By Carol Smith

So, tell me, have you gone into your closet and couldn’t find a thing to wear? Most women have that experience at least once. It might sound strange to approach creating a wardrobe by first cleaning your closet.

How many items of clothing do you have that you no longer wear? Some of the items may no longer fit you. Some may be out of date, but you reason someday they’ll come back into fashion. You may have items that are stained, torn or otherwise not wearable, but you haven’t taken the time to either get them repaired or tossed.

If you are interested in creating a wardrobe, take an afternoon to go through your closet. If you would like help or company, invite a friend over for her support and advice. Be brutal, but only keep the items that you love and fit. If you have items that are outdated, ask yourself if there anything you can do to make them more current. For example, I removed shoulder pads from a number of sweaters to make them look more current. Otherwise, get rid of them.

If you have items that are in poor condition, toss them. The rest of the items can be either donated or sold to a consignment shop. Many communities have clothes closets for women who can’t afford business attire.

Organize your closet by type of clothes. Eveningwear would be grouped together, as pants, tops, suits, etc.

Now you can start to assess what you need to add to create a wardrobe.  By cleaning your closet, you have freed up space, energy and can adequately determine you next step.