30-Day Organize-athon | Day 2: Clear Out Your Hanging Closet

30-Day Organize-athon 02

Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!

In today’s 5 minutes we’re going to express-clear the hanging part of your closet.

Take a deep breath as you imagine inhaling a sense of clarity, freedom and order, and off we go!

Day 2: Clear Out Your Hanging Closet

Step 1: Grab a large garbage bag.

Step 2: Open up the hanging part of your closet and, quickly scanning your clothes from left to right, toss into the bag anything that:

  • Doesn’t fit
  • Feels scratchy or unpleasant against your skin
  • Is in a shape that doesn’t suit you
  • Is in a color that doesn’t suit you
  • Has a neckline or hem length that doesn’t suit you
  • Has negative memories or associations
  • Is tatty
  • Has been worn too many times
  • Is tragically out of fashion
  • Is not your style any more
  • Makes you feel uncomfortable or unhappy
  • Hasn’t been worn in the past 12 months.

Step 3: Do a second scan, left to right, for anything that needs repair, alteration or laundering. If you know you’ll never get around to the repair, alteration or dry cleaning, then pop these items straight into your first bag. Otherwise, put them aside for later attention.

Step 4: Put your bag by the door or take it straight out to the car. (Take it to the charity store or tip as soon as you can. Really good stuff should go to charity, but let junk go.)

And you’re done!

Got an Extra 5 Minutes?

  1. Notice what’s still in your closet – the styles, colors and shapes that suit you – and make a note to buy more if you need them.
  2. Notice what you’ve decided to ditch – the styles, colors and shapes that don’t work for you – and make a What Not To Wear list to avoid future fashion faux pas.
  3. Tidy your clothes and straighten your hangers.

Now aren’t you looking forward to getting dressed?

The 30-Day Organize-athon Mantra

Move fast. Don’t overthink. Let it go!

Start the 5-minute timer now.

Leave Your Comment Below…

Please leave a comment below to say you’ve completed today’s task.

See you back here tomorrow!

[Image by aussiegall]

Michele | Get Organized Gal

Michele is into writing, books, simplicity, love, TV, productivity, and staying thin in a world of chocolate.

415 thoughts on “30-Day Organize-athon | Day 2: Clear Out Your Hanging Closet”

  2. Am says:

    Ok, so maybe it is easier for me to clean than to purge, because this closet mission seemed way harder than my first mission.

  5. John says:

    Oh this was easy for me. Difficult for my wife
    but we worked as a team for checks and balances
    and now rule our closet!! We are out of the closet
    organizers! –John

  7. Tanya McKenzie says:

    Funny how you buy things, wear them a few times and then decide that they aren’t really flattering. Oh well, in this case my loss, not large thankfully, is the charity shop’s gain and I’ll be happy that both sides have benefited. Thanks for the challenge!

  8. Ann says:

    Well, my closet has no hanging items. 🙁 They are all on shelves or the floor. It’s a really weird shape closet and I have not figured out to get hanging bars in there to work. Now if you do the rest of the closet, I’ll be spending alot of time there. I have a ton of stuff to get rid so I can see floor. As soon as we can afford it, we’re knocking out moving some walls to turn that into a walk-in closet. Then I will hopefully have hanging bars and a nice neat closet.

  9. Amy J says:

    4 trash bags full of clothes that didn’t fit or were worn. The hubby took to this purge considerably better than yesterday’s. 🙂 Amazing how empty our closet looks now!

  10. Suzeqew says:

    Did that – but took maybe 15 minutes. Darn it I went to the charity place to find some pet blankets yesterday and could have taken a host of things to donate.

  11. Karen H. Phillips says:

    Thanks for this challenge, Michele. I didn’t get to the closet challenge until tonight, because you inspired me to clean up the pile of papers on the right-hand side of my desk. I filed, discarded, and shredded all of them! Then late in the day, I hit the closet, going briskly through the right side. Purses zipped, cleaned out, and–with the luggage pushed to the corner–put in easy reach. After finding items stashed in one purse, I emptied it and also decluttered the purse I was using. Now everything useless is thrown out, and the items I need were placed in a bright springy-print purse. Yea, me!

  17. Aimee says:

    We just got our dryer fixed, so I washed 8 loads of laundry before doing this one. It was very liberating to realize that I was holding onto stuff that I don’t wear just because it is in my closet.

Comments are closed.