Cleaning House

{My closet before Gabrielle “The Bozz Lady” Bozza attacked it}

This is so embarrassing. You see, the photo above is just a teeny corner of my closet. There’s no rhyme or reason to it — I  have tees, frocks, tanks, jeans, bags, hair extensions, journals and such all thrown together in a hot mess, praying some magical elf will show up one day to fix this frigging designer disaster of epic proportions. Somehow, my wishful thinking worked (alas, The Secret is alive and well!) and Gaby Bozza reached out to collaborate on my blog. You see, Gaby works in the music industry by day but her closeted (pun intended) passion is organizing closets.

That’s Gaby above and there she is assessing the nightmare that is my walk-in closet. Her first order of business? Snooping around for space and encouraging me to purge like the dickens. Like one of those freaks on Extreme Hoarders, if you will. And so we purged…

“Geez, you have a lot of handbags, Maria!” Gaby tells me as she sifts through 1,982 clutches, hobos and totes. Um, guilty as charged. So the handbag hullabaloo above was the first pile to be reckoned with. Gaby brought a rolling rack where we emptied the contents of my closet and I was able to carefully edit each piece. If it didn’t fit, was too trendy, hadn’t been worn in two years…it was donated or tossed. Did I mention Gaby showed up at 11 a.m.? Ava comes home from school at 3 and we were STILL PURGING. Ah, here it is, coming together. Here are some rules Gaby lives by when it comes to organizing one’s closet:

♥ After purging, make sure you have strategy. Gaby assesses the layout of my closet and makes sure to efficiently use every square inch of it.

♥ Use one type of hanger. I love the felt-covered Joy Mangano huggable hangers. Wire hangers suck at life…toss them.

♥ Gaby organizes clothing by color, she hangs like-types of clothing together (like skirts, pants, blouses, etc.)

♥ Store seasonal stuff you don’t use often in clear bins.

♥ Keep items you use frequently at eye level or below and items you rarely use higher up.

Talk about organized! This is the shit Container Store catalogs are made of.

Clutches neatly line the shelf.Handbags I don’t regularly use are stored in bins on top.

Drawer dividers are your friend.

Nine hours later and there you have it! A meticulously coordinated and clutter free closet. If you could use the expert help of Gaby Bozza, hit her up at [email protected]. I pinky promise she will change your life! And your closet.

13 Comments

  1. Sandra v
    November 22, 2012 / 11:14 am

    This was perfect. I showed it to my husband who swears I have too many shoes/bags as proof of how unlucky / unspoiled I really am! <3

  2. Mariella
    November 22, 2012 / 11:48 am

    I never would have expected this from you!

  3. Wordy Girl
    November 22, 2012 / 11:52 am

    I know, right? I am OCD about everything but my closet which is so WEIRD.

  4. Elise
    November 23, 2012 / 8:38 am

    So impressive!! But most importantly I need to know where these old beloved items are being dropped & when??

  5. Maria Houck
    November 23, 2012 / 11:24 am

    Amazing! So jealous, my closet is such a mess as well! As soon as I move I’m calling her!!!

  6. November 23, 2012 / 8:52 pm

    Seriously…this is AMAZING!!
    Your closet looks absolutely fabulous.
    XOXO

  7. November 26, 2012 / 1:44 pm

    Ummm hi, I would have happily been on standby for your donated/tossed pile lmao. I think I’m kidding.

  8. November 26, 2012 / 7:57 pm

    WOW! Your closet looks amazing…so organized!!!

  9. November 26, 2012 / 9:42 pm

    WoW!!!! It looks Wonderful!! Ava looks like she was having fun… LOL

  10. November 26, 2012 / 9:45 pm

    FYI>>>> Donations are welcomed!!! lol

  11. November 28, 2012 / 10:37 am

    Looks amazing!! How do I become one of the beneficiaries of your donations?!?!

  12. November 28, 2012 / 1:43 pm

    Maria, LOVEE THE CLOSET NOW! so nice I want to do that one day with mine…which is half the sise lol. And yes I do want to know like everyone else where in the world are your donated possessions so we can sprint on over to that location?!

    BTW: thank you for your comment from tuesday, really thankful for it! XO

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