This is the first in a series I’m labeling “Returning to the Office,” and I’m starting off with a big one – the closet. If you are anything like me, you probably wore A LOT of casual wear through out the pandemic and neglected your work clothes. The purpose of this blog post is to prepare you (and me) to return to the office, so the day before, or heaven forbid, morning of, you’re not running around, panicked, and stressed out. Because it will already be stressful enough. I can’t remember the last time I had to wake the twins up and rush out the door.

The focus is merely on organizing and preparing your closet. What does that mean? Read below to find out:

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Go Through and Purge

This is the biggest step so I’m starting off with it. It also seems like the most obvious, but if not done right, it could just end up being a waste of time. Before you even begin, decide what you want to do with the clothes you purge. Whether you are donating them to a women’s shelter, Goodwill, or your little sister who is starting her first job soon, you need to have a plan.

The second step is starting on one side or section of your closet and working your way all the way through. Purge clothes that:

• do not fit – and I’m not talking about I gained a few pounds and if I just cut back on the kids’ mac-n-cheese I will fit into them, but they are the pants that you haven’t worn since your first job out of college. This could also go the other way if you’ve lost weight and discovered all the benefits of a healthier lifestyle.
• have holes, rips, tears – you’re a professional, end of story.
• have always fit you just awkwardly enough that you wear them once a year just to wear them, but never feel quite comfortable.
• loosen up after 15 minutes of wearing – huge pet peeve! I cannot stand pants that seem to grow 1 – 2 sizes after they’ve been worn. I had the cutest pink pants from Loft that I finally parted ways with. I never wear them. They are so cute for 15 minutes, then literally seem to become a bigger size by the time I drive to wherever I’m going.
• are too much effort to take care of with minimal wearing – meaning exactly what it says – whether it’s special washing, dry cleaning, can never get steamed properly, get rid of ’em. I had a blouse that I could NEVER get the wrinkles out of. I have no idea why, but I chunked it.

Also, as a side note, when it comes to donating, please keep in mind that while shelters and donation centers desperately need donations, they don’t need clothes that are unwearable. If something is too far gone, just chunk it.

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Mend Shoes

This is another biggie. I am very rough on my shoes. I tend to find shoes I like and wear them on repeat. Because of this, I wear them down to where they need a little life put back into them every now and then. Somehow I always scratch my right heel (I’ve heard it’s from driving and pushing the gas and brake pedals,) and have lost a few of the little rubber things on the bottom of the heel. Imagine walking through the lobby of work clinking every other step. I was once walking to a meeting with my old boss, wearing my Valentino rock stud pumps that had lost the heel tip, and he laughed and said, “You’ll never be able to sneak up on anyone!” All jokes aside, your shoes are just as important to your overall appearance as the rest of your outfit, so take care of them.

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Dry Clean, Iron, Steam Clothes

Truth be told, I don’t do a whole lot of ironing. I mostly steam my clothes, unless it is a “special occasion” or special fabric, then I’ll send to the cleaners to be dry cleaned. There are some shirts in my closet that I’ve continued to pass over on wearing because they were too wrinkled and I was too lazy to steam them. They made their way to the “to be steamed” stack. This also goes for clothes that need to go to the dry cleaner. If you’ve decided you are going to keep it, take them now. We all have the memory of it being Easter morning and Mom is running around trying to find a shirt for brother to wear, “Is it at the dry cleaner? Where is it? Whose closet?” Let’s try to avoid that.

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Take Good Mental Inventory and Start Planning Outfits

I legit forget about some of the clothes in my closet. And the crazy thing is, I don’t even have a big closet, which I think sometimes might make it harder than having things more spread out. As I was going through my closet, I “found” blouses I’ve overlooked time after time when planning outfits throughout this pandemic, mostly because I didn’t dress in workwear, but mostly casual wear. This was really good for me to get a good picture of what I had in my closet and allowed me to start planning outfits. Take it a step further, and start placing your outfits in a special section of your closet.

Accessories & Bags

Same rules apply – don’t use, don’t love, torn, ripped, dirty, etc. get rid of. I’m keeping this one simple. What you will want to do is make sure to organize them neatly in your closet so when it comes time to switch them out, they are easy to grab. I have some bags and purses at the top of my closet where I have to stand on a stool to reach, so on busy mornings, there’s a zero chance I take time to get those.

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Wash

As I was going through my closet, working my way from left to right, I noticed some of my blouses and dresses had deodorant in the arm pits. Y’all, I haven’t worn most of my closet since early 2020! You better believe I made a pile to wash of just these types of clothes. I also rewashed dresses, pants, blouses that looked like they needed it. You can tell – too wrinkled, rumpled, or if I could smell my perfume on them. I’m very sensitive to smell, so this definitely bothered me.

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To Buy….

The purpose of this blog post is not to get you to buy anything, but rather help you in getting organized in returning back to the office; however, since you are going through the steps of cleaning out your closet, start thinking about items you may need. Examples include:

• camis – especially if the ones you have you’ve worn all through quarantine and have stains, rips, tears, etc.
• trousers/pants – no judgement here, but if you need a different size, now would be the time to decide that, not at 6 am when you’re trying to get dressed for work
• neutral blouses that will work with cardis, blazers, and sweaters
• a few sheath dresses

I am supposed to return to the office at the beginning of September, so am spending a good amount of time between now and then preparing. Coming up in the rest of this series: Morning Routine, Meal Prep, and Mental Preparation.

When do you return to the office? Or have you already? Tell me below 🙂

Cheers – MP