It’s a new season, some of you may be swapping out clothes for fall, or you may have taken up the Closet Cure with Nora, but you’re looking at your closet and trying to make some hard choices on what stays and what goes. I made the first round of these choices before I moved. I knew that I would have less storage (going down from two closets to one reach in) and I didn’t want to ship a lot of things or check a lot of bags (only 4!) so some things had to go. Before I get through round two of the closet pare down, it will be needed once I realize what I really need and want to add, here are three tips I used when paring down before I moved.

It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye to… All Your Shoes.

Boyz II Men knew what was up. When they said ‘yesterday’, they really meant what you wore yesterday. For me, clothes hold memories – the pair of shoes I got for my 30th, the dress I wore to a friend’s wedding, the first pair of pants I bought after losing weight – everything has a purpose, will be worn again, or can be tailored to the very end. This is not really true. At some point you can’t tailor down a dress any more, and that pair of shoes has only been worn once, so are you really going to wear them again? Probably not. So let them go. If they are in good shape, consign them or give them to a local charity. I’ve used ThredUp a couple of times and they are fine. I know there are others but this one is the most convenient for me. If they aren’t in good shape, throw them out. It’s okay. I promise you. You still have photos of you in the dress, and you still remember dancing your butt off in the heels. I’m not saying you have to hold it up to the light and thank it for giving you joy – seriously that would take forever if you have two closets and a couple of storage containers of clothes and shoes – but just know that the memory isn’t in the thing.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind = Out of the Closet

I love Target Merona t-shirts. Every season I re-up on their shirts, tanks, and camis but not every season do they change the colors. When I was purging, I noticed that I had like three or four black t shirts. While a black tee is indeed a staple, one or two is plenty. I had so much in various places, I didn’t realize I had that many. I’m sure in the far corners of your closet, you have a couple of duplicates. Take out the redundancies and see the closet clear up.

Set Limit and Get Cut-Throat.

I started by creating a list based off setting up a capsule wardrobe and having realistic expectations for myself. I know I will never just have one pair of work pants or two dresses, I like creating outfits and having lots of color in my closet. That doesn’t mean that I need to have a dress in every color though. I set my limit on 100 pieces (minus shoes and workout clothes) and settled on checking four large bags. This included bulky items and coats. That’s a lot to fit into four bags. Set on the baggage limit, some things didn’t make the cut that had already gotten through the initial purges. Having a limit of some type, whether you are trying to create a capsule wardrobe or you have a set number of bags, makes cutting the final holdouts in your closet a little easier.

The moral of the story is it’s okay to let things go, especially if you already have it in several versions, and when in doubt, set your limits. With that in mind, your closet will go down in size in now time.

Are you cleaning out the closet? What are your go-to tips? Share with the rest of #TeamPCA in the comments!