1. Perform a Great Closet Cleanse.

The only truly successful way to clean out a closet is to take it allllll out. (You didn’t really think this list was going to start somewhere else, did you?) In order to have a joyful closet, you need to figure out what in your closet actually brings you joy! So go ahead, put on a pair of your big girl panties, haul everything out of your closet and get started.

The mental gymnastics of taking everything out of your closet and deciding what to keep is totally different than just attempting to take out what you don’t wear.  I’m not making this up. Try it.

Now. Go Marie Kondo the heck out of your closet.

2. Stop protecting the bullies.

You know you have clothes living in your closet that are just mean to you. Jeans that are too tight, that sweater you loved but is now a size too small. We hold on to clothes that shame us, just in case.

Life requires us to be resilient in situations where actual people try to make us feel bad about ourselves. Stop letting your clothes bully you, too. Kick those losers to the curb.

3. Play favorites.

Now that you’ve emptied out your closet, figure out why you love the items you wear most often. Do they have pockets? (I hope so.) V-necks? High waists? Great. Now you have some criteria when you are considering something new.

Also determine what is it you hate about the items that keep getting left on the bed when you get dressed. Acknowledge that crew necks/wide legged pants/big statement necklaces just don’t look good on you (or you don’t like them) and get rid of them.

4. Assess your underpants.

There are so many little frustrations in life. Traffic jams, lines at the grocery store, annoying co-workers. Comfortable underwear that are easy to grab out of the drawer shouldn’t be one of them. And I guarantee you won’t realize how amazing it is not to have to deal with a messy drawer of jumbled drawers until you upgrade.

So toss out those uncomfy undies and back up panties. Get rid of the bras that you never wear because as soon as you put them on your resting witch face becomes permanent.

If you already have a style of underwear and bras you love, order some new ones. I can almost guarantee that an update is way overdue.

If you don’t, now is the time to find some. I know, I know it’s a pain in the…you know. But put on a pair of the big girl panties you have left and do it! I’ve tried a lot of name brands, but the underwear I love are here and the bras I love are here, if you want a starting place.

Once everything in the drawer is something you will wear with pleasure, give those panties some breathing room! Separating your bras and underwear according to style means no more groping through the drawer looking for bikinis only to realize that all your bikinis are in the dirty clothes and now you are going to have to wear a thong. Gah.

Seriously, organizing your underwear is even more amazing than it sounds.

5. Flaunt what you’ve got.

If I can’t see something, it’s dead to me. If you have ever cleaned out your closet and thought, Wow! Forgot I had that! You know what I mean.

So put all your stuff on display. Hang up all your clothes. (No, not your jammies, silly.) Display your jewelry where you can see it at a glance. Organize all your shoes on a rack or in clear shoe boxes.

Being able to view all your options at once (preferably with some wiggle room) makes it easier to keep track of what you have and to mix and match things more readily.

If you are muttering under your breath about not having enough closet space for this, try making extra room by storing all seasonal and special occasion items elsewhere. You don’t need them right now so they don’t need to take up valuable space in the closet you open every day. You can also put your clothes in a rotation, choosing a specific number to live in your closet and putting the rest in a bin under your bed.  Or, you can do a second Closet Cleanse and get rid of a few more things.

What we love and wear most is probably right in the front anyway. By displaying all your items to view at once, you are simply eliminating the ones that are lurking in the shadows and conspiring to make getting dressed a more difficult process than it needs to be.

6. Use a smaller box of crayons.

We always think more is better. But when you have the box of 64 crayons, you don’t ever use them all. If you have the box of 24, they all get a chance to come out and play.

Now that you have a curated closet, don’t run right out to add more. Limiting your options requires you to use what you have in more creative ways. If you spend a little time mixing and matching with fewer items, your clever brain will start to put the clothes in your closet together in ways you hadn’t considered, creating outfits you didn’t know you had! It’s like a weird sort of closet voodoo.

7. Stop looking for the glass slipper.

You are not Cinderella. Finding the perfect shoe is not going to change your life. We have bought into advertising’s fairy tale that the right pair of shoes, shade of lipstick, or beautiful bag is going to be transformational, if only we could find it. Shopping can be fun, but the perfect shoe is not the magic wand that is going to transform your closet.

Let go of the idea that the next perfect purchase has enough power to change your life. Only you have that amount of power.

8. Zhuzh it up.

The places you keep your clothes are ones you visit every. damn. day. Opening your closet or your dresser should bring you joy! So give them some of the same attention you give the rest of your surroundings.

Buy the good hangers. Get a nice shoe rack. Display your jewelry in a pretty tray. Paint the inside of your closet a fun color and put some exciting shelf paper in your drawers. If you have a walk in closet, set up a full length mirror or hang a funky light fixture.

Make your dressing area a little more fun! You do, after all, spend a lot of time there.

Getting dressed doesn’t have to drain your joy!

Opening your closets should be like walking into a party where you are excited to see everyone who’s there! Stop treating your closet like a open-door frat party and start treating it like the intimate and exclusive event it deserves to be. Take the time to clean it up, make it pretty and don’t bring the party down by letting in the Karens.

What are your secrets to having a joyful closet? Would love to hear them in the comments below!