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Home Organizer Case Study: An Overstuffed Clothing Closet

Home Organizer Case Study - An Overstuffed Clothing Closet | Organizedartistry.com #organizedcloset #howtoorganizecloset #clothingcloset

Welcome to the first in a series of home organizer case studies I’ll be profiling on my blog!

I’ve been working with clients for over twenty years and have helped each of them find solutions to a variety of their organizing challenges. In this series, I’ll be highlighting some of the more common organizing problems my clients have come to me with and show you what we did to solve them.

Maybe you’ll see yourself in one of these case studies? Perhaps the process will motivate you to take action to achieve a similar goal? I hope you find them helpful as you navigate your own organizing journey.

Case Study: An Overstuffed Clothing Closet

Client Profile:

Mrs. B. called me to inquire about my services and how I could help her organize her overstuffed clothing closet. She informed me upfront that her budget covered three hours of my services. I went to her home for a short Needs Assessment and saw that the closet, although small, was stuffed from top to bottom.

As an experienced home organizer, I knew that we’d be ‘cutting it close’  on completing the task in three hours but if she was able to make decisions quickly, we’d be able to complete her closet organizing project in time. She was very motivated and I had a good feeling she was up for the time-crunched task.

What prompted client to reach out to Organized Artistry?

Mrs. B. was tired of being unable to find the clothes she wanted to wear on a daily basis. She was also planning a future vacation and the thought of looking for the clothes she wanted to wear on her trip was causing her stress.

Goals:

To organize the overstuffed clothing closet so Client could find the clothes she loved, clothes that fit, and reflected her current lifestyle.
For Client to have the ability to locate clothes to wear on an upcoming warm weather vacation.

Organizing Challenges:

Overstuffed closet
Client can’t find the clothes she needs when she needs them
Variety of sizes and seasons in one closet
Client is frustrated
Client buys more of what she is unable to find
Only three hours to complete the job

Organizing Process:

You may think that three hours is plenty of time to organize a closet–even a full one. But, in my experience, I have found it can take many more hours than that. Besides the quantity of clothes to process, the speed of that process has to do with how quickly the client can make decisions as to what to keep and what to let go of. With only three hours to accomplish our goal, we said a quick hello to each other, walked upstairs, and got down to work.

My client’s closet was in her bedroom. We used her bed as a large surface to sort and purge on (Tip: If using a bed to sort and purge items, lay a flat sheet on top of the bed first so dust from closet shelves and dirt from shoes doesn’t land where you sleep).

We started pulling clothes out of her closet by category (pants, then dresses, then skirts, etc.) and sorted them on the bed by season. I split the surface of the bed into two sides–one was for Fall/Winter clothes and the other side was for Spring/Summer clothes.

Mrs. B. and I sorted through her clothes piece by piece to determine whether they would ‘stay’ or ‘go.’ She made most decisions quickly. Any item that required extra thought went into a pile that we made decisions on together towards the end of our session.

Discoveries:

You never know what you’ll find when working in a client’s closet. Once, I unearthed a rubber chicken! This time, no chicken–but instead, I discovered that my client had amassed an extensive collection of black pants. Twenty-four pair of black pants to be exact!

To be fair, in the Northeast, the temperature can go from below zero all the way to one hundred degrees in the span of a year. Black pants of different fabric weights and lengths are a wardrobe necessity for most women.

How did I discover my client had twenty four pair of black pants?

While we were removing items from her closet and sorting them on her bed, out of the corner of my eye, I watched Mrs. B. group all of her ‘like’ clothes together by type. The pants pile on each side of her bed resembled a mountain–a dark one. She kept pulling black pants out of her closet and putting them on top of each pile.

I asked for her permission to dig into her pile of pants to start counting them and she gave me the go ahead. In counting black pants on both side of the bed, I added them up and got to twenty-four pair. I told my client the number and she couldn’t believe it. She confessed to me that there had been times when she couldn’t find the black pants she needed so she’d go to the store and buy another pair. I let her know that it was a common occurrence for people with overstuffed closets and that after we organized her closet, she wouldn’t need to do that anymore.

The Result:

After working together for three hours, Mrs. B. and I:

Purged twelve pair of black pants. Client kept twelve.
Filled three bags of clothes for donation.
Relocated summer clothes to under the bed storage bins that client had purchased but had not yet used.
Placed the remaining clothes back in her closet by category  (grouping ‘like with like’).
Separated out the summer clothes she wanted to pack for her upcoming vacation and placed them in a storage bag at the bottom of her closet.

