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Every spring we take the time to freshen up our fashion looks. This season, along with clearing out your fashion cobwebs, why not transcend that sense of renewal by clearing out your living and work/study space cobwebs? A beautiful environment leads to a beautiful mind.

Cleaning out your space is never easy. What is easy is putting it off. Sure, your mentality may be “As long as I know where everything is,” but imagine how fabulous it would be to have an organized study space…or bathroom cabinet…or closet. You’d spend less time looking for things and more time thinking and looking great, so let’s get started.

Your Closet

The cleaning:

First, go through every piece of clothing and accessories (shoes, purses, belts, scarves, etc.) and make three piles: Keep, Give Away and Throw Away. In the Keep pile is everything you wish to keep. Now, you may say that you wish to keep everything, but let’s keep it real. If you haven’t worn something in over a year and a half, chances are you’re never going to. Don’t hang onto it thinking that you’re still waiting for that one perfect day or event where you can bust it out. It’s never going to happen. If you really loved it, you would have worn it by now…and often.

In the Give Away pile will be the clothing, shoes and belts that are still in good condition and can be used again. You’ll want to donate these items to charity or give them as hand me downs to a young friend or relative. Or, if you’d rather, you can sell them to vintage or secondhand stores for cash.

In the Throw Away pile, these are things that are torn, stained and/or just completely unwearable. They’re not fit to give away so give your eulogy to style’s past and throw them out.

The organizing:

Every spring and winter, you’ll want to re-organize your closet to match the warm and cold months. Since we’re in spring, put away your fall and winter boots, jackets and scarves to make room for your warm weather gear. Fold and store your sweaters nicely so they’ll be ready to go for next winter. Same with your shoes and handbags. I always put my shoes back in their respective shoe boxes and move fall and winter wardrobe to the back of the closet. If you don’t have room in your closet, put them in clear storage boxes and slide them under your bed.

Now that you’ve cleared everything out, time to showcase your goods. Move all your warm weather dresses, shirts, pants, etc. to the front of your closet and organize accordingly. You may want to hang them by color or length or style (dressy, casual). You’ll know right away which choice is best for you. You’ll also want to organize your shoes and handbags. For shoes, if you have floor room, go for it. If not, stack them on shoe racks, or shoe organizers that you can configure to best suit your space needs. You can also hang using a shoe bag. If you’re like me and have tons of flip flops, get the Flip Flop & Sandal Holder from The Container Store. You can hang it over a hanger or hook…genius!

You’ll want to keep your handbags in check, too. Take them off the floor and off the shelves and put them into an organizer like the Whitmor Handbag File, available at Target. It’s clear, so you’ll be able to see what’s what, it protects your treasures and can be easily hung from your closet rod.

Your Bathroom

The cleaning:

Like your closet, there are goodies in your bathroom that you don’t use. Hey, we’re women. We like to look nice and smell good, so we have a lot of stuff. That doesn’t mean we should keep all of it, though. Like that old hair dryer that doesn’t even work anymore. Or, beauty products you haven’t used in ages. And, like your closet, it’s time to go through all your cabinets and drawers to take a good look and what’s been taking up those spaces.

We’re going to keep with the 3 pile system for the bathroom, as well, and ask that you make a pile each of: Things You Use, Things That Are Old and Things That You Will Never Use. The Things You Use pile is pretty self explanatory. Just don’t fool yourself. If there’s a bar of soap that’s been taking up space in your cabinet for over a year, this is not the pile for that. Maintain the sanctity of this cleansing and only keep the products you truly use.

For The Things That Are Old pile, place products that are no longer of use. You may have worn that color of eyeshadow back in the day but it hasn’t seen the light of day in months…or years! Same with lipsticks, blush, eyeliners, etc. And, any old mascaras just need to be thrown out immediately for health reasons. Now, take a look at your bath products like old lotions, perfumes and shower gels. Sometimes we’re done with products before they’re done with us. Don’t be afraid to or feel bad about throwing out products that still have a little use in them. If you’ve moved on to something else and haven’t used it in awhile, get rid of it. Do the same thing with your hair products. Throw out anything that you just don’t use anymore…period. Maybe that styling product didn’t perform the wonders it promised or you hate the way it smells. Say adios.

The Things That You Will Never Use is just that. They’re products that are new but you just haven’t found it in your heart to give them a go, or you just have one too many of them. They could be presents by well meaning friends or acquaintances that have begun to stock up over time. A girl can only have so many foot scrubs, for goodness sakes. Keep one as a backup and either donate the rest to a charity or re-gift them.

The Organizing:

Once you’ve cleaned everything out, you’ll be amazed by all the space you’re left with. What you’ll want to do is store all relative products together. Keep all your makeup in one place, all your hair products (including bobby pins, hair bands, etc.) together and all your bath products in the same area. That way you’ll always know where everything is. If you lack space, try using Lidan baskets. They come in a set of four, are machine washable and are suited for use in damp spaced. You can also hide your tools away with the Cero Over-The-Cabinet-Door Bath Caddy from Target.

Your Study/Work Space

The Cleaning:

It doesn’t take much to messy up your study or work space. The trick is to maintain a clean area, free of clutter that will allow you to concentrate freely. Start by clearing your desktop area, throwing out old notes and filing work accordingly. It’s so much easier to find things when they’re in their proper place. If you’ve got old datebooks that are of no use, throw them out. Phone numbers you wrote down? Store them in your electronic devices and move on. You’ll want to get all paper off the desk and floor, one way or another.

The Organizing:

Like I said, file, file, file. Place your work in file folders, label properly and store away. If there’s no room for a filing cabinet, use cool magazine files like the Skrift magazine file from Ikea and place them on shelves. Or, get a magazine wall organizer and instead of magazines, store your file folders inside them.

If you wrote a ton of notes, are a creative type or like to have an inspiration board, you’ll need a bulletin or magnet board to hang in front of your work/study area. It not need be boring, though. For a variety of each, try something like the Style Tile System from Pottery Barn Teen that lets you mix and match. You can have a chalkboard, bulletin or cork board, a dry-erase tile and fabric-covered tackboard, all with different colors and designs. Pretty cool.

Now, you’re ready to face the world inside and out!