I tackled our MBR closet several months ago. I tried your Kondo method, but couldn’t stay with it. Too painful for me, but hats off to anyone who can, you have my admiration! I did end up ordering these canvas bins to hold my too many tee shirts. They’ve worked wonderfully once I added labels to them. It’s time, though, to pull out my Fall & Winter clothes, so I’ll be packing most of my tees away and will use my bins for my long-sleeve tops next.

eld good for you! I just picked up the original book after reading another by her, I wonder if I can do it? I've been a Flylady FlyBaby for years, but Marie Kondo has a point: you'll be decluttering for years and in between more stuff comes in.

I'm looking forward to DH's next business trip, I'd like to strip my bedroom closet and dresser bare with no commentary (he works from home).

Lynn, wow! My wacky brain wonders, though, where do you keep your nice, sleeveless, black and white tees? LOL!

LOL, BP! I have a wacky brain, too. All my black or whites go in the B&W bin only. Works for me.

Now that we have our house to ourselves, I use my oldest DD's bedroom as office. I now use this closet and dressers in addition to my own.

All my clothing stays where they are. I go to them as my master ,although it does have a nice, closet system, it is not large enough for everything. I don't have to exchange winter and summer etc.

Bpath, I have a designated drawer for my black and white t-shirts.

I have a designated drawer for sleeveless white/beige tops. Another drawer has the sleeveless colors and prints.

I am going to try very hard with the sweaters. As I look up at the shelves, it is easy to see the one that I haven't worn in years. Yet, I still like them! Some I will demote down to walking the dog while other i will have to say good-bye.

I’d never heard of the Kondo method, so went googling. Have a hard time thinking about keeping/letting go of things on the basis of “joy”. Or are they meaning associating item w/a good memory?

anyway, I can’t relate to that. Have 20 scarves, need to keep 5 newest or fanciest and let the rest go.

Good that you’re tackling closet. Now a thinner closet will bring you joy fer sure!

If I might ask, do you have moth problems? How do you keep them in check? We had enough of a problem that I had this tall cabinet installed in the back of our closet to house our sweaters. I have lavender sachets on every shelf in there and that seems to be working so far. DH isn’t all that fond of the smell, but it beats mothballs. This past Spring I added this canister that’s supposed to kill any moths, etc. in your closet, as I was concerned about our good slacks. Left it in there for 2 weeks but we were concerned enough of breathing in the vapors that we held our breath when in there and quickly got in and out. It was supposed to be safe for humans, but I won’t do that again!

Mine is uncluttered but not nearly as beautiful as yours, wow. Was it s mothball canister? I’m weird, I sorta like mothballs smell.

We used to have moth issues. I was so upset about it....they ruined several very expensive suits of DH and the yuck factor really bothered me. These items were in our walk-in cedar closet. We live in the woods so " bugs" like us. I took EVERYTHING out of that closet and either washed it or had it dry cleaned. It was a huge project! I read that moths prefer warmth and darkness. I then put all of the suits/woolens in the closets in the spare bedroom. I leave the doors open all of the time. That was several years ago, and we do not seem to have had a problem since. I feel for you, Lynn.

Sorry you are having a moth problem Lynn. Our closet is similar to yours with open shelving and drawers that have a space at the top to open. I've never had a problem with moths. I do keep lavender packets in all my drawers.. love the smell! I also have lavender scented drawer paper in the bottom of nearly every drawer. But dh doesn't and still no moths.

Since I've retired, I really try to ruthlessly go through my closet at the change of each season. With the exception of 'party' clothes if I haven't worn it, out it goes.

Bossy, I don't actually do the "spark joy" talked about in the book. For me, people or experiences spark joy, not clothing.

That said it's Kondo's take on organizing and has sold many books.

As I mentioned above, I removed all of my coats and the question I asked myself was, "Will I wear this?"

