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Step 1
Empty your closet completely. It's much easier to get rid of things if the effort of removing them is already made. Dump all your clothes, shoes, accessories and whatnots someplace else, like the couch in your study or your guest bed.
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Step 2
Vacuum and dust the closet. Paint, if the mood strikes you. You want an attractive space to house your favorite clothes.
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Step 3
Sort and return things to the closet, a little at a time. Pick 2 or 3 pieces to look at together and decide which to hang up again and which to drop into a nearby garbage bag for charity.The criteria for keeping an item is that it fits well, makes you look and feel great and boosts your mood just by hanging there. You may have to keep a few things that fall short of these standards, just to have something to garden in, but minimize them.
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Step 4
Try on complete outfits, as you're sorting. Now's a good time to experiment by combining things you've never brought together before. Write down the outfits you love for the next time you can't figure out what to wear.
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Step 5
Use hangers that work together visually. Combine multiple colors that look good together, perhaps all warm colors or all cool colors. Choose all the same material--plastic is fine--and the same size, except for special garments that hang in their own grouping like suits on wooden hangers.
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Step 6
Arrange your clothes in the closet by categories based on how you make decisions on what to wear. What are the first questions you think about in the morning? Work wear or casual? Frivolous or serious? Fat or thin? Outgoing or introverted? Use those as your categories.
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Step 7
Separate warm colors and cool colors of clothing within the categories. You'll end up with an arrangement that isn't regimented, but looks so good you'll like keeping it that way!
