BUILDING A WARDROBE YOU LOVE PART 1 ~ THE TWO-STEP CLOSET PURGE

Don't worry, you're at the right place...in case you didn't notice, the blog got a much needed facelift! I'm continuing to work on little things, but for the most part, I'm hoping this cleaner format makes it easier to navigate. Although I kept my blogger URL of 7+ years (therooneyfamily.blogspot.com), I did change the overall name of the blog to A Little Bit of Cheer. You can read more about that on the updated About Me page! I hope you enjoy the new format!

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Welcome to Wardrobe Wednesday! I'm so excited to start this 4-part series on Building a Wardrobe You Love. I basically rebuilt my wardrobe after my third (and most likely LAST) kiddo. I realized I had lots of frumpy clothes and just few items that I liked that I wore over and over and over. As I've said before, my goal has always been just to be able to walk out the door looking "put together." Nothing fancy over here! So I worked on putting together a closet of clothes that did just that. Over the next 4 posts, I'll share with you what I learned and hopefully give you some ideas on how you can build a great closet of clothes that you love!

Here's the schedule of posts:

Let's get this party started!!!

BUILDING A WARDROBE PART 1: 

THE TWO-STEP CLOSET PURGE

Cleaning out your closet. That might give you goosebumps, but it's an ESSENTIAL step to building a wardrobe you love. You need to know what you have. Below is my two-step method for doing it. PLEASE make sure you have plenty of time to complete this task. It's not a 30 minute job. It will involve piles of clothes everywhere and lots of trying clothes on...so pick a couple of hours on a rainy day, crank up the tunes and go to town! It's actually pretty darn fun (not to mention liberating!!) once you get started!

STEP 1 ~ PILES OF CLOTHES

Begin by creating 5 piles:

• Keep 
• Donate/give away 
• Sell/Consign 
• Tailor 
• Out of season or "later"

Let's go over what each of these mean:

• Keep ~ These are items of clothing that you LOVE. They look good on you. They fit. They make you feel good. Hopefully you have a few of these!

• Donate/give away ~ These are the clothes that no longer fit, they are outdated or maybe just make you feel blah. Find a good charity, church organization or friend and pass them along! One girl's trash can be another's treasure :)

• Sell/Consign ~ These are clothes that are name brand, still in style, but just don't work for you. Check out the website Twice--they send you a giant bag, you put your stuff in it, mail it back and they send you an offer within a week or so. They don't pay much but it's so easy and a few extra bucks will help you buy some new accessories or a cute scarf or something :) If you don't want to bother with selling, you can donate these items also.

• Tailor ~ This is huge!! Many people don't think about taking their ill-fitting clothes to get a little nip-tuck from the local dry cleaner lady! You take your ill-fitting items in and a few days later you have a perfectly tailored item. Maybe you have some pants that are too long or that have a gap in the back or sag in the butt--that can be easily taken care of at the tailor for about $12. I have even had sweaters tailored so they fit me perfectly! These are items that you LOVE and are still in good shape, but something about the fit is off. Most of the time, getting items tailored is a lot cheaper than replacing the item.

• Out of Season or "Later" ~ I store all of my seasonal clothes out of sight. This way, I'm not looking at cable knit sweaters in July and jean shorts in January. "Later" simply means you love the item but maybe you're trying to lose that extra 10 lbs so they'll fit. No worries. Just put them away until the time comes to bring them back out! I really like looking at my closet and just seeing clothes that I can work with. No need for those "skinny girl" jeans to be staring at me when I can't wear them. I store my out of season or "later" clothes in one of those big plastic tubs on my top closet shelf.

STEP 2 ~ HANG EVERYTHING & ORGANIZE

Stand back and admire your hard work....Now that you have your pile of clothes that fit and make you feel great ("keep" pile), it's time to hang them all up. I hang pretty much all of my clothes with the exception of shorts and lounge/workout clothes. One of the keys of being able to work with your wardrobe and create outfits, is being able to SEE everything available to you. If you want to invest in those cute "huggable" hangers and be super cute about it, more power to you! I haven't gotten that far yet.

However you want to organize is up to you! I tried organizing by color like some people suggest and that was just straight-up annoying! Now I just pair like items together--long sleeved shirts, tee shirts, pants, outwear, etc. Nothing fancy.

Now, let me go over a few closet-cleaning pitfalls that we all fall into when deciding which items to keep vs. give away/sell/donate...

Pitfall #1: "I paid good money for that!" Just because you paid a lot of money for an item of clothing years ago doesn't mean it fits or makes you feel good NOW. Also, just because something is expensive doesn't mean you'll wear it. Some of the least expensive items in my closet, I wear over and over again! Remember The Striped Dress...and The Green Shirt??! Hellllloooo! If the item doesn't fit and make you feel good when you wear it, get rid of it. That's the bottom line. #letitgo

Pitfall #2: "I've had that {insert item here} forever!!" Again, just because you've had something "forever" doesn't mean it looks good on you. Old, ripped denim capri pants come to mind as I think about my old closet! Notice I said RIPPED, not "distressed"--"distressing" is cool, "ripped" just means I wore them so much they are now torn up and gross! Yes, I may have sentimental value for those size 00 capris, but I had to get over it. Again, #letitgo

Pitfall #3: "That was the {insert item here} I wore when we got engaged or {insert other sentimental event here}!" I'm not trying to trash all of your sentimental items and ask you to let go of these special pieces, even if they don't fit. Some people have items from a deceased family member or items they wore at special events that they want to remember. I get it. For items like this, I would put them in the "later" or "out of season" pile or add them to your keepsake collection. They shouldn't be hanging in your closet.

Pitfall #4: Getting rid of too much. I'm a huge proponent of purging items but once in awhile you will have an item that you haven't worn in awhile, but it looks great on you and fits well. Maybe you just don't know how to wear it. KEEP IT! We'll talk about these items next week when you "Get Inspired!" In 6 months, if you still haven't worn the item, you can decide whether or not to toss it.

Guess what?? Once you are done with this massive closet cleaning, the hard part is over. Really. Now comes the FUN!! The most fun is "Getting Inspired!" Stayed tuned next week for that!!!

Will you be purging you closet anytime soon?? What are your tips and tricks for cleaning out your closet??

Linking up with a few of my favorite blogs: Get Your Pretty On,  The Pleated Poppy
 and Because Shanna Said So, Jo-Lynn Shane, A Little Bit of Everything, Grace and Love Momfessionals & Happiness at Midlife