Empty Closets

It has been on my to-do list for over a year, but I finally got around to cleaning out my closet and drawers. I took every article of clothing out and placed it on the floor. And then I only put back things I would wear today OR during a special situation. For instance, I have a cocktail dress that I clearly do not wear to work, but it fits, and I would wear it if I had to go to a cocktail party.

My closet and drawers were pretty empty by the time I finished, but at least I could see what I owned that also fit. Figuring out what to wear to a meeting suddenly became a lot easier.

But I felt anxious about getting rid of so much clothing all at once. Most of it didn’t fit, but what if I wanted to return something to the closet that was on the line? I put all of the clothes in storage with a note to return to them in one year. If I haven’t missed them in one year, I could look at them one more time and then release them.

It was sort of the best of both worlds: low risk (getting rid of something I may want in the future) and high reward (easy-to-navigate closets and drawers).