With my sweaters, I am going shelf by shelf. Too much for me to grab it all out at once because I am not only looking at the items, but trying them all on. Just did two shelves out of the six.

An added bonus is that by taking everything out, I sometimes find something I forgot about, or it got pushed in the back, or it's a new item that I bought at the end of the season etc.

No moths here thank goodness.

My mom told me that the secret to keep moths at bay was to never rehang worn clothes back in the closet, even if worn for 15 min. It also avoids the “used” smell so characteristic of resale shops, yuck. Houston is so humid and a haven for bugs, moths included. But w/my stinky moth cakes and the no worn clothing in closet rule, I have no problems.

Container Store No-moth

Whenever I use someone's "method", I always adapt it, just like cooking (well, actually, I follow recipes to the letter the first few times).

Looking forward to finishing KonMari; I listened to Swedish Death Cleaning this summer, too. Gentle but firm. I like her perspective that, as we dispose of our things either by giving, donating, recycling, or tossing, we make our and our loved ones' lives easier. I've gotten a lot of stuff out of mine and my parents' houses already.

Good for you, Eld! Losing excess stuff feels almost as good as losing weight for me ;-)

As for moths, my last house was positively infested with them. There was nothing I could do to contain the problem short of packing every single thing that mattered in a tissue lined, zippered bag with some lavender moth repellant. I bought a brand new sweater at the end of one summer, put it away in a drawer only to pull it out looking like Swiss cheese by ski season a few month later. I never put away dirty clothes. I hand wash all my woolens about every three wears. It was infuriating. Since moving- new house, same neighborhood, the problem is over.

PS I bought the No-moth product when I moved and used it for the first year we were there to ensure I had not transported any unwanted guests with me. Of course I washed or dry cleaned everything before packing up - and I used plastic boxes lined with plastic bags and tissue paper.

There is a woman in my city who has a famous collection of couture clothing she recently donated to a museum (the DeYoung.) She said one of the reasons she was anxious to get rid of the collection was needing to have her clothing inspected by some expert every month to check for any signs of moths showing up.

Eld, good start!

Lynn, beautiful closet! Sorry about the moths. I always worry about them, but so far, have never had that problem.

I started a major house clear-out at the end of June. The impetus for me was selling one of the cars allowing me (finally) easy access to a wall of cupboards in the garage. I am determined that every item we possess will have a home. New items coming in must find a home immediately. I’ve made great progress with only the undersink storage in bathrooms, laundry room and kitchen plus the drawers in the master bathroom waiting to be done. I’m having to take a little break because I tore a muscle in my leg so I cannot carry items up and down the stairs.

The Kondo method didn't appeal to me. I have my own mantra that has worked well so far and eliminates the 'joy' factor.

--------If I were shopping would I buy this today?-------

When we moved last year we designed a storage system for our closets and now they look so nice I've been very careful to keep them that way.

I have adopted her folding methods for my underwear and socks. Not the rest of my clothing though.

Annie, cedar for moths. I used to have an 12x10 cedar closet. Only clean clothes went in at the end of whatever season. No bugs ever. Now, I use cedar block around my woolen sweaters, coats, etc.

Eld, good for you! I thought about cleaning out a couple of dressers in unused rooms that have become receptacles for the detritus of my life-operative words are "thought about." Sheesh. I really need to follow your lead.

What do you all do with the clothes worn for "15 minutes" or that don't need cleaning after each wear?

Hmmmm .... that's a good question. I wore a jean jacket today over a sleeveless dress and hung up the jacket in my closet. And I only wash my woolens after three wearings, unless they are soiled, so clean is indeed a relative term.

I've said this before but for years I have taken my wools at the end of the season and stuck them in the freezer. After I've inspected them I clean them then roll them up and put them in a plastic bag . You can do that with clothes that aren't dirty but might have your scent on them because the scent is killed in the freezer as well.

