How to Keep your Closet Clean and Organized

I've always been interested in fashion. Not directly the sewing part, but the part where you put outfits together. Recently this year, I've been more into my style. The only issue is, I need room to put everything. But due to my new findings of The Cheap Chica's Guide to Style by Lilliana Vazquez, I have learned how to effectively organize my closet and my style, along with many other useful tips and habits.

Today, I will be focusing on how to keep a clean closet and buy only what you need for your wardrobe.

Now, when I first read this book, Lilliana talked about how "Twice a year- during the winter-to-spring and summer-to-fall seasonal transitions I'll outline in this chapter, I'll purge my closet" (Vazquez, 94). Due to it being that summer-to-fall transitioning time, I decided to clean out my closet.

At first, It seemed like an impossible challenge. I used to stuff everything in my closet that didn't look good in my room, so this would take some work. I started with clearing out any trash, ripped clothes and random items that didn't belong in a closet like miscellaneous boxes, socks and trinkets. This already cleared out a lot of room for opportunity.

The "keep" pile when sorting 

Next, I took all of my clothes out of my closet and set them in piles of need/like, don't need, and donate. In the book, Lilliana explains what you should discard. "Anything you haven't worn in a year... anything that doesn't fit you anymore... anything that was once trendy but isn't anymore... and anything that isn't flattering or makes you feel anything but fabulous." (Vazquez 98). This all made perfect sense to me "Why would I keep anything that I'm never going to wear?" I thought to myself. This and some music made the process go way faster than I expected.


I ended up having a good amount in each pile. I continued by taking my donate pile and putting it all in a trash bag to let my sister look though. She ended up finding some things she liked before I donated it to a Value Village near by along with my don't need pile.

My jewelry storage organized by type, mostly earrings 

The next step in the process was to put everything back. This was the easy part. I divided up my remaining "keep" clothes into what i needed to hang up and what could be put in a drawer. Vazquez talks about on pages 216 through 221 that you should fold sweaters in a drawer, store shoes in a shoe rack, loop belts through a hanger, place scarves in a bin, hang purses on a wall hook, necklaces on a decorative wall hook and rings on a small ring holder or cute display, I took all of these tips into consideration when re-putting-back-together my closet.

My closet put back together arranged by use and necessity 

In the end of the final process, I donated and cleared out around 2 full garbage bags full of clothes and other things I didn't need. It felt good that i cleaned out my closet, knew how to properly store everything, and possibly gave someone a new shirt or coat that was once mine. I hope that you can benefit from my learning experiences and prioritized your closet too!

Have you tried to ever clean out your closet? What are some things that you could've changed or gone better? Will you use these tips the next time you do a spring or fall cleaning?

Source: Vazquez, Lilliana. The Cheap Chica's Guide to Style: Secrets to Shopping Cheap and Looking Chic. Gotham, 2013.