31 Days Of Decluttering In December: Day 17

It’s Day 17 of our 31 Days of Decluttering In December! Yesterday, our challenge was decluttering, organizing, and cleaning the master bedroom except for the closet. Today’s challenge is decluttering the master bedroom closet.

For some of you this might be a huge task if you use your closet to stash items that don’t otherwise have a home such as Christmas presents that need wrapped or if you have many clothes! We’re going to break it down into small pieces so it won’t be as overwhelming and see some amazing progress! Here are some tips for decluttering the closet:

I’m going to start with the floor today! My closet is long and narrow. It’s actually very difficult to use the back of it because it’s hard to get to but that’s the joys of a 100+ year old house! If you can’t move around your closet, I suggest starting at the door and working your way in!

After you get the floor cleaned up, I like to vacuum. Then, if you want to take out all of the clothes and organize them, that’s fine! Just make sure you give yourself enough time to do so! You can do the same for handbags, shoes, and anything else you have stored in there!

For clothing ask yourself the following questions:

Does it fit? Anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, is too tight, scratchy, or too big needs to go!
Do I wear it? If the clothing hasn’t been on your body in a year, I suggest get rid of it. It’s taking up space!
Are there holes, stains, does the clothing need altered in some way that you have never gotten around to doing? They need to go!
Is it dirty? Throw it in the hamper or dry cleaning pile. Does it needs hung up, hang it up! If it goes in the dresser, go ahead and put it away. Just don’t get distracted as you are putting the clothes back where they belong!
If the clothing item is seasonal and you won’t be using it for awhile, could it go on the top shelf of your closet or in a tote?
What category does this item belong to (t-shirt, pants, sweater, dress, etc)? Group similar items together! I like to group my clothes be type and then by color. Short sleeve black shirts go first, long sleeve black shirts go after the short sleeve. It might be weird but makes it easy to find what I’m looking for.
Do you have purses, handbags or shoes in your closet? Ask yourself if you have used it, if you still love it, is anything broken on it?
Finally, as you are putting items back in, do you need to get a basket to put your small items in? Do you need some extra shelving or hooks?

I hope these tips will help you with your decluttering. Remember, please do not donate items that have holes or stains. If you won’t wear them, someone else probably doesn’t want to either. With the rest of your clothes, you can consign the best, or donate them. I’m very excited to find out what you found to donate and to throw away today going through your closet! I am hoping to find more clothes than I did yesterday!

If you want to link up, snap a picture and meet back at 6 CST. For those of you who don’t blog, leave a comment and let me know how decluttering your master bedroom closet went today!

Here are the previous challenges in this series: