If your closet or drawers are so packed with clothes it’s hard to get anything in or out, the underlying problem could be you don’t want to get rid of anything. Or you love to buy new things. Or both. And it’s possible you don’t have enough space – but you’ll only know that after you pare down some of what you have.

Here’s a cool exercise to help you purge, inspired by the book One Thing at a Time by Cindy Glovinsky.

Set your phone or a timer for 10 minutes and do a deep contemplation about the image you’d like to put forward with how you dress. When the timer goes off, jot down ideas about your ideal:

• PJs or nightgown
• Underwear
• Work clothes
• Play clothes
• Formal wear
• Colors
• Fabrics
• Solids or prints
• Skirt or pant styles and lengths

In this exercise, you aren’t thinking about what you own – but how you want to look, how you want the world to see you. If it helps, pull pages from catalogs or magazines of clothing that best expresses how you want to look.

Now you’re ready to challenge the Clothing Monster.

If you have limited time, start with a single drawer. If you have more time, take on an entire dresser. If you have a few hours, include the closet.

Wherever you start, take out each piece of clothing. Does it match the image you’d like to convey? If it’s on-image, set it aside to sort. If it’s off-image for any reason – style, color, pattern, fit, comfort – set it aside for a purge.

Now take the on-image items and reassemble your closet or drawers sorting by type: shirts, sweaters, pants, skirts, dresses, formal clothes, scarves, etc. These clothes express who you are or who you want to be.

For the non-image items, if you can afford to, recycle them or give them away. If you’re not quite ready to purge, box them up and if you don’t miss them after a few weeks, pass them on. Maybe they’re the perfect fit or style for someone else. Remember – they’re not your style. You probably weren’t wearing them much anyway. So why not open that space?

The next time you shop, think about the image you want to convey and carefully select only items that work with your ideal image.

Opening up space in your closet or drawers magically opens up space in your head. To imagine. To dream. To be who you are.

Happy purging, Clothing Monster!

I’ll close today with a picture of pure joy. This grandbaby is charmed by life. And she does have some pretty cute clothes 🙂

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