How I Get My Husband to Clean His Closet

I 100% have the spring clean itch. One countertop at a time, one room at a time, one closet at a time. A city-wide garage sale, needing to find my spring clothing and putting my home office together to prepare for some upcoming training has wanted me to clear out space.

My husband Jon's closet is one area that I try to stay away from. He hates departing with things, but the number of hoodies and graphic tees had gotten slightly out of control. So when one has a husband who hates letting go of the clothing he has had for YEARS how do you convince them? Enter my six step plan.

  1. Give him a heads up or a specific date: This way he can mentally prepare and won’t be totally off guard.

  2. Wash every single piece of clothing they own: This is an important step. You want to make sure that they have a clear picture of how much stuff they have.

  3. Take every item out of the closet and lay it on your bed: Laying it on the bed is an important part. If it is covering your bed the clothing will be forced to deal with so you have somewhere to sleep that night.

  4. Sort like-minded clothing: I like to lay all golf shirts together, all sports-themed shirts together, all graphic tees together, you get the point. This helped them see that maybe having seven solid black t-shirts isn’t really necessary.

  5. Make your piles: have him decide what is going back in the closet, what is seasonal and can be stored, what needs to be pitched and what can be donated.

  6. Put it back in the closet: I usually offer to hang it all back up since Jon really does hate doing this, and I kind of force it on him. #tryingtobeanicewife

Another option is to hang everything up with a specific colored hanger. Then over the next 30-45 days change out the color of the hanger after something has been worn. The time I did this to Jon he never did notice the changing colors and it was eye-opening for him to see how much of his stuff he wasn’t wearing.

I have now convinced Jon to go through this process four times in our eleven-year marriage. We’ll see how much more stuff he can accumulate in the next 3 years ;)

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My Point of ViewCrystal Blin1 Comment