Dear Fashion Kitty: Cleaning out my closet

My problem is that I love, love, love to shop and my closet is bulging with the fruits of my bargain-hunting labors. Soon the hub and I will be moving to a smaller house. I need to part with at least half of the things I own. What’s the wisest thing I could do? My greatest fear is that I’m going to give away clothes that I wish I would have kept!

Boy oh boy can I relate or what! In fact, I can relate all the time. I just cleaned out my closet, my emotional baggage closet and my actual closet, only to refill them again only a few weeks later. As much as it pains us to part with our precious possessions, it must be done.

Lucky for you I can sympathezie with the whole moving bit, so I will spare you the traditional getting rid of clothing advice that you hear everywhere. When I moved from D.C. to L.A. I was seriously downgrading my closet size. I too am an extreme bargain hunter and will scoop up bags and bags of clothes on any given weekend, so when the possibility of everything not fitting in my closet came … I freaked the f*ck out.

Here is what you need to do. Pack far in advance to your move. Pack the clothing you don’t need right now or wouldn’t pack with your on a 2 week vacation. You know; your jeans that aren’t on the top of your “go-to” jeans list, the tee shirts you wear but if were lost in a fire you wouldn’t die, out of season clothing, clothing you keep around because they were gifts … you get what I am saying. Take these clothes and pack them in boxes and tape the boxes closed.

Keep your important clothes within reach … your 6 favorite pairs of jeans, designer clothes that if anyone dare lay a finger on you would snap it off, sentimental clothing, and new purchases. The rest of the stuff stays in the boxes. When you arrive at your new home open up the boxes and (truthfully) ask yourself “Did I miss this stuff?” Now tell the truth, I know opening these boxes will kind of make it feel like Christmas but when you find that you went months without them they should be easy to throw away.

This seems like an extreme way to get rid of clothes, but it worked for me. My boxes were in storage for months before I arrived in L.A. Once I got them I realized I didn’t need most of the crap I was hording away. I donated them immediately to Goodwill … I didn’t have much of a choice anyway because nothing would fit.

Good luck! And remember you have to get rid of old bargains to make room for new ones.