Recently I bought this book on the recommendation of a good friend. I’m always a sucker for decluttering books. (Yes, they’ve piled up—go ahead and laugh.)

My friend told me that after reading this book and following its suggestions, she’d gotten 18 boxes of books and 200 pounds of paper. Well, I’m all for streamlining and simplifying our lives but what I really wanted to know about was how this affected her wardrobe.

She said she’d gotten rid of many bags of clothing. Well, it’s no secret that I love that! I firmly believe that, paradoxically, it is often the case that the fewer pieces of clothing we have, the better we will look!

I found that I wasn’t able to approach my own “tidying” as systematically as the book suggests. But I came away with two wonderful ideas that I adore and am sticking to.

First, ask yourself whether a particular item gives you a spark of joy. If yes, you’ll keep it. If not, it is time for the object to move on to a new owner.

Second, consider folding and storing your foldables in a completely different way—vertically in their drawers. This sounds like an annoying, fussing and silly thing, but I’ve found that it’s working great for me. The idea is that, stacked with one item on top of the other, it is impossible to see at a glance what’s there. Stacked so that each item—T-shirt, say—is folded up and placed vertically in the drawers, with the stack progressing from front to back, you can see in a second what’s there. The difficult part is keep up with the stacks. But I love it.

The best part of this is that it’s possible to fit much more in a drawer at a time — yet it doesn’t feel overfull.

{ Ketura Persellin is a wardrobe and style consultant in Washington, DC, and surrounding suburbs. Her mission is to help women uncover the joy in their personal style. Please contact her for your complimentary get-acquainted session. }