I am one for two in the tidy wardrobe department. The coat / broom closet is organized enough but the other wardrobe? Not so much.

When we moved in, this wardrobe became the designated catchall. At the time, my goal was to simply empty the moving boxes. I didn’t give these items much thought. The wardrobe houses my sewing machine, sewing box, lunch boxes, decor accessories, random craft supplies and other items that I couldn’t find a rightful spot for elsewhere. It’s a jumbled mess.

Until today, that is! {The closet series is lighting a fire under my a$$ as I had hoped. Need motivation to clean out your closets? A few words of advice: start a blog, make your first series an in-depth look at your closets then hold yourself accountable. It’s working liking a charm for me.}

When organizing any kind of closed storage, the first thing I do is empty it out. Even if I know the majority of the items will ultimately stay. I usually end up taking over entire rooms {see above} but this allows me to start with a blank slate and sweep up dust bunnies.

Then I survey the contents and get real. Real real.

When was the last time I used this? When will I use it again? Will I use it again? Why do I have a broken lamp? If I really loved this lamp wouldn’t I have fixed it by now? How many vases / baskets / candleholders does one house need? Yes, this was free but free junk is still junk. Whoa, I didn’t even know I had this. And so on. I try to be honest with myself. No hanging on to things I like but will never use. If I haven’t used something in the last year, chances are I’m not going to miss it.

In this instance, I filled an IKEA bag {also found in the wardrobe} with a collection of vases, baskets, decorative spheres, etc. Several larger items didn’t make the cut – a lamp base, a few hurricane candleholders and some larger vases. I haven’t touched any of these items since we moved in over a year ago. Heck, I don’t think I’ve even looked at them! Most of the items are leftover from our previous house. That house was much larger than our current home and had a different aesthetic, too. Time to move on.

Once I’ve collected the items I’m purging, I take them straight to my car. Mostly because we don’t have room for loose stuff to hang around but also because it forces me to actually drop it off at a donation center. I don’t have space in the back of my car for purged items + groceries so I will swing by Goodwill next time on my way to the grocery store. There is a donation center across the street from my regular grocery store which makes things easy. I don’t know about you but, if I had the extra step of loading a bunch of to-be-donated items into the car while simultaneously getting approximately two to three kids ready to go out the door, um, Operation Donation Drop-off would not happen.

Fact: I almost always have a bag of items waiting to be donated in my car.

With the wardrobe cleared and its contents whittled down, I begin putting items back in. Fragile and infrequently used items go up top. Heavy and regularly used items go down low.

I’ll share the “after” later this week in another ‘Making the Most of Small Closets’ post but I thought you might like to witness the method behind my madness. It’s amazing how much lighter and accomplished I feel after a good purging session. Do you have any methods or tips for editing your belongings?

FYI – I’m not donating the IKEA bag. That bag is awesome! It has already paid for itself on my numerous trips to IKEA and Goodwill. Not to mention, it’s great for packing up birthday and Christmas gifts to take / bring home from parties. I plan on keeping mine in my car.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking