7 Easy Rules to Keep Your Closet Decluttered!

Do you want to never have to do another closet overhaul ever again?  Then this post is for you!  I absolutely hate having to wade through a stuffed closet with “nothing to wear.”  If you implement a few of these wardrobe hacks, you'll never have to feel that way again!  For my best tricks to keeping your closet under control, keep reading or watch the video here!

1.  The Hanger Rule

If you do only one thing, use this tip to solve 90% of the problem in your closet.  It's pretty simple– I have a set number of hangers that fit well in my closet, and I never add to them.  It's the classic “one in, one out rule.”  If I want to add something to my closet, I have to choose something to get rid of.

This helps (of course) because it keeps the number of items under control.  But it also helps because it forces me to buy more carefully.  If I'm shopping for clothes, I know that buying something means I'll have to find something to let go.  At this point, I really like most of what's in my closet, so that can be tough, and often I'll just decide the item isn't really worth it.

This rule also means I'm really upgrading my wardrobe every time I buy something!  Basically it keeps getting better and better because I'm buying things I like even more than what I have.  Sometimes things do wear out, and I have to replace them, but for new things that get added, it means I truly love them and am excited to wear them!

2.  Ask WHY You Don't Wear It

We all have stuff in our closets that isn't “bad” enough to get rid of, and sometimes we even really like those items, but we just never actually choose to wear it when we get dressed.  Ask yourself why you keep passing over that item.

Sometimes the reasons are really subtle.  I have a dress that I actually really like, but it needs a tank top under it.  Navy is the best color, but I just really don't like the navy tank top I have, so I never choose to wear the dress.  It's not the fault of the dress, so I don't want to get rid of it, but it never gets worn!  So, I need to buy a new tank top and get rid of the one I don't like rather than decluttering the dress.

But there can be other reasons you don't like something.  Maybe you felt bad/unattractive wearing it once, and you just can't get past the association.  Maybe the color isn't quite right or it's just a little too long. Even if something is just a little off, and it keeps getting passed over, you should either fix it or remove it from your closet.  Can you have something altered?  Take it to your car and put the errand in your calendar!

3.  Only What Fits Today

A lot of wardrobe advice comes from people who never change sizes.  Let me tell you, I am not one of those people, LOL!  I have been up and down my whole life, and it seems like I'm always on a quest to get healthier and lose some weight.  Some would say you should let go of all clothes except what fits you today.  I have more of a hybrid approach.

If something doesn't fit me, I am SUPER picky about that item.  I only keep it if it's an amazing piece, still in style, and I love everything about it (except that it doesn't fit).  This helps limit the amount of clothes I keep.  Because let's face it– if I ever do lose a significant amount of weight, I will want to do some shopping anyway!  So everything I have that's too small for me is something I would absolutely love to wear when I can.

But sometimes you might want to keep a little more that isn't quite fitting.  If you're in a situation where you might change sizes- having children, going through a weight loss journey, gaining weight due to medication, etc.– then I think it's totally fine to keep clothes that don't fit, but I would not keep them in the closet.

Store them in bins in another room, under the bed, etc., but not hanging in your closet, staring you in the face every morning.  For one, it takes up valuable space and makes it harder to sift through everything to get dressed in the morning.  Also, it just kind of makes you feel bad to have the visual reminder.  So keep them if you want, but keep them somewhere other than the closet!

4.  No Seasonal Swapping

This is a bit controversial, but here's why I don't swap my close out with the seasons:

1. There's no rotation needed!  It saves me time and effort to not have to do the seasonal overhaul twice a year.  I'm sure this saves a few hours at least!
2. I live in the midwest.  Our weather is super unpredictable.  There are only about two months (the coldest of winter and the hottest of summer) where I would only need warm or cool clothing.  During the rest of the year, I might want short sleeves in winter or a jacket in the summer.  I hate not having these available when we get an odd weather day.

If you have a little extra room in your closet, consider not swapping your clothes out.  It will help you edit down for higher quality, and it will save you time not having to swap out twice a year.

5.  Return What You Don't Love

This is SUPER important.  Don't let returns hang around your house.  Returns are clutter!  And they're just money hanging around in bags and shipping envelopes!

It's important to deal with returns quickly.  Sometimes those return windows are pretty short.  Also, returns can pile up around your house, and you're dealing with the clutter as well as potentially forgetting to do the return.  The faster you return things, the more ingrained the habit becomes.  You start to build it into your routine.

If you have to, you can put a “return day” on your calendar for once every 2-4 weeks.  What happened to me, though, was that I started doing them before that day because I knew I'd have to do it then, so I would just do the return anyway while I was out on another errand.  I kind of tricked myself into doing it more often!

Also, be VERY particular about what you keep!  You don't want to spend money on something you'll just declutter in a few months.  I always view decluttering not as just getting rid of things I already have but also as not letting it come into my home in the first place.  NOT buying something is a total win, too!

6.  Declare Wardrobe Bankruptcy

I'm a big fan of the “bankruptcy method” for all kinds of decluttering.  Basically you take everything out of your closet- everything!  Then you have a period of about 2-6 weeks, and as you wear items, you put them back in your closet. At the end of the 2-6 weeks, you're left with what you actually wear.

There may be some exceptions to this.  There are seasonal clothes you might not have worn, or maybe you have a wedding guest dress you love to wear, but you didn't attend any weddings or events during that time.  You can use your judgment on those things, but it's a good way to weed out some of the everyday items that you just don't really reach for.

7.  Have a Global Impact Mindset

Sometimes it helps me to think on a larger scale.  It does you (and the world) no favors if you buy more than you need and then donate it.  It contributes to an overconsumption and a recycling/waste problem that has a huge impact on the world.

It's tempting to buy things from fast fashion sites like Temu or Shein because the prices are so low, and there are endless choices.  But personally, I've found the quality isn't usually very good, and the item ends up quickly decluttered.  So personally I try not to buy from sites like these anymore.  If that's not the case for you, then ignore this advice!

Thinking of a bigger picture also really helps me avoid impulse purchases.  If I need a coat, or something else that's a true need, then I tend to do a little more careful shopping and research. This contributes to a better chance of me loving what I buy.  If I'm online shopping at fast fashion places, I'm just hitting “add to cart” without a lot of thought.  That's how I end up buying things I don't need or love.

Bonus Tip:  Wear What You Love!

Okay, so one of the best things that has happened in all my years of closet work is that I now love almost everything in my closet, and that gives me a lot of happiness.  I've told the story before about how I used to wear the most boring clothes I could because I just wanted to disappear.

I would wear dark colors, drab clothes that I could wear on repeat because no one would remember or distinguish one top from another.  I wasn't happy years ago when I was in my old engineering job, and you could see it in my clothes.  I just wanted to disappear into the background so no one would notice me.

Now I buy bright colors and patterns that I love in prettier styles.  I'm so much happier overall, and my clothes reflect that.  Just give this a little consideration to this as you're going through your closet.  Do your clothes make you happy?  Are you wearing styles and colors you love?  Why or why not?  Can you make a change if you need to?