four seasons.
Does it fit your lifestyle? Do you have a ton of old workwear, but now you’re a stay-at-home mom?
Do you like the texture? If that sweater is scratchy and uncomfortable, it needs to go.
How does it make you feel? If every time you put on a specific shirt you just feel “blah” - toss it!
Has your style changed? If you still have that pencil skirt and round-toe boots from 2010 lurking around.. maybe it’s time to reconsider why and donate it ;)
A closet that only has what you need, helps you dress the way
you want.