The Closet Method

I love the change of seasons, especially when Summer fades into Fall. These days, thanks to climate change the fade is a little less obvious but nevertheless there is a feeling we all get when the shift happens; an urge to move forward!

One of my now favorite rituals for this shift is ‘switching out’ my closet from open-toes, sundresses, shorts and tanks to boots, loafers, jeans and sweaters. The exercise originated as a chore when my out-sized Nordstrom wardrobe exceeded the space of one closet and I had to banish my off-season items to hallway or guestroom storage. This project was hard to fit in during the years I had a busy full-time job and 3 Powellings running around. One of the strategies I learned to employ when a sizeable chore needed addressing was to create rituals around it that made it feel like something I wanted to do vs. something I had to do. The physical moving of large amounts of clothing and shoes was a chore for sure, but I did the following to make it fun:

Picked the day/time in advance and planned around it so I wasn’t interrupted
Treated myself to a season-appropriate beverage to get me in the mood and caffeinated – for me that’s a latte
Put on a season-appropriate play-list for background ambience – I like Sting and Marc Cohen, they remind me of Fall

Designing a Plan of Action prior to the event is also helpful, that way you are just following steps instead of feeling overwhelmed by all of your stuff. Below is the method I use for my ‘switch out.’

Define a staging area (I use my bed) that serves as the ‘in-between’ place where a season’s items are sorted after being reviewed & edited.
Be prepared with bags (I save shopping bags) to use for donation & consignment
Start with the Spring/Summer stuff: review each item and decide whether it deserves to stay in your collection. If you haven’t worn it in a while it may need to go. How long exactly is a while? That depends on the reason you haven’t worn the item – see examples below:

Don’t like it – if the item falls into this category then it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since you’ve worn it, time to say goodbye
Doesn’t fit – if your weight isn’t fluctuating and you love the item you should consider having it altered; kind of a pain but in my experience worth the time and money to have something ‘new’ back in rotation!
You haven’t had occasion to wear it – this is more nuanced, especially since we just went through almost 18 months with lack of occasion. In some cases the things I’m dressing for have changed since the pandemic; for instance I now rarely have occasion to wear heels and so a large portion of my pump collection went to consignment

4. As you review, you will sort the items into 3 categories in the staging area: Keep, Consign & Donate

5. Now you can move your Fall/Winter items into the now free front-and-center position in the closet. I usually don’t go thoroughly through the incoming-season stuff because I want to give everything a chance to get worn

6. And finally the space freed by the Fall/Winter items is now available to use for the newly-edited Spring/Summer!

This exercise is less intensive for me these days because I have a bigger closet that fits everything and I’m consistent in my editing practices. It’s now just the shoes that get switched out from boxes to shelves while sweaters and jeans come down from higher shelves to be easily accessible.

Even though it’s not as big of a job as it used to be when I needed two closets I keep up the ritual because it’s fun and because it’s gets me excited for what is to come in the Fall of the year. It’s a little party I have with myself, complete with music, beverages, cute clothes and maybe even a little dancing! I invite you to do the same!