Clean Along, Closets and Drawers
January 20, 2025This week we'll tackle the deep cleaning of the main bedroom closets and drawers. It's a biggie, but we have all week! Let's begin by admitting that it's a heck of a lot easier to deep clean when you have less stuff. It's also true that the reasons for having less stuff are many, and for me, having less means I can more easily keep my house clean and tidy and I love that. If you feel like you have too much stuff and you suspect it's why you can't keep a tidy house, don't worry, I have some tips that can help you declutter as you clean, and organize at the end, so let's get to it!
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Image from Fine Art America |
Gather your supplies: Vacuum cleaner and hand vac, broom, bucket of warm soapy water, several microfiber cloths, trash can, donation box, and paper drawer liners if needed. If you're on a time limit, set a timer. Even ten minutes is worth it and small blocks of time add up.
CLOSETS: I'm going to start with a story. Last October, my husband, after years of quietly watching me clean and declutter our home that we both love so much, announced that he was ready to clean out his closet. I had repeatedly offered my excellent services and he had always said no thank you, but perhaps he had been secretly admiring me all this time? You can imagine how happy I was. In one long afternoon he tried on every pair of pants, every shirt, sweater, and sport coat he owned and kept only the ones he loved and wore and donated the rest. But it didn't exactly go down quite like that. First, a few of the outfits were positively side spitting and several get ups had my eyes almost rolling out of my head. We laughed. We giggled. We peppered each other with questions such as, "Did we really spend our good money on this?" and, "Did I actually go out arm and arm with you in that get up?", and "How could you have let me wear this?" Oh my, there is no denying that styles change and bodies change, but we did have fun even though it was exhausting. My brave guy got rid of easily 1/3 of his clothing and now every single item in his edited wardrobe fits, and is something he likes and wears. It's been three months since the clean out, but each time he gets dressed for a dinner out, he comments about how easy it is to get ready. Sure it is, once you remove the stuff you don't like and won't wear, your decisions get a lot easier! So for my husband, owning less saves him time. As an aside, I read that 80% of the time we wear only 20% of our wardrobe. So if we got rid of half of the 80% we don't wear, we would be removing more than 1/3 of our clothes and still have too much!
So that's what I did too but I didn't have him as an audience; my fragile psyche can't take the laughs. I'm hard enough on myself as it is. In past years I've already done this job in earnest and have managed to keep my closet under control, but repeating a once yearly declutter while deep cleaning is not a bad idea. I tried on a few clothes I don't remember wearing recently and was able to get rid of a small bag of clothes and two pair of heels that make me wince after wearing for one minute. I then replaced every hanger back to front. Going forward, each time I wear something, I'll hang it front to back and then next January I'll see what hangers are still hanging backwards. At that time I'll have to decide if I should keep something that I haven't worn in a year. Do this with me and then next January let's report back how many hangers are still backwards.
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In 2026, if any article of clothing is still hanging on a hanger that is back to front, it means I didn't wear it and don't need it. |
Tidy tip: Ban the wire hangers. The dry cleaners will gladly take them off your hands. Your clothes will hang better and look nicer with a mix of velvet hangers (50 for $21) and wood hangers (30 for $33) and is a great investment. Do an inventory and buy what you realistically think you need, and when you run out of hangers, rather than buying more hangers, instead consider decluttering even more.
Now on to deep cleaning. Glance around and quickly relocate anything that doesn't belong and throw out visible trash. Remove everything from the floor of the closets, including dressers, shelves, shoe racks, etc. Vacuum then scrub the floor and baseboards. Push clothes aside and wipe down one section of wall at a time. Wipe down furniture pieces and replace. Appoint a designated spot for each group of clothes. Tees in this section, dresses here, etc. If you have too many pieces for that certain spot you've appointed, declutter the least loved items. Declutter anything that doesn't fit, is worn and ratty, is dreadfully out of date, or too glittery if you don't like glitter, or too plain if you don't like plain. If you are keeping anything in your closet that makes you feel bad in any way, such as an item you spent a lot of money on and you still don't like, or you wore it at a low time in your life and you are reminded of that low time when you see it, or it doesn't fit and you feel bad about your changing body, or any other terrible reason for holding onto something that doesn't make you feel like the awesome person you are, please I beg you, get rid of it now. We are creating a lovely home here and those things are holding lovely at bay.
Tidy tip: An inexpensive and effective cleaner is one bucket of warm water with a few drops, no more, of Dawn dishwashing liquid. You only need a tiny bit to cut the grime. Microfiber cloths, a Scrub Daddy and a Magic Eraser will be all you need to add for most jobs.
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It's easy to clean a dresser thoroughly if you remove the drawers. |
DRAWERS: Start with one set of dresser drawers. Place a large clean towel on your bed or whatever surface make sense. Take one drawer and dump the contents upside down onto the towel. Quickly scan the items and throw out visible trash and relocate anything that doesn't belong in the drawer. Vacuum the drawer, then with a microfiber squeezed with warm soapy water, wipe down the insides and outsides of the entire drawer. Now reach into the cavern of the dresser and wipe the insides throughly: the side panels, the back panel, the bottom, the underside of the top, stiles and rails. This is easier to do if all the drawers are out. Please don't skip this part as you will find dust inside the cabinet and maybe a cobweb or two. If your drawers are wood, cut a new piece of shelf paper liner to protect your items from sitting on the possibility of splinters. If your drawers are formica you can skip this step.
Tidy tip: I replace my drawer liners yearly with this inexpensive kraft paper. One roll will last for years.
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from Marie Kondo |
Now it's time to organize your drawer. Drawer organizers are cheap and available everywhere from Target, The Dollar Store, etc. but if you cannot stand the thought of bringing in more stuff to organize your stuff, use shoeboxes. I'm a huge fan, from boot boxes to baby shoe boxes, all are great and your local shoe store will be generous with you, just ask. Fit your choice of organizers into your drawer and imagine what will go into each. Tees in one, bras in another, etc. Now it's time to refill that drawer. If you have room for ten tees in your designated tee shirt spot and you own 15, then logic tells us that you will have to get rid of 5. If you don't, you'll always have a messy drawer and who wants to keep chaos to their lives? We don't. We didn't start this job only to do it halfway and be in the same messy predicament year after year. We are doing this deep clean/declutter to add joy and reduce stress, and a messy drawer, let alone a house full of them, does exactly the opposite! So here's what you do, choose the ten tees you love and wear, and have nothing else influence you, not cost nor guilt, and just keep what you actually wear. And the other five? Say goodby. That's why you have the donation box so use it. Going forward, if you buy a tee, you will have to remove one from your drawer. It's called the one-in/one-out rule. This will make you think twice when you are shopping knowing that you'll have to remove an item, thus saving you money and wean you off the hamster wheel of shopping. As for folding, I love Marie Kondo's method of folding and standing items upright to easily view what is stored.
Tidy tip: Make sure you have a designated spot for each group of items. If the items start to overflow out of their designated spot, do not give them overspill room, instead, get rid of items to make everything fit in their spot once again.
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I like to hang my pants and I have given this space for pants and I will allow no overspill! |
Thank you for taking this months long deep clean journey with me. I'll be here every Monday with the hope that I can encourage you and you can encourage me. Let's be accountability buddies!
Next week, for better or worse, is the master bath.
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2 Comments
Extra tees struck a nerve. They have great ones at Old Navy for very good prices and way too easy to add to my collection:). Chloe
ReplyDeleteI hear ya. That's me with Costco pajamas. I don't even look at them anymore because I know I can't buy any until the ones I own wear out!
DeleteYou make my day when you make a comment!