OK, some of you may be thinking, “That’s not a messy closet!”

But for someone like me, this is totally a disaster! I have a very small closet and it must stay neat and organized for me to maintain my sanity. Getting dressed each day should not be a chore, nor should it instill a bad mood.

What is your idea of a perfect closet? For me, it has to be orderly and organized by color.

Regardless of whether you are male or female, wear suits or business casual, or work in a corporate environment or at home, you should place high importance on your closet and your wardrobe. A messy wardrobe or a closet full of “nothing” can really affect your attitude for the rest of the day.

Here are 5 key points to consider for your own wardrobe:

1. Build a wardrobe that meets your lifestyle needs. (Use a pie graph to chart this.) An example would be:

a.  55% of your time needs work clothes
b.  35% – family time/play clothes
c.  5% – athletic/outdoor activities
d.  5% – social events

2. Do you travel a lot for business or pleasure? Do you have a system for packing quickly and effectively?

3. What colors are predominant in your wardrobe? Is that working for you or would you like to add more color into the mix? (I’m going out on a limb here to assume you mostly have black!)

4. What’s your personal style like? Could you describe it? Could you recognize it in

a store?

5. Do you have time to shop and plan for your wardrobe?

Taking the time NOW to organize, purge and reclaim your wardrobe is a smart investment. Save your precious dollars! Don’t buy something just because it’s on sale. And stop wasting time and money on bad clothing mistakes because you were under some time pressure.

Put your energies into your existing wardrobe:

• Do analyze your lifestyle needs to make sure you have the correct proportion of work clothes to play clothes to social events, etc.
• Take the time to go through all of your spring/summer (don’t worry about your winter clothes till the fall) items to make sure each piece fits you well, flatters your skin tone, hair and eyes and is in good condition.
• Please purge the items that don’t pass this test. This may be most of your wardrobe. Don’t panic.
• Look for other ways to wear your current pieces together. I bet you can find different looks if you try.
• Stop! Don’t forget to jot down any items that you need to add or want to replace, like your white dress shirts. A season of dry cleaning/washing will dull your whites to a dingy yellow.

Know your colors, what looks best on YOUR body and what style is most like you (Look for the commonalities in your current wardrobe.)