2. SEPARATE THE ITEMS YOU REMOVED

Most people hate this step since it involves getting rid of items that you've owned since you were eight years old. To make the impending separation a little easier, follow these two steps:

Divide items into bins
Get rid of everything but the Keep Bin

Divide items into bins

Gather four bins from your local discount store and label according to the guidelines below Boxes will work just as well, but make sure they're strong enough to support a heavy load. Then put each item into the appropriate bin.

  • Keep Bin: The hard and fast rule for deciding what items to keep is to look at how often you wear/use the item. For clothes, any item you have not worn more than twice in the last year should not be included. Be extremely harsh; if there's even a doubt, do not throw it into the Keep Bin. That's how you got into this mess in the first place.

  • Throw Away Bin: You'll probably notice halfway through the process that your Keep Bin is overflowing while the rest are virtually empty. However, if you think about it, some of your possessions are probably ripped, stained, broken, or in some other state of calamity. So any item that is 100% unsalvageable should go directly into the Throw Away Bin. However, do not put an item into the Throw Away Bin just because it's ugly - those items should go into your Donate Bin.

  • Sell and Donate Bins (one of each): These bins will be the heaviest, because chances are that most of your stuff isn't ruined, just out of style or ill-fitting. If it's been over a year since you've fit into the garment, donate it (keeping clothes that don't fit will just take up room from other outfits that could make you look fabulous right now). We strongly suggest that you give as much of your stuff as possible to Goodwill - it'll make you feel good, and you may get a tax break.

    However, if you gave at the office and want to make a little extra cash, you can always take things in particularly good shape to a consignment store. Suits and sweaters will likely fetch the best price, but many consignment stores will accept almost anything that's in good shape.

Get rid of everything but the Keep Bin

The minute you finish putting your stuff into bins, immediately get rid of the Throw Away, Sell, and Donate Bins. If you keep those bins around, rest assured that they'll somehow find a way to get back into your closet. So once everything gets binned…

  1. Get some large trash bags, and put your Throw Away Bin items into them. Put the trash bags outside with the other garbage, and be thankful that you got rid of some stuff.

  2. Put the Sell and Donate Bins in the back of your car and take them to the appropriate locations.

  3. Go home and take a shower. You probably smell bad after lugging all those old clothes around.