Creating a Capsule Closet: Stage 2 - Sorting

This week we're stepping back into my closet for the next stage of my Creating a Capsule Closet series - sorting! Once you've got your plan down, the next step is to put it into action. This means going through what you have to see what you're keeping and what you're getting rid of.

I created 4 piles in my little hallway to sort through my first section of clothing: keep, sell, donate, and upcycle. I had a ton of clothes in my garage from before I got pregnant that I knew I'd want to sort through once Miles was born. I managed to condense them all down to one 18-gal plastic tub right when the last shirt stopped fitting. If you're in the process of changing your weight (whether to go up or down), I recommend putting away the clothes that you have that will fit you at your end goal until you're ready to go through them. Because it had been so long since my last closet purge, I had 3 different sizes of clothes in my tub.

When choosing to sell or donate your clothes, keep in mind how the quality of the item is before deciding what to do with them. For my higher end, trendy, and vintage items, I saved those for a ThredUp bag that I had coming my way. ThredUp is a great way to make some money off of your clothing that can be resold without having to really do much. The downside is that your payout is smaller than if you sold them yourself. If you decide to try and sell your stuff on your own, I recommend using Poshmark, posting to your Instagram, or joining and posting to your town's Yard Sale group on Facebook.

Everything else that I knew was either off-trend, too worn out, or wouldn't sell for much, I gave to mom who frequently donates to a US Veteran's pick-up service in her area. H&M also collects donations for clothing as part of their sustainability program. I'm not sure if all locations do this, but my local store offers 15% off your total purchase when donating 3 or more items. If you have the Nextdoor app, you can also post your donations there in case someone in your community is in need of usable clothing.

My fourth pile was for upcycling clothing I had for other projects that I wanted to try out, like baby clothes, pillow cases, blankets, yarn and increasing sizes. Using clothing you're not sad to lose in a mistake is the best way to learn and practice these types of crafts.

My closet was a little bit easier to manage space-wise. Since my closet is split level, I placed everything on my bottom rack and brought up what I wanted to keep to the top.

The only items I didn't move there were my dresses, since they'd be too long to keep there. I kept my closet like this for month to see what I used from both levels to determine what I needed to actually keep.

Some pieces I didn't use stayed because I knew I needed to revisit it in a different season. Most people can get away with keeping their closets like this for a week, but I needed a month since I'm a new mom and can't really leave the house too often.

Now that my clothes have been sorted through, I can go through my checklist and determine what I have, what I need to replace and what I need to buy! In the next post, I'll be covering that list and sharing my shopping wish list with you!