Is your closet overflowing with clothes?

Do you find it difficult to find what you need, when you need it?

In this post, I offer five practical tips to help you declutter your closet.

Prepare a donation bag and a garbage bag.

Before you even start decluttering, make sure you have both donation and garbage bags prepared and ready.

This will make it easier to get rid of clothing as you’re sorting through everything.

Use either large plastic garbage bags or a large paper shopping bags and set them right up next to your closet.

Schedule 15-minute decluttering sessions.

Slogging through the contents of an entire closet in one sitting can be extremely tiresome. Instead of spending hours combing through shirts, hats, pants, belts and shoes, opt for short periods of activity instead. You can break this up and mix and match this in any way you so choose: 15 minutes everyday, 7 minutes decluttering in the morning and the same in the evening, 15 minutes at the beginning of every week, and so on.

Use the three-question test for each item.

“This would be great to wear if I only lost 15 more pounds…” “If I could only get the mustard stains out…” “I haven’t worn this in three years, but I might wear it tomorrow…” Yeah, these types of questions might pop up into your head when you’re decluttering, but frankly, they won’t do you much help. You’re looking to declutter your closet, not find a reason to keep all of your clothes and accessories!

To help ease the sorting process, go through each item of clothing and ask yourself the following questions:

• Does this item fit me?
• Is it faded, stained, torn, ripped or otherwise unwearable or unpresentable?
• Have I worn the item within the past three years?

If you can’t answer “yes” for all three questions, dispose of the item in your donation bag or garbage bag accordingly.

Work your way from the bottom up.

While it may seem obvious to tackle items on a hanging rack first, starting on the floor is a smarter way to go. You’ll get to all those things that may have accidentally slipped off of hangers, or otherwise found their way to bottom of the floor, plus, you’ll instantly free up space making it easier to actually get to items in your closet. Continue on to any hanging racks, followed by any shelving units.

Make an appointment to drop off donations.

To ensure you’ll actually get rid of your unwanted items, schedule a time and date in your calendar to drop off your clothes at a local donation center. Don’t want to make the trip out? Search online for non-profits that offer curbside donation pick-ups. Schedule an appointment with the non-profit of your choice and mark a reminder in your calendar to put out the clothes for collection.

How about you? What do you find is the most difficult thing about decluttering a closet? Join in the conversation and leave a comment below!