I have a friend who owned a small women's clothing shop. After I had made several purchases for a vacation trip, she suggested that I supplement my vacation wardrobe with a few white T-shirts from the Gap or Old Navy, etc. and perhaps with a few well-chosen accessories.

Then, to my delight, she offered to come over to my house and organize my trip wardrobe. One thing led to another and we agreed to organize my entire closet. I live in an old house that has very little closet space, so this was not going to be a 3 day event. We scheduled the cleanup for a Saturday morning and here's how it went:

- First, we took the ENTIRE contents of the closet and put it in the center of the room. Yes, the closet was empty. (I did grab a dustcloth and give it a few swipes).

-Next, we made a pile for Goodwill, a pile to throw out, and a pile for specialized clothing such as gym outflts, gardening clothes, and 'grocery store' favorites. The 'grocery store' pile consisted of decent, clean, and well-coordinated outfits that were easy to pull on quickly and were very comfortable.These tended to be dresses or slacks and tops that I could not bear to throw out or give away.

-We agreed that I would not rummage around in the Goodwill or trash piles. My suggestion here is that if you and a friend or two decide to clean out each other's closets, send the GW items and trash out the door with the friend(s).

-When we planned the vacation wardrobe, we laid everything out on the bed, made up outfits, added accessories, and made a list of any necessary purchases to be made. As my friend made suggestions and we finished complete outfits, I WROTE DOWN the various combinations and items to go into the suitcase. This master list (which I duplicated) went into the suitcase for reference.

-When we organized the entire closet, my friend asked me to describe my activities during a typical week. Then we started assembling outfits.

- My fashionable friend and I had a ball 'shopping' in my accessory drawer, and we came up with some surprising new combinations. I like to wear scarves in cool and cold weather, and have quite a collection, so we worked a lot with color. Belts and jewelry came next.

-We hung each outfit, as complete as possible, on hangers and only put clothing that fit and was ready to wear back into the closet. I could reach in and pull out a casual pair of slacks hung with the right top and coordinating sweater, sweater set, or jacket, with the scarf and belt also on the hanger.

-Extra  basics, such as black and brown slacks, solid color tops, and plain shifts were roughly organized by color.

-I ended up putting dressier and special occasion clothes into a spare closet in another room, but everything I needed during a typical couple of weeks was right there at my fingertips. What a joy!

I hope this method works as well for you as it did for me. I have to repeat the process a couple of times a year and I have to admit that I have not even mentioned my closet fetish...SHOES. For the moment, they are stored on a wooden book rack in the closet that doubles as a shoe rack, and in clear plastic shoe boxes. This works reasonably well, but I still can end up with the area near the closet looking like the try-on area of a shoe store full of customers.

In my next blog, I will give you some tips on getting good clothes at rock-bottom prices and then making the most out of the wardrobe you own.