I removed a garbage bag filled with wire hangers that Mrs. B said I could bring to my dry cleaner. Boy, was he happy to see me later that day!

Mrs. B. was exhausted and thrilled at the end of our three-hour organizing session. Her overstuffed clothing closet had been purged and re-organized, she put aside the clothes she wanted to bring with her on her vacation, and she now knew where all of her clothes could be found–including her twelve pair of pants.

Happy Client = Happy Organizer!

You can do it, too!

Need help getting started? I offer virtual home organizing services via FaceTime or Zoom to help you reach your organizing goals. Click the link to discover more at the Organized Artistry website.

 

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Categories: Case Study, Closet, Clothing, Clutter, Donations

11 responses to “Home Organizer Case Study: An Overstuffed Clothing Closet”

  1. Case studies are the best! I love how you took us through this. I could visualize each step. Also, it was essential to understand your client’s objectives, which you described well, along with the potential challenges. Congratulations to you and your client for decluttering and organizing her clothing closet in three hours! I love how you both came away happy.

    • Stacey Agin Murray says:

      Thanks! I’ve been meaning to do a case study (after 20+ years of organizing) and felt that it would be a fun way to get back into writing for my blog. I’ll definitely do a case study once or twice a year.
      Yes–we both came away happy from the session. I learned early on in my career that if my client is happy then I should be happy no matter how little I think we accomplished during a session. It’s all about them!

  2. Great case study, Stacey! Your client experience is very similar to so many of mine. An overstuffed closet has always been the source of people spending too much money on clothing. Thanks for sharing your experience.

    • Stacey Agin Murray says:

      I have worked in many overstuffed clothing closets and have recognized a few reasons for them:
      • Closets filled with multiple sizes due to losing/gaining weight
      • Clients using retail therapy to fill a void in their lives
      • Women still needing maternity clothes and not quite fitting into their pre-baby clothes
      • Client unable to come to terms with clothing from the past and what it represented to them

      And yes–spending too much money on clothing. The work we do to organize clothing closets is so important on more levels than one realizes!

  3. Seana Turner says:

    I love the way you laid out this case study. So approachable for anyone wanting to tackle a similar project.

    I’m impressed that you got the entire project done in three hours. Well done! I usually expect it to take longer.

    Getting rid of the extra black pants was such a win. Living in the Northeast myself, I know we need a lot of those, but not 21. I tend to wear the same two pair most of the time, no matter how many I have. 🙂

    • Stacey Agin Murray says:

      Normally, most overstuffed closets take more than three hours to organize but I was lucky to have a highly motivated and energetic client! I think she felt like getting rid of half of her black pants was a ‘win,’ too. After we set up her closet (post-purge) all of her black pants were in one spot–no need to go out and buy more!

  4. This is so much fun to read, Stacey. I love the way you laid out the case study. I agree, closets often take many more than 3 hours. I recently worked with a client to organize her closet and we spent about 8 hours (multiple sessions) on her closet and chest of drawers. Clothes can be difficult.

    • Stacey Agin Murray says:

      Clothes have memories, stories and emotional ties which can definitely lengthen a closet organizing session. My client was ready and did not show much of an emotional attachment to her clothes. I just remember barely looking up during that appointment–we just kept moving!

  5. Julie Bestry says:

    I am impressed, both with the excellent narrative you’ve laid out in this case study and with the fact that you accomplished all of that in three hours. While I’ve been able to complete adult clothing closets in one (four-hour) session, I’ve never found that to be the case with the over-stuffed closets.

    I do follow almost exactly your procedure, but it sounds like your client was a decisive person. Most of my clients have the various scenarios you described in your reply to Sabrina — multiple sizes, retail therapy, and emotional connection to wardrobe items. My clients don’t generally have to deal with seasonal wardrobes as much as yours do, but volume can still be quite the challenge!

    I’m looking forward to your future case studies.

    • Stacey Agin Murray says:

      Thanks for your kind words. My client’s decisiveness was key to getting the job done in three hours. She was also more than ready to do the project and put her whole body and soul into it! I think it’s one of the only times in all my years of organizing closets that I was able to complete that type of job in three hours. It’s all about making those decisions!

  6. I never did many closet organizing jobs, but the one that stands out in my mind was another one where the client had TONS of black pants! From what I recall, she said she needed to keep them all.

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