Love Your Wardrobe

I am an organizer. I can’t help it. Wherever I see chaos I love the opportunity to sort it out and make things look beautiful. It is my gift and occasionally my nemesis. I created this declutter ritual for Rita Trehan founder of DARE Worldwide and one of the coaches in the ‘Change Your World’ coaching group I belonged to.

Rita had honoured us with a week of her coaching skills and shared that she would love an organised wardrobe. So I created this ritual and pamper day as a thank you gift for her. She loved it, and I hope it inspires you too.

Reality Check

Creating an organised wardrobe is relatively easy. Keeping it that way is the biggest challenge.

So, lets start with LOVE. For me this is the essential point with any organising task. Seeing a space and seeing its potential requires a pause a recognition of what is there and a vision of what you want to achieve.

Our clothes are our ‘robes’ – the garments we adorn in celebration self and self worth. We choose them to reflect our identity, and the way we feel when we wear them can have a big impact on self confidence. So how we look after them is also a reflection of self care and self love. So learning to love and respect your clothes is just one way of learning to love and respect your self worth.

Take a look at your wardrobe. Is this really how you want to honour your clothes and yourself?

Preparation

The key to keeping something beautiful and organised is to honour it. Creating a ritual and having fun is a great way to initiate a good habit. So the first and most important step is to set a date in your diary and keep to it. You are going to need at least one full day to yourself.

Before you say that’s not possible, consider this… If you were asked to take an important business trip that would be great for your career, would you turn it down? Probably not. Your self care is equally important so make space and set a date in your diary with an ‘IMPORTANT’ tag.

The next step is to look at your wardrobe. Does it meet your needs? Do you have sufficient hanging space, shelves, drawers, hooks for accessories, etc? You are going to be giving it a good clear-out so if it’s over-cluttered at the moment it will probably be less so when you finish. However, it is worth taking a look at your basic needs and putting in some structures that will support you in maintaining good habits.

You will also need to clear your laundry basket. This will ensure you have all your clothes clean and and prepared for the transformation.

And finally, here are the Tools you will need to have on hand:-

• A clear room (you are going to need plenty of space)
• A full length mirror and a hand mirror
• Good lighting
• A glass of wine and some delicious nibbles
  (or a lovely alternative that suits you better)
• Your favourite uplifting music.
• Self-love and your phone (you may want to take selfies)

Your Important Date

Start the day by preparing the space. Bring everything out of the wardrobe and sort it roughly into three groups. It doesn’t need to be exact, just go with your initial reaction for now.

• Things you love
• Things that are practical
• Things you definitely don’t want

You need to include your shoes and accessories in these groups.

Now clear the things you no longer want into another room and give your empty wardrobe a good clean. What goes back in there will be the things you love and they deserve this honour.

Next, it’s pamper time. Take yourself off for a soak in the bath or a luxurious shower. You have an important date with your wardrobe and you want to look and feel your best.

Now the fun begins. Imagine you are in your favourite clothes store, there is no-one else around and the changing rooms are empty. The store is playing your favourite music and has provided refreshments. You have complete freedom to try on whatever you like and you can keep it – no charge.

Start with the clothes you love the most, and experiment. Try mixing things up and choosing different accessories and shoes. When you find a combination that works take a selfie so that you can easily remember that combination. Put the successes in your wardrobe (we will sort them later) and put the rest aside into two piles. Those you want to keep and those you can now release.

Next, move on to the practical – not so gorgeous – things and get realistic. Do you really need them all? Have you found things amongst your favourite clothes that can take their place and make you feel better about yourself? Even the things you wear to do household chores can change the way you feel about them.

When you have gone through everything, it is time to take a last look at those things you still want to keep but have set aside. If you really love it and it suits you, keep it. You will find something beautiful to go with it. If it just doesn’t look good on you, release it with a blessing so that someone else can enjoy it. Clear everything you are releasing to the other room so that your space is now clear again.

Getting Sorted

Congratulations, you now have all you need to create your perfect wardrobe. And if it’s not already in there, you have an idea of what to look for the next time you go shopping.

Now it’s time to take a pause, look at what you have and decide how to sort it. There are lots of ways to sort a wardrobe and it is down to personal preference and space.

Here are a few tips that work for me…

The first thing to consider is volume. If (like me) you have a lot of clothes and the space is cramped, then a good starting point is to create a seasonal wardrobe. This is where a rarely used suitcase comes in handy. I split my clothes into winter and summer wear, and the things I use all year round stay in the wardrobe. The lovely thing about this is re-discovering clothes you have forgotten you have. If you use your suitcase frequently, line it with something, so that when you go away you can quickly lift the clothes out and put them aside. Or better still find a beautiful box to store all your out of season clothes in.

The next step is to look at your wardrobe space. If you have a two-tier closet then hang tops on the upper rail and skirts/trousers on the lower rail and sort them into similar styles or colours so that they are easy to find. My personal preference is colour co-ordination. I just love the experience of opening the doors and seeing everything lined up like a beautiful rainbow.

Accommodating Accessories

If you have a separate area or boxes for your shoes, that is great. For shoe boxes, take photos of the shoes to stick on the front of the boxes so they are easy to pick out when you are in a rush. I don’t have the luxury of this option, so I keep a large box in the bottom of my wardrobe that holds almost everything. It used to get very muddled until I adopted the trick of holding pairs together with elastic bands.

For all your beautiful necklaces, the inside of the closet door often makes a great hanging space. Alternatively use a spare coat hanger to hold them. I keep my favourites hung on the side of my mirror and a door handle, they make great room accessories. Pinterest has some lovely ideas for making a feature of your jewellery, so check it out and have fun.

You may also like to print your photos and display them somewhere handy as a reminder of your day and the clothing combinations you created.

Completing Your Special Day

Finally, lets not forget the real reason for making this a special date with your wardrobe. As I said earlier, the easy part is organizing everything. The challenge is keeping it that way. Before you close the doors and start to tackle the pile of clothes you have left in the other room, take the time to appreciate your achievement.

Reflect on your day and record the high points. Take a photograph of your beautiful new wardrobe and share it with your friends, along with all the photos of you in your favourite outfits. The more you appreciate this moment, the more sacred it will be to you, and the less likely you are to want to spoil it.

Creating Good Habits

As with pretty much everything the key is GRATITUDE. The next time you go to open your wardrobe door, pause, take a deep breath and appreciate the moment and what you have created here. Just like a child’s dressing up box, your wardrobe is an enchanting wonderland with endless possibilities. You can be whoever you want to be and you have chosen your clothes to help you achieve this.

By doing this everyday, you will soon establish the good habits you desire. And if things do begin to get cluttered again, you can always schedule another date with your wardrobe.