apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Don't know if Alton Brown first came up with that trick, but it was in his book on supplying your kitchen a few years back.

With clothes, I like to hang everything backwards (i.e., with the hook towards me). Each time I wear something, I hang it back normally (i.e., with the hook away). Six months later (or however long you like), you can see what's been worn and what hasn't been worn, which makes it easier to purge.

burpchick that is a good suggestion but if I was organized enough to remember which way to hang my clothes I wouldn't be drowning in more clothes than closet!! LOL

@feathers:
Also heard that first from Alton Brown - not only in his book "Gear for your Kitchen" (the definitive book on kitchen tools) but on his show "Good Eats."

julia - instead of flipping the hangers, try my method: push everything to the back (or side) of the closet and hang up a divider (I've got a winter jacket I rarely use). Then as you pick out items to wear they go on the opposite side of the divider. In six months you'll be able to weed from the unworn section and cut down on clutter. At some point you'll move the divider back to the front and start the process all over again.

The point of not having hangers face different directions is partly for quick emergency removal of things en masse... not that it's too likely to have an emergency like that, but still... (When my mother died, I helped clear her wardrobe. Every hanger was facing a different direction. It took ages to flip them around and organize them so the charity collecting them could pick them up.)

I like some of my unworn clothes. My technique is to take everything out of the closet twice a year (roughly spring and fall, but mainly when I suddenly get the inclination...) I look them over, try on anything I haven't worn for a while to see if it fits or not, look for dry cleaning prospects and repairs, etc. I only put back into the closet what I have some confidence I will wear or what I just love too much to get rid of. (I have the space, I can do that.) I have a blue velvet vest that I maybe have worn twice -- I won't get rid of it until I decide it has to go. I have some ethnic costume types of clothes. I love the design and embroidery, but probably won't actually ever wear them, unless for a costume event. Still, they will stay.

The kitchen box idea is partly good, but in my life there are specialty tools I seldom use, but I got cheap at the flea market. The last time I got rid fo some of that sort of thing, I ended up going to a kitchen supplier and replacing the item at full retial -- which is nearly fatal to me! -- because I needed it after all. So, since I don't cook often but rely on certain items when I do, the box method would take much longer to prove a point. And I don't have a place for the box.

I'm an avid cook and I only use my melon baller in the summer. I certainly wouldn't want to toss it out it because I didn't use it in February. Just a note to be thoughtful about what you toss out at the end of the month so that you're not back at the store rebuying specialty tools like a nutcracker, reamer, or pastry brush. Maybe it goes without saying?

I've heard of this idea for clothes, but giving yourself a full year, so that you have been through each season.

I like the kitchen idea, although I think I'd need more of a storage locker than a cardboard box for all my kitchen junk. It is the hardest room for me to de-clutter, because of all the "well, I might need it ONE day" excuses. I have so many gadgets that I loved for a month and then never used again (plunge mixer? milk frother? slow-cooker?)........ now that I think about it, maybe I should have a garage sale.....

One month is only enough time for people who don't cook. Many of the tools I have (including the pasta fork this guy is holding) get used many times, but sometimes not for many months at a time.