Martha Stewart suggests that you clean your closet every month to keep up with it. Ha ha, once a month!?! How 'bout once every 5 years? And her wonderful clean closet photos! Get real, Martha! Who has only 8 shirts?

The professional organizers agree the best way to clean your closet is to empty it completely, then have at ready 3 boxes labeled 'toss' 'keep' 'donate'. This weekend, when I tackled my own closet, I added a 4th and 5th box for 'seamstress' and 'consignment.'

I had my daughter there to critique my stuff, nothing gets past her evil eye. We only did one side, we would have never finished a whole closet project, and I would have been dressing out of a mound of clothing piled high on my bed for who knows how long!.

She's brutal, the line of the day was 'toss it.' I kept sneaking things from the toss box to the donate box. "Mom, you don't have time to drive these things around town, just throw them out." It's a generation gap thing...can you throw things away?

There were plenty of things that got a thumbs up, but as we found items that fit (scary..you know those dumb dry cleaners, they shrink everything...wink, wink) I made a list of things I need to complete outfits or pieces to replace.

If I have inspired a few of you to tackle your own closets, before you start, buy yourself a few packs of your favorite hangers. It's nice to toss out the cracked or broken ones as you go. Have fun!

14 great ideas from professional organizers

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