Fall into Winter: Seasonal Coat Switch

How to Declutter your Coat Closet

It seems like sweater weather has finally arrived here in northeast Ohio.  My family and I spent some time this weekend switching out our hats, gloves, and coats.  Here are some tips to declutter your own coat closet.

Set a timer, declutter in chunks

If it feels overwhelming, set a timer.  Commit to 15 minutes, and see how you feel.  If you are done for today, stop and do 15 more minutes tomorrow.  

Try on what you have, donate what doesn’t work

Have each person assess and try on their own coats, hats and gloves.  Put anything that doesn’t fit into a garbage bag and take it right out to your car. Goodwill, Savers, and the Salvation Army all make it very easy to donate items.  They typically have a separate door where you can pull up and unload your car, or they will help unload it.  They accept your items no questions asked and then offer you a receipt for your taxes.

While you're at it, check condition too, not just fit. Coats with broken zippers, missing buttons, or stains that never came out are easy to feel guilty about, but they're taking up space you could use for things you actually reach for. If a coat has been sitting unworn for two winters in a row, that's usually your answer. Be honest with yourself, even if the item is repairable, if you haven’t repaired it in this amount of time, give yourself permission to let it go. I certainly give you permission and even encouragement, you will feel lighter for it!

Don’t let your donations pile become clutter by waiting to find the “perfect” donation location, any local non-profit is a great choice! Give yourself permission to choose with the easiest and most convenient place.

Put away summer items

This is also the time to gather up summer items: swimwear, flip-flops, crocs, summer hats etc.  Place them into a labeled bin or box for seasonal storage. I love using the same bin and cute storage basket for seasonal items, it’s easy to make the switch putting out items needed for the current season and putting away off-season items. When you go to make the switch again a few months later, everything is organized and ready to go, all in one spot.

Create homes for everything

If space is tight, delineate specific space for each person’s items and limit the amount of clothes, boots and shoes that remain in that area.  You may only have space for each person to have 2 coats and 2 pairs of shoes out at a time.  The rest should be stored in their closet or room.

Labeling helps more than people expect, especially if you live with other people, kids or adults. A simple label on each bin, even just a name or a picture for younger children, cuts down on the daily search-and-dump routine that turns closets into piles. I recommend clear bins when possible so everyone can see what's inside without opening every container. Alternatively simple color-coding systems can work wonders as well. Utilizing a child’s favorite color for their bin, such as orange for one child and purple for your other child is great. Everyone knows at a glance whose bin is whose, reducing confusion and increasing the chances that they will be used. Creating systems where others (not just you) can spend a few minutes tidying up is what you are striving for here!

Your Coat Closet Is Prime Real Estate

Consider both the physical space of your coat closet and what you currently have stored there. A coat closet is prime real estate. I had one client in Sheffield Village who had a shop vac she never used and a multitude of small appliance manuals sitting there. I advised her to move those items to the basement and clear space for what was really needed.

I had another recent client in Bay Village who had me over to declutter her dining area. The dining room was just to the left of her front door and had become a catch all drop zone. To the right of the front door was a large closet with plenty of space, but it was taken up by the wrong things. In the middle of July, hot, tank top and flip flop weather, it was full of winter coats, and one side went very deep and unused.

I suggested getting a simple set of shelves installed, one shelf per person, to hold her sons' and husband's baseball gear, which we had located scattered in the dining room. We turned the closet into more of a drop zone, with spots for the kids' book bags and shoes, much of which had been landing in the dining room instead.

If you're struggling with clutter in one area of your home, it's worth evaluating nearby areas to see what might not be working. She had asked me to help with the dining area and hadn't even realized that an underutilized front hall closet was the real culprit. As an experienced professional organizing team in northeast Ohio, we look beyond the quick fix to the root causes of clutter in your home.

Each person should have their own space

Delineating space per person is a way to give each person the room that they need while reducing conflicts. At many talks and presentations, people are really there because of someone they live with. If you live with someone who has many items and you are looking for a more minimalist approach this can be quite challenging. I give a classic example involving a shoe rack. If I reduce from 8 to 2 pairs of shoes in the entry way but my partner makes up for the space by going from 10 to 15 pairs of shoes, it still feels cluttered and frustrating. If you delineate one shelf on the shoe rack per person, then I can choose to put my single pair of shoes and have white space around them. I can enjoy the ease and freedom that comes with getting something out easily and putting it away peacefully. The person who has 10 pairs of shoes can experience their shoes being jammed on the shelf, their shoes spilling out onto the floor, or removing their extra shoes to their own personal closet. Either way, each person has their own space and is not impinging on the other person or their experience. The person with many items begins to realize the natural consequences of their situation and also reduces the impact their personal choices have on the rest of the family. If the person is resistant, you may need to kindly return their extra items to their delineated spaces (their closet, their spot in the kitchen, their office, etc.) so they can begin to understand how much they have.

A well organized entryway sets the tone for your whole home, it's the first thing you see coming in and the last thing you see heading out. If your coat closet, mudroom, or entry area needs more than a seasonal switch, I offer entryway and mudroom organizing services throughout Avon, Avon Lake, Westlake, Bay Village, Rocky River, and the greater Cleveland area. Learn more here or reach out to get started.