Keeping Those Skeletons

Up until a month ago, many, many times I will think of what to wear and will find myself saying, "I don't have anything to wear". Whereas the truth of the matter is, I have 3 closets full of clothes that are staring me right in the face.  So how?? 

Determined not to buy any new clothing until I figure out "why I don't have anything to wear", I did a complete overhaul of my closets, and from 3 closets full of clothes, now I have less than one!  Again, you don't need 3 closets full of clothes to do this (I guess by now you would have figured out I am a girl of excess :D), but it is good to "clean up" your closet as we always have no space!

So, here is what I have done:

1. Shop Your Own Closet

Going closet by closet, I took out every single item, looked at it and tried it on.  I look for cut, fit, usability and trendiness.  I take ideas from magazines to see how they wear or layer items and imitate it with what I have - tops, bottoms, shoes, bags, accessories - the works! The key is to have fun and experiment.  Try on fancy blouses with jeans, combine your tees or tank tops with blazers, use your belts to accentuate your waist and try it on top of cardigans.  Not everything is going to work, but you will be surprised to see how many new outfit combinations you can get just by "shopping" with what you have :-)

2. Sort the Clothes

Make 3 big piles: clothes you keep, clothes you throw away, clothes you give away.  Clothes that you give away should always be items that can be used by the receiver - not torn, dingy, weathered clothes.  Think about clothes that you just don't want to wear because of fit or style, not because of wear and tear.  For example, I had a very nice cut suit. It fit very well but the style was very 80s, early 90s: big shoulder pads, boxy cut, baggy narrow piped trousers.  As much as I love it (and the fact it was a Dolce and Gabbana suit), I just can't justify to keep it.  I don't think I will ever wear it again and it will just forever sit in my closet.  You would want to keep something classic that you know you can forever use, rather than keeping items of sentimental value.  

3. Organize

From the pile of clothes that you want to keep, organize them in a way in your closet so it is easier to choose when dressing up.  For me, I club all skirts together, all trousers together and all tops together. I arrange them by color.  You can do it from darkest to lightest, or for me, I put the dark ones in the middle, as those are the ones I have most of, flanked by lighter ones on the left and browns/reds/pinks on the right.  It makes it nice to look at and at the same time easy to find what you want to wear.

4. Use the Same Hangers

This will help your closet look and feel organized.  It will also help the clothes stack against each other more neatly.  Use plastic hangers versus wired hangers.  Plastic hanger have the benefit of shaping your clothes better as well as reducing the chance of your clothes getting snagged and torn in between.

5. Put Mothballs

In Singapore, I figured, I cannot just live on Glade clothes fresheners in the closets. Especially living on the ground unit like me, it is extremely damp in the closets and clothes can smell musty.  So moth balls are a must. To "tame" the smell of the moth ball, wrap the moth balls in left over cloths and tie it up. That will also ensure the moth balls don't fly all over the place when you happen to yank out a shirt.