Every home has one spot where things go to be forgotten. For one mom, it was the closet by the front door, and she did not hold back when she named it. She calls it the “closet of doom.”
Mom creator @mrs.mlwilliams is working through a series she calls Declutter Before December. Her mission, as she puts it, is to declutter “pretty much my entire house before December 1st because I am just sick of having so much stuff and nowhere to put it.”
“I Knew Going Into This That I Could Probably Get Rid Of Half”
This episode, number two in the series, took on her entryway coat closet. Where she lives it is cold six months out of the year, so she can justify a stack of heavy jackets and coats. She just does not need as many as she had.
The same went for hats, gloves and shoes. “All of the things,” she says. She walked in expecting to clear out about half of what was inside.
Her method is the simplest one there is. She sorted everything into piles and went through it one item at a time. Starting with a blank slate, she says, is the easiest way to declutter and organize because “you’re not working around anything.”
The Shoe Tote That Shocked Her
The biggest surprise was the shoes. She says she was “literally shocked” at the amount her family owned and at how much she was able to part with.
She admits she had been holding onto shoes after her kids outgrew them or wore them out. So she used the moment to purge shoes from the whole house, not just the closet.
Then came the tote of her boys’ shoes. “Literally every single pair needed to go except for like three pairs,” she says.
Her rule going forward is practical. The shoes her family reaches for on the way out the door live in the entryway closet. The ones they need but do not wear daily are stored in the bedrooms.
The Craft Cart That Was Killing Her
The last thing that had to go was a cart holding all the family’s craft supplies. Looking at it, or trying to dig anything out of it, was driving her crazy. Her kids love crafts, but she says the system “is not it.”
Her answer is a tall cabinet she has ordered. She plans to rearrange her daughter’s room and create one hub for office and craft supplies for the whole house.
A few useful odds and ends stayed in the closet, including some household tools and touch-up paints. Her garage is not temperature controlled, and she did not want the paint ruined out there.
Sold Online, Six Bags To Goodwill, And A Weight Lifted
When it was finished, she says the closet “looks amazing” and that it feels “like a weight lifted off of my chest.” She sold a lot of the items online and took six bags of donations to Goodwill.
That combination is worth copying. Anything with real resale value earns a little cash, and everything else goes to someone who can use it, rather than sitting in a closet for another winter.
How To Tackle Your Own Entryway Closet
You do not need a whole weekend or a fancy system. You need a floor, a few bags and an hour or two.
- Pull everything out so you can see what you actually own.
- Make piles: keep, sell, donate and toss.
- Try on coats and boots if you are unsure. If it does not fit today, it will not fit by January.
- Put back only what the family reaches for every week, with the daily items at eye level.
Her advice about outgrown kids’ items is especially useful. Children’s shoes and coats turn over fast, and a tote of old sizes is just storage for things nobody will wear. Passing them on while they still have life in them helps another family too.
Decide What Is Worth Selling
Not everything is worth the time of listing. Name-brand coats, boots in good shape and kids’ items in sets tend to sell. Single worn-out shoes and stained gloves do not, so those are better donated if they are in usable condition, or recycled if they are not.
Set a deadline for listing, like two weeks, and put whatever has not sold in the donation bag. That keeps selling from becoming another pile of its own.
Finally, give each category a home. A bin for hats and gloves, a hook for each family member and a shelf or door organizer for shoes keep the closet from sliding back into doom by next fall.
Keep The Momentum Going Room By Room
Her series works because it breaks a huge job into one space at a time. A single closet feels doable, and finishing it builds the energy to start the next one.
Take a photo of the closet before and after. Seeing the difference is a surprisingly strong reward, and it makes you less likely to let the clutter creep back in.
Do a quick reset every season, too. When the weather turns, spend ten minutes pulling out what no longer fits or gets worn, so the closet never has a chance to reach doom status again.
With a December 1st goal and more of the house still ahead, @mrs.mlwilliams says she is not sure which project is next. After this one, though, her entryway finally works the way a front door closet should.
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