The Junk Drawer of the heart

Where to Start When You Don’t Know Where to Start: Closet Edition

By Music City Tidy Co.

Closets are tricky. They don’t just hold clothes or shoes or board games. They hold years of memories—baby blankets, photo albums, the dress you wore to your cousin’s wedding, the boots you swore you’d wear again. Closets are like sentimental time capsules… and also, let’s be honest, kind of like junk drawers for your heart.

So what do you do when you want to clean one out—but the emotional weight of it makes you freeze?

Start by taking everything out. All of it.

Yes, it’s going to look completely chaotic. Piles on the floor. Forgotten bins. A mountain of stuff that makes you want to crawl right back into bed. But don’t get intimidated by the mess. That’s just the storm before the calm.

This isn’t the time to “just do a little.” This is an event. Make a day of it.

Plan for it to take three to four hours. Warn your family. If you know you’re going to come across items that belong to someone else—especially kids—let them know ahead of time that their input will be needed. This isn’t a surprise attack; it’s a family effort. And honestly, it’s a great way to bond. You’ll come across things that bring up memories—some sweet, some funny, some bittersweet—and that process is part of what makes a yearly closet clean-out so valuable.

Use a timer to structure your time into three parts:

1. Unpack (1 hour): Take everything out of the closet. Every single thing.

2. Sort (1 hour): Group items into categories—keep, toss, donate, belongs elsewhere, etc.

3. Put Back (1 hour): Organize everything intentionally back into the closet.

Adjust the time blocks depending on how much time you actually have—but keep the structure. Timers help you stay focused and avoid getting stuck in the nostalgia spiral.

As you’re organizing, think in categories—and label them.

Group like with like. Keep things together that make sense to live side by side. And when you put them back into the closet, label each section clearly. Not just for you, but for your future self… and for anyone else who might need to find something quickly.

And here’s a little mental trick that helps a lot: Pretend you’re organizing someone else’s closet.

Then label it in a way that, if a total stranger walked in, you could explain where every item lives. That level of clarity will serve you every day afterward—especially on the days you’re in a rush or overwhelmed.

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Closets don’t have to be black holes of guilt and “maybe one day.” They can be intentional. They can be beautiful. They can even breathe a little easier when you’re done.

And so can you.