Closet Clean-Out Pt. 1

Back in January, Cara came over and helped me get my closet in order. It was VERY needed!! Since then, I had been doing a really good job of keeping up the organization Cara helped me with, BUT in the last month or so, whenever I've put my laundry up, I just haven't taken the extra time to organize. Usually because I've got a hollerin' kiddo at my feet. :)

Plus a friend from work gave me several bags of clothes (whoo hoo!) and I hadn't put those in yet. I pulled out a lot of things (from her) that I liked, but hadn't tried them on to see if they fit/look good. 

So it was definitely time for another closet clean-out! Here's the before picture:

Not terrible but definitely not as functional as it could/should be.

Plus a lot that hadn't been hung yet.

First I went through each section (dresses, pants, skirts, sleeveless, short-sleeved, long-sleeved) and determined if I wore it enough/liked it enough to keep it. This first edit was pretty minimal - I only decided to toss out 3 pieces of clothes so far (I got rid of 3 garbage bags last time!). 

I also made a pile of things I need to try on (stuff from my friend, stuff I haven't worn in a while). My "try-on pile" is HUGE, but I decided to keep on organizing and wait until another nap-time to try on all the maybes. 

Snooker likes to help.

The biggest revelation of the day was that I had about a foot of linear space in my closet devoted to t-shirts. I'm not a huge t-shirt person (I wear them 3-4x a month, probably), so making the decision to take them out of the closet and put them in one of the (previously empty) dressers in the office was a no-brainer!

Then I was able to space out my other, more frequently-worn clothes and not feel so cramped. The other great thing about not hanging my t-shirts anymore is that I freed up a ton of my "fancy hangers". This was the before, not that you can tell too much, but I had a bunch of wire hangers and a few plastics.

Ooooh, ahhhh. Color-coded by sleeve length PLUS matching hangers? I'm all over this.

I cataloged my clothes as I went (total nerd, I know) and I realized that I have a TON of tops. I mean, visually, I know that my closet is mostly made up of tops, but I have 15 sleeveless tops (not including plain tank tops that I layer with), 27 short-sleeved tops, and 31 long-sleeved tops/sweaters. I mean, seriously people - I have no reason to say "I have nothing to wear." 

So here's the Pt. 1 "after". I still have a ton to try on (and maybe snap a few pictures? :) and then the FINAL goal of all of this is to help me make more stylish outfits (or "capsules" a la YouLookFab). 

Next time, the try-on pile and continuing to re-vamp my overall wardrobe!