It’s the season of giving — why not give yourself the gift of space?  We’re fully into the holiday season now, a time of celebration, and a chance to catch some great sales.  So, how do you avoid overwhelming limited storage capacity when bringing new stuff into the home?  Here are some practical and charitable ways to be a little lighter and brighter this holiday season.

Closets & Clothing

• Establish a rule that when a new coat, shirt, or pair of shoes comes into the house, an old one must go in the give-away pile.
• The wintertime is sock-time–go through the sock drawer. Look for those with holes or without a match, or those that never fit right, and get rid of them.
• Instead of taking the sweaters from off-season storage and squeezing them into the closet, take a moment to look through them. Some are likely well-worn or ill-fitting, or haven’t made it off the shelf in years.  Those can go into the give-away pile, leaving more room in the closet for the ones you enjoy wearing.
• Once everything has been sorted through, take stock of what you have and need. Do you need more or less sock storage—maybe sweaters can be hung on pant hangers instead of folded on shelves (or visa versa).   Bins and baskets can be great ways to store socks or gloves, hats, and scarves as well.  If a total closet make-over is needed, you can call a professional closet designer to develop a tailored solution.

Coat Closet & Outerwear

• Take a serious look through the coat closet. Which of the coats never got worn last year?  Probably it never fit right, or is just not your style.  Put it in the giveaway pile.
• Sort through the winter-wear drawer. Most people have more hats, gloves, and scarves than they wear.  If your favorite style gloves are worn out, now is the time to buy a new pair, before the stores are out of stock.  This way, you can also find room for that gorgeous new scarf.
• Look through the winter shoes, boots, slippers, booties. Again, now is the time to replace that worn out favorite style with something new that you love, and will wear all winter.
• The winter shoes often get stored near the door in a pile. Consider the possibilities of a mud room with customized shoe storage.  Once the snow starts falling, this could also accommodate the wet coats, hats and gloves.

Charities & Giving

• Take a look at the give-away pile and smile! This is all stuff that cluttered your space.  If you take it away, you can find the clothes you love, and buy replacements for worn out favorites without worrying about where to put them.
• Best of all, there are so many charities that can take away your give-away items. There are veteran’s organizations, coat drives for the homeless, clothing drives for kids in need.  You can clear your space and help people – a very good result.