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DAY 15: 30 Day NO-BUY Challenge

Organize Your Closet In The Way Your Brain Works

On Day 15 of our 30 Day No-Buy Challenge, we are focusing on organizing our closets in a way that actually matches how our brains work. Instead of cramming more clothes in, we are pausing to see what we already have, grouping things so our options feel clear and easy to choose from, and creating small systems that support us, like focus areas, simple bins, and gentle decluttering of duplicates.

We are reminding ourselves that this is not about perfection or overnight change, it is about slowly reprogramming how we relate to our clothes, our closets, and ourselves, so we can feel more grounded, joyful, and confident over the long term.

ACTION STEPS

  1. Do a quick fridge check of your closet.

    Open your closet and ask, if this were my fridge, would I keep buying or would I use what is here first.

  2. Pick one category to organize today.

    Choose just one area, like dresses, tops, or jeans, and organize it in the way your brain actually looks for clothes, by sleeve length, by color, by weight, or by occasion.

  3. Create one focus section.

    Make a tiny focus area for pieces you want to style more, new items you love but never wear, or pieces you are on the fence about.

  4. Set up your three bins.

    Add three bins or bags, Fix or tailor, Giveaway or swap, Not quite dirty and not quite clean.

  5. Do a tiny declutter of duplicates.

    Pick one category where you have multiples, like work bags or white shirts, and decide which ones you truly reach for first. Keep the real favorites, release the extras.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Intro, Welcome To Day 15

Hello, I am Casey, your fashion bestie. You are on Day 15 of the 30 Day No-Buy Challenge, and together we are sparking a Fashion Wellness Revolution, where we shift your mindset around clothes to build a healthier relationship with your closet and yourself so you can show up fully and radiate in what you wear.

Today, we are talking about the importance of organizing, of having a clear picture of what you have in your closet.

Some of you may have organizing down to a T and you are like, I am good, Casey, on this. Maybe you want to listen forward just to hear what I say, maybe you are good on it and you do not need my help.

Maybe some of you have a mess of a closet and you cannot see even what is in there.

Why Organizing Your Closet Matters

Organizing is important because it is how your brain works when you go to your clothes. How I have my clothes organized is how my brain works and how my brain chooses clothes.

It is important because if we cannot see what we have, we cannot know what we have choices of. We will just be so confused. We will be overwhelmed. We will not be able to find our options.

We will buy things again because we do not even know we have them. How many times have you done that?

We get to a point that it just does not make sense. We want a clear picture. We want to be able to see everything. We want to be able to see our options. We want to not buy things again. We want to be able to go into our space where all of our clothes are and know what is there.

The Fridge Metaphor, Your Closet As A Pantry Of Ingredients

Imagine this. We are going back to the kitchen and using a metaphor about food. I do not know why I always do this, but it just seems to make sense.

Imagine you have your refrigerator and it is jam packed with stuff and it is not organized and we cannot see what is even in there.

Do we buy more stuff and just try to jam it into the fridge even though we have all this stuff to use?

Most likely not. Most likely you are going to say, I need to stop buying because we have plenty of food. I need to start making things out of this food instead of buying more and adding to the chaos.

That is your closet. Imagine your closet like that. You already have plenty in there and we need to know the ingredients so we know what we can make.

When I reorganize my fridge, I am putting meats in one place, entrees in another, fruits in another place, vegetables in another, breads in another. You can get a visual picture of the categories and then the ingredients that you can make things out of.

That is the exact same thing we want to do with our closet. We do not want to add more because it is going to create more chaos, which is perfect if you are doing a No-Buy year. We want to organize what we have.

How I Organize Different Sections Of My Closet

Different sections are organized in different ways for me in the way my mind works. This has been created over time because I constantly reanalyze.

If one section of my closet is not being used as much or one section of my drawers is being untouched for a while, I go, okay, something is not right there. I need to reorganize so my mind is seeing everything in the correct way, in the order that it wants to see it, and it will help me be able to choose better.

Dresses

When I look at my long dresses, they go by sleeve length first, because when I go to a long dress, usually I am thinking of the weather. I am thinking, is it a hot long-dress summer type vibe, or is it going to be an evening, colder vibe where I want a long sleeve.

So that is generally how I organize my dresses and my short dresses. I have a short dress section and my short dresses are not by color, they are by sleeve length first. That is how my mind works when it comes to dresses.

Tops

When I organize my tops, my tops are organized by color first. If you look at it, it is a rainbow, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, white and grays.

Then within those colors they are organized by sleeve length, tank tops, short sleeves, long sleeves. That is how my tops are organized, because usually when I come to my tops, I am looking first for a specific color.

Sweaters

My sweaters are in two separate sections, lighter weight and heavier weight. There is no color organization really there because I can see everything in how it is lined up.

I do lighter weight and heavier weight because usually when I am going to look for a sweater top, it has to do with the weather. Is it really cold, I am going to go to my heavier-weight ones. Is it not that cold and I just feel like something cozy, I am going to go to my lighter-weight ones.

Jeans And Denim

Jeans right now are split up into an everyday-wear section and more of a specialty section.

The everyday is the wide leg and the skinny jeans that are more just everyday type of jeans. The specialty section are ones that are maybe different colors or prints, maybe shaped different, maybe they have more design detail. That is my denim and how it is split up.

Leggings

Leggings are split up into workout and fashion. Those are separated.

Tank Tops

Tank tops are actually in two separate places. I do not put all of my tank tops together. You would think so, but my mind does not work that way.