If I wear something for only a few hours, I will let it air out on a rack I have in my bedroom. Then I hang it in partitioned off (with hangers as a separation) section so I know I wore it. For tops I have a bit of room on a shelf that I put the worn items.

If things get sweaty / dirty than of course I wash them.

My rational is that when I used to work an 8 hour day, I usually only wore a top once and pants twice.

I finished my sweaters, now all I have left is my shoes. Most of my shoes are kept in my foyer closet. On the floor is the current season and on a top shelf I put the next seasons. All I have to do is swap them. I have much less fall winter shoes than summer.

It was hard putting the pile together to give away. But, I really put each item on and had to admit why it didn't become a favorite.

Marie,I like your "If I were shopping today" question you pose to yourself. Sometimes I buy things that are marginal and I talk myself in to them. I am so trying very hard to not do this. I am returning a whole order to Eddie Bauer. The jeans were easy as they looked horrible. But.....the top.....eh it really was too big and sloppy looking. Do really need another casual comfy top? That's the problem with online shopping, things don't always look the way they are.

I read the book about 2 years ago and found it very helpful. Actually I really am not a hoarder and frequently go through clothing and make donations.....but I do find that reading a book like this (another good one was Clutter Busters) from time to time is very motivating. We recently moved, and as far as clothing goes it was quite helpful. I also retired (most likely) so I still have lots of items I wore for work (which was business casual) that I will probably be paring away as the seasons go on. We each had a large walk in closet before, and now are sharing one so it was good that we both did the paring down.

My thing now is that although I really have gotten rid of many things besides clothing, there remain too many vases, plates, and stuff like that that I really honestly like. There is less display space in this house so I am trying to figure out what to do.

The funny thing in this house (we downsized) is there are actually THREE very good size linen closets. So there is storage room no problem, but for pretty things to be surrounded by and feel good seeing..... this is the issue.

Sorry to hijack-

Eld, this is a timely topic. I cleaned out my pants and jeans a couple of weeks ago. Now that summer is winding down, I am going through tops and culling out the ones I didn’t wear at all this year. Good grief, how many pair of black pants does one need?! A lot apparently.

When I retired last summer, I donated a whole car full of professional clothing, shoes and handbags. I did keep some things, probably too many, because I either liked them a lot, or because I thought I would wear them out to some events like volunteer meetings, dinners, luncheons, plays, concerts, and things like that we attend. And yes I do wear them, but I’ve realized I should still pare down.

i skimmed the Kondo book a couple of years ago, and I do use her method for folding and storing T-shirt’s in a drawer, socks, and underwear. I also purged a lot of coats and jackets I did not need. I’ll do that again soon. I also use some canvas storage bins for larger handbags and clear plastic bins for small bags I use infrequently. Maybe I should look into a couple more canvas bins.

I have way too much workout wear and need to figure out a better system for that stuff but it’s ok. I rotate my shoes seasonally similar to you eld, and also can say now that I have fewer. And more summer than winter shoes. I tend to wear the same ones a lot, so there is another purge in order.

blfenton, I'm sorry you feel depressed about it.

Keeping weight down is more difficult especially since I gain around my middle. Pants will get too tight with only a 3 pound weight gain.

But, I have been diligent and I have to say I like being able to go from one season to the next with my pants still fitting, but this was not always the case.

I'm having a hard time with jeans. I have enough skinny jeans and quite frankly I am tired of them. It appears they are here in full force for another season. Hard to find slim straight leg jeans. I would like to wear a sock and flats with my jeans. The skinny are either a boot or ballet flat and I wouldn't wear socks with the flat.

This is such a timely thread you’ve started, Eld! So many of us are, like you, cleaning out our clothes closets (or getting ready to) as we move into Autumn and bringing out our cool weather clothes. I’ve always been a bit obsessed with organizing, and am always looking for new and better ideas to organize my life. This entire past week I’ve been cleaning out our guest room and it’s walk-in closet in preparation for my sister’s week-long visit here. It’s now quite organized and comfy ready for her . . . and, as she is allergic to dogs and we have two, it’s pretty darn dog dander and dog hair-free, too! Not to mention as spider and critter proofed, as humanly possible!

