.
Ivy says:
Every once in awhile you come up with an idea that is so simple, you wonder why you didn’t think of it before. I was trying on outfits and hating most of them. The shirts were too short, the pants caused camel toe, nothing was right. And then I thought, “Why in the world am I hanging onto pants that cause camel toe? Is it really ever going to get better? No. I need to get rid of those pants.”
Then it occurred to me that I need a box in my closet for clothes I try on and hate. The fastest and easiest way to declutter is to do it while you go on about your everyday life. Life’s too short to have to sort through a closet full of clothing you hate. So put a box in your closet for clothes you really don’t like. Eventually, the box will fill up and you can Freecycle it or take it to the thrift store!
Want to easily see what you have in your closet? There are many types of closet organizers
that don’t cost an arm and a leg.
Have a question about bedroom clutter? Submit it to helpme@home-ec101.com.
That’s SO funny, cause I just started doing the SAME THING in my laundry room! My daughter is two and is AMAZINGLY TALL…..she’s forever growing out of her pants. I’ve taken to keeping an empty pull-up box (we buy our pull-ups at Sams) in the utility room. When I notice that something is getting a little small, I wash it one last time, and chuck it in the little girl box. When it’s full, I tell the hubs, who (not always promptly, but EVENTUALLY) puts it up in the attic to wait for the next kid. Works like a CHARM and my day just goes a little more smoothly because I’m not having to go DIG UP another box for her clothes….I’ve already got one!
Good one, Ivy!
Great suggestion!
um, what is camel toe as caused by pants??
Camel toe is when your pants are tight around your crotch, causing an effect that looks like camel’s toes.
Try placing all of the hangers on the closet rod backwards….As you wear things put them back on the hanger (placing the hanger on the rod in the opposite drection). If you still have some hangers facing backward after six months it may be time to get rid of those items because you havn’t worn them. Pam, South Bend
I’ve read that before, Pam, but I have a weird problem with putting hangers on the closet rod backwards.
When my grandma was a young girl, her house caught on fire. Her sister, who always placed all her hangers neatly on the rod, was able to run to the closet and grab all her clothing in one fell swoop, while my grandma had haphazardly placed all her hangers on the rod and wasn’t able to save much of her clothing at all.
Ever since that she was a stickler for putting the hangers correctly on the rod. She imparted this to my mom, who also has always been a stickler for placing hangers correctly on the rod.
Because of 2 generations of women who are crazy about putting hangers on the rod correctly, I am a little obsessive-compusive about hangers hanging the same way on the rod. Weird, how that works.
I had to do this a different way (I don’t had a standard rod and it was WAY to hard to hang it backwards) that might work for you too. I set aside a small section in my closet, I put a tag on a hanger with the date and all the clothes past that one were stuff I hadn’t worn. Once I wore them I moved the hanger back with my regular stuff. Every few months I would look back at the section and decide if I was ready to give up anything–at the end of a full year anything left went. I found that I was regularly getting rid of stuff and only had to give up one last shirt by the next year.
Excellent idea~
“Try placing all of the hangers on the closet rod backwards….”
I kept trying to figure out how this will stop the pants from causing camel toe. Must cut back on the allergy meds *blush*
Most of my crowded closet has been filled with suits on neat wooden hangers and even some fresh-from-the-laundry starched shirts, still in the bag. And lots of ties.
But I retired three years ago and have not worn a suit or shirt and tie since.
Duh. I DID try them on recently and most of the suits don’t fit any more.
I kept a blazer but the suits and ties have been donated to a good cause and now my closet looks huge.
I do this! Except I just throw the stuff on the floor, usually, and then round it up into a trash bag on the weekends and take it to Goodwill.
I want to know how long it takes before your site is number 1 on google for hits on “camel toes.” heh.
Great tip about decluttering the closet, Ivy!
Yet another awesome tip! Thanks. Now if I can fit a box on the floor of my closet with all the shoes!
Great idea. 🙂
If I really tossed evrything that made me look yucky I wouldn’t have any clothes left!
Camel toe. Thanks for the mental image Heather.
Margo, that was all Ivy. I nearly spit coffee on the screen the other morning when I read it.
This is the best. darn. tip. ever. I feel dumb that I haven’t thought of this before, and happy that you did and told the rest of us.
Yes – this is something I’ve been doing for years and trying to get my husband to do. I keep an empty box in my closet and constantly put clothes in it that I haven’t worn in a year, too little, to out of date, etc. My hubby always complains “how did these pants end up in my drawer, they are too small, etc”. I tell him, put it in the box. If I see them thrown on the floor in the closet, I suspect they are just dirty.
We recently had our first child, he’s 8 weeks this coming week. I’ve been doing the same thing for his (though not yard sale, just put away for another baby – unless it’s something I just don’t like). He’s already outgrown some of his clothes – he’s really long – 23 in. When I put something on him and notice it is too small, it goes in the box labeled 0-3 mths. I will continue this for each season of sizes. I do have things that were given/passed down/yard saled/consigned that have been worn/washed. Those things are smaller than the tags so on most occassion – so I have a sharpie. If I think they are too small, then I relabel. For instance, some of my gerber onsies that are 0-3 mths have shrunk – so I write in the label – newborn. This way I know for next time to have the baby wear those first. A friend gave me some clothes that are 6 moths, but he is already wearing them, so I relabled them also.