When I see my workout clothes, I want my tank tops right there with them. So together with my workout clothes are my workout tank tops.

Then I have a separate place for my other tank tops that are a little more everyday wear that are near my short sleeve shirts and my long sleeve shirts. I group those together.

The Finishing Touch Area, Your Icing On The Cake

I like to put my finishing touch things, or like I say, the icing on the cake items, in one place.

This is your shoes, your jewelry, scarves, belts, any accessories. I go to this area and I play and I finish off my outfit in this area. I have everything in one area.

Once I have my outfit together, I am like, okay, I need shoes. Okay, what accessories are here. Maybe I throw on a scarf, maybe I throw on a hat. It helps me put the icing on the cake and the finishing touches all in one place.

Check In With How Your Brain Sees Your Closet

You have to think of how your mind works and whether it is seeing all the options in the right way in how it is organized in your closet and in your drawers.

If you are noticing one section is being ignored completely, there are two options you have.

  1. You might need to move it around. Move it to an area where you get to see it more often, where it is more in your face and you know that it is an option.
  2. Put it in your mind that you need to use my formula, Start With The Items Least Worn, with that section.

For instance, all of my heavy coats, my fur coats, my really heavy winter coats, or even raincoats are in another closet in our guest room. A good amount of time, I forget that they are there. I have gone a whole season without touching those jackets because I totally forgot they were there.

In that case, I have to make it a point to use my formula, Start With The Items Least Worn, so I start with those when it is wintertime.

Focus Sections In Your Closet

If you have room, you want to put a section in your closet that you want to focus on styling.

Maybe they are new items. Maybe they are items that you just love that you never wear or you have not figured out how to wear them. You can put a section in your closet, like a focus area, and that area is, okay, I want to really work on these and incorporate them into my closet. This is what I am going to focus on in the next couple weeks or so.

Another section you can have is items that might be going out the door.

Maybe there are items where you are like, I am about to get rid of these, but maybe, just maybe, I will put them in this section and I can focus on them and see if I can make magic out of them and see if I find a new love for them and I want to reincorporate them into my wardrobe.

Sometimes just bringing new energy to an old piece can make it new again and you fall back in love with it. This has happened multiple times for me when I thought I was done with a piece. I restyle it with all my formulas that I have given you and go, wait a minute, this still is great and has a place in my closet.

My Three Bins System

I also have three different bins in my room.

  • I have one for things that need to be fixed. Anytime something needs sewing or fixing or being brought to the tailor, I have a bin for that.
  • Then I have a giveaway bin for things that I want to donate or wait for the next clothing swap and give to the next clothing swap I am a part of.
  • I also have a bin that I am sure all of us have, a bin for my “not quite dirty and not quite clean.” They do not feel like they should go back in the closet, but they do not feel like they should go in the hamper. So I have a bin for those.

Gentle Decluttering While You Organize

A little note on trying to declutter.

I definitely say do not declutter too much, especially if you are doing a No-Buy year, because I want you to dive into these formulas that help you see so much more of your closet and help you wear so much more of your closet before you declutter.

However, if you have multiples of something, that is something you can declutter.

Say you have three work bags and you put your three work bags out and you ask, am I always going to choose one over the other two.

This happened to me. I had three work bags and I adored them all, but there is one that I just love so much. I realized every time I am going to use a work bag, I will always reach for this one. That means the other two are going to sit there and I probably will never reach for them because the other one is so great.

As much as I love those two, I give them away and give them a better life and clear that out of my space. Then I have one less decision I have to make.

Or say you have five different white shirts and you are looking at these going, I really do like all of them, but maybe one has a stain on it or maybe one is stretched out or maybe they are the same style and you are like, why do I have so many of these.

That is an obvious reason you can declutter. Are there two that you are always going to pick over the rest of them.

Maybe you do not need the five. You can keep the two and get rid of the other three, because you are always going to reach for these two white shirts and not the other three, and you do not know why you keep them.

That is a little thing on starting to declutter when you are organizing.

Looking Ahead To Tomorrow, Tracking What You Wear

That is my brain dump when it comes to organizing. I hope it helps. I hope that you can see that it is important to organize your closet in the way that your brain works and that you can see all of your options and be analytical as you are going through this and be free to switch things around if they are not working.

Tomorrow, I am going to go into an organization system that really helped in my No-Buy year, or if you just want to see what you are wearing and what you are not wearing.

I will share a few tips on how I track what I have been wearing and what I have not, so you can get a good visual picture of what is going on in your closet.

This Is A Crash Course, Not An Overnight Fix

Reminder that this is a lot. Everything that I am giving you I usually have taught people over the course of a year. I am giving you a crash course in all of this.

You can take this throughout the next year, throughout the rest of your life. This is not something that I want you to learn in these 30 days and then you are done with it.

This is supposed to be life changing. This is supposed to help you throughout the rest of your life to have a better relationship with your closet and with yourself.

Understand that this is a lot. I get it. This is not supposed to be something that you know right away and it soaks in instantly and you are good to go.

This is something that you need to put on repeat, because for the last 30 or 40 years, however old we are, we have been programmed a different way. We are trying to reprogram, which means we need to hear this over and over and over, and it is not going to be overnight.

I do not want you to get frustrated or feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I am putting at you. It is really to set you up for the whole next year, for the whole rest of your life.

Take that pressure off yourself. I am here for you if you need to hear these lessons again. I am here for you, and like I said, send me any questions you have. I am your biggest cheerleader. I am Casey, your fashion bestie, and I will be back tomorrow.