And so now today I’m starting to haul our Fall and Winter clothes from our cedar closet, as before my sister arrives, we have a 5-day out- of-state trip planned. This thread is inspiring me to try to go through them all and weed out what I don’t like or need, instead of cramming them all back into our MBR closet and dressers once again. As I mentioned, the Kondo Method has not worked well for me, but I like Marie Cate’s method of “If I were shopping, would I buy this today?”, and I’m going to use it! Enough of you have mentioned liking the Kondo method of folding clothes. I can’t remember what that is, but will try to google it. (Sigh) For me, changing out our clothes every Fall and Spring is a full day’s chore, if not more!

I can't make it a full day chore because if I do that by the time I get to the end I'm so tired of trying things on and making decisions that I wind up keeping everything and stuffing it back into drawers or storage and promising myself I'll do the whole thing next seasonal turnover which of course I never do. (run on sentence I know.)

Rosesstink, "What do you all do with the clothes worn for '15 minutes' or that don't need cleaning after each wear?" Sorry, my post wasn't clear. I use the cedar blocks and hangars around wool things in the closet during the season. The cedar closet and now a chest are for the clean clothes when I put them away for spring/summer/early fall.

Very motivated to clean out my closets, was reading this yesterday as my husband report he killed two moths...they're back! again. I just order the no moths hangers, thanks bossy. Last year we cleaned out the closets and vacuumed them, even painted one of them. Thought we were safe. discouraging.

Eld, I hope you don't mind if I keep hijacking your great thread, but I wanted to address moths in our clothes closets once again. This is the product I origianlly bought to put in our closets, but was too strong of a scent for us. These cans come with a metal hanger, if you choose to use them that way.

Looking for a decent pic of them to copy and paste here, I came across these on Amazon. They've gotten many great reviews and have a lavender scent. A 3-pack was $15.63. I've just ordered some:

The Container Store also sells something that looks very similar, but with a linen scent. Those are approximately $7 each.

Lynn no worries, add ons are always welcome!

May I suggest you read the MSDS' on the moth products. They contain dichlorobenzene. Not something you should breathe. I use these products only in sealed containers and away from living areas.

I love the KonMari method for clothes and linens. I was merciless. The "spark joy" thing may not have resonated with me but I kept items I wore all the time and the occasional things that made me think "I love this". Linens were easy. I didn't need several sets of queen sized sheets for the guest bed...the only queen sized bed in the house.

The folding techniques are great if you're the one who folds and puts away. MY drawers looked great and the cotton shirt fold was wonderful for seeing what I had. DD had so many the drawer wouldn't shut, until I followed her instructions. There was extra room after I was done. If I fold and let them put away, the drawers are a mess. I also use the method for packing, by taking up the vertical space available.

Once I got to books, I wasn't so successful. I did donate a lot that had been passed on to us but weren't authors we enjoyed.

We've downsized our possessions quite a bit and I hope to maintain it. The kids aren't on board, of course. I don't want to hang onto items out of obligation. I should find them useful or enjoy them.

Eld, get rid of the puffy jacket that doesn't do you any favors. You deserve better.

HCBM: thank you for taking the time to post that warning. I very much appreciate it and will be returning them, unopened, to Amazon for a refund. Lynn

Alex, I added #4 to the pile. :)

LynnNM you are very welcome. A family member is involved in chemical work and goes crazy every time we go somewhere and finds moth killers polluting the air. We left a Bed and Breakfast after finding that the bathroom had one as an air freshener and another in the closet. We got our deposit back after sending documentation showing how toxic those things are.

This quote from Marie Kondo's book: storage should reduce the effort needed to put things away, not the effort needed to get them out. I think this could change my life. Well, at least make my home tidier.