The Costco Connection - January 2014

SORTING THROUGH A wardrobe often requires a deep breath and patience. Give yourself time, space and a positive attitude. Then dig in.

•Recruit the help of a good friend or, at the very least, a good mirror. A professional stylist or image consultant will give an unbiased opinion as well as teach you some tricks for combining pieces.

• Try on every item in your wardrobe for ;t, style and color. Figures change, lifestyles change and pieces that worked ;ve years ago might not cut it anymore.

• Yasmin Anderson-Smith, a certi;ed image consultant, recommends making three piles: must-keeps (favorite pieces that ;t your frame, suit your lifestyle and make you feel good when you wear them), maybes (pieces that might need tailoring or alterations, or “orphans”—pieces that don’t match anything else in your wardrobe) and de;nite no’s (sort these into two piles: trash and donations).

• To determine whether to keep an item, ask yourself: Have you worn it in the past two years? Does it ;t? Is it a good color for you? Is it still in style? If not, is there a way to update it? Do you have items that work with it?

•For pieces with sentimental value, Anderson-Smith recommends donating them somewhere where they will be cherished, such as a women’s shelter or transitional clothing group. She says, “It’s gentler to separate when you know you’re not letting it go into a big, wide abyss. The item is going somewhere meaningful.”

•Once the “keep” items go back in the closet, set up a space for anything needing repair or ironing. And always have a donation bin for pieces that are prisoners in your closet. “Set them free,” says Kate Brown, a certi;ed professional organizer.—LA

Rules for
letting go

with khakis and specialty T-shirts.) Eliminate anything that isn’t doing its job anymore.

The piles also allow you to estimate how much space you’re going to need when everything goes back into the closet. If your sweater pile is on the verge of toppling over, plan on extra shelving and drawers. For dresses, think tall hanging rods.

Then, start putting together outfits, or “ capsules.” “Capsule dressing is a way of finding groups of clothes that work together and are interchangeable: gray slacks, a colored jacket, a neutral shell,” says Anderson-Smith. Add accessories: scarves, jewelry, handbags and shoes for a complete ensemble. Snap some photos or jot down the outfits.

Now make a list of core items you might be
missing. Check for any “orphan” items
and set a time limit for finding some-
thing to work with the piece; after that,
When it’s time to head back into the closet, take
a close look around. A professional closet
installation can make the biggest impact
and show you how to best use the space,
Organizing doesn’t need to be elaborate. Rolling
up socks in a sock organizer and sorting by color
isn’t going to work for anyone who isn’t naturally
organized. Kate Brown, a Costco member and a cer-
tified professional organizer on the board of the
National Association of Professional Organizers
( www.napo.net), encourages people to ditch the
guilt and not overthink organizing. “Do underwear
and socks really need to be folded?” she asks. “Find
what works for you and do that.”
An easily fixable problem that Brown often sees
is improper lighting. “If the closet isn’t
light enough to see what you’ve got, it’s
never going to work,” she states. Try a
chandelier-type overhead light, then use
puck lighting to illuminate dark spots. In a reach-in
closet, install a fluorescent light above the inside of
the door.

As items go back in the closet, weed out the special-occasion clothes, a category that includes not only formal items but pieces used for a specific purpose, such as gardening or tennis. Put them somewhere accessible but separate from everyday pieces.

Seasonal items such as heavy wool sweaters or strappy sandals can go in clear plastic bins so you can find them easily when the weather starts changing.

You’ll want the clothing that you wear most frequently front and center in the closet, whether that’s business wear or yoga clothes. Brown recommends sorting clothes first by type and then by color.

This means that all tops go together, grouped by color first, then style: sleeveless, short sleeve, long sleeve.

Continue with bottoms, jackets, sweaters and vests.

Today’s fashion lines are often blurred, and black pants or a white blouse can be dressed up or down. Give yourself options and make your clothes work double duty.