With Your Shop Girl Suzanne Colmer

Those expensive jeans that haven’t fit quite right since having kids. The blazers and dress pants from my office days before my first mat leave. Seven in- and out-of-style pairs of pants, five skirts, a few shorts and work-out gear, a pile of sweaters and a row of sneakers, over-worn flats and heels. I don’t even wear heels. Oh and two awesome bikinis – that ship has sailed.

Good-bye to you all!

Clearing the closet clutter is like clearing your head. And letting go of all of those old, ill-fitting clothes or plain and simple bad purchases makes space for items that you do love and feel good in.

Sometimes we just need a little nudge or in my case a step-by-step plan on how to FINALLY get it done.

Motherhood Moms in Toronto Shopping

Photo by Emily D Photography.

Mom in T.O. Suzanne Colmer is a pro shopper and styling expert. She owns Your Shop Girl, a Toronto company offering style consulting and personal shopping. Her mission is to help clients find the best version of themselves. She has even created an online course Step by Step Style for Busy Moms to help mamas make this happen.

Here is Suzanne’s advice on taking those first steps in creating a happier closet and happier you:

Closet cleanses are kind of like cleaning out your fridge. It is impossible to do it without taking some real time and effort to do it (and maybe a bit of wine and good music). If only clothing expired when we didn’t use it! This is not going to be easy, but the end result is incredibly gratifying.

  1. Start your cleanse by bringing all your coats and shoes and dresses (and anything else you are hiding) in other closets into one room.
  2. Try on everything. Seriously. You will know whether it is a keeper or not once you have physically tried it on.
  3. Ask yourself: How do you feel? Do you have pieces that go with it? Does it need tailoring or deserves to have more money spent on it? Does it need to be replaced?
  4. If you are not ready to part with certain pieces because you hope to one day fit back into them, please remove them from your closet and put them away with an expiry date listed on them. I use old garment bags and stick them under my bed. Once the date expires, so do the clothes!
  5. Break up your pieces into five piles: 1) giveaway 2) throw out 3) sell 4) keep 5) find pieces to match.
  6. Place the items that need to be tailored in a bag and put a reminder in your phone. Put everything else back in your closet as organized as possible. If everything is grouped together it will be so much easier to see what you have enough of and what you still need.
  7. Make a quick note of some of the pieces you DO NOT NEED and then a more detailed list of what you DO. I recommend keeping this somewhere you can easily access it such as your phone or a list in your wallet.
  8. Now, forgive yourself for making a few less than perfect purchases. We have all done it. The difference is you are not going to do it again. The next time you head out shopping you will shop with a purpose and not settle for pieces that are less than perfect.

You can learn more about Suzanne’s shopping services, workshops and virtual packages at www.yourshopgirl.com