With the crazy sales that retailers are hosting this time of the year and the new clothes you no doubt picked up during the holidays it is now time to purge. A complete closet makeover is a must!!

For those of us that have a lot of clothes (you know who you are even if you don’t want to admit it), purging is a seasonal necessity. For those of us who are a little more frugal in the number of things we own, once a year may be sufficient.

There is more to making over your closet than just loading some items into a bag and throwing it in your attic. Follow these instructions to do it right!

First - Set aside a good chunk of time. You will not be able to do this well in an hour.

Two - Turn on some great pump-you-up tunes.

Three - Pick a spot to start. Maybe the drawers of your cabinet, or the bins of shoes, or the clothes hanging in a part of your closet.

Four - Pull out each piece of clothing and examine it. Is it in good shape (no stains, holes, irremovable wrinkles)? Does it fit you right? Do you wear it? Do you like it? Does it go with a lot of the things you own? If the answer is ‘yes’ to all these questions, keep it. If not, consider adding it to the purge pile. There is no reason to keep something in your closet that doesn’t look right on you. (I think this is especially a problem when we are in the active ‘weight-loss’ stages of life. We always think it’ll fit in a couple weeks so we’ll keep it. But in reality it probably won’t fit that well in a month, so don’t keep it in the hopes.)

Five - Those things in the purge pile?  Leave them there. It is tempting to look back after a while and re-convince yourself that you need something you already decided you don’t need.

Six - For items that are still in good condition, consider donating. Many churches will accept clothing. Or take your bags of purged items to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. That way someone else will get pleasure out of the things you can no longer wear.  Or if you could use some new pieces, snap pics and swap them right here on Sparkle*Swap!

(Sidenote: To cut down on the number of things you purge yearly, or seasonally, it is a good idea to live with this mantra:  one new thing in, one old thing out.)