The Common Mistake Professional Closet Organizers See ALL the Time

When left up to our own devices, most of our closets become overstuffed, chaotic jumbles—and if your closet is immaculate, I tip my hat to you! But for the rest of us, we could likely use a little help from a professional. And just in case hiring an organizer isn’t quite in your budget, we figured we’d share some sage advice from our favorite celebrity closet organizer and owner of Clutter Healing, Lili Pettit. We asked Pettit for the first thing she does to help organize a closet (a.k.a. the first major closet mistake she often corrects for her clients).

Scroll down to see her unexpected response—we bet it just might inspire your next closet cleanout!

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(Image credit: Modern Legacy)

The first problem Pettit tackles? Getting rid of duplicates.

“I know it’s important to have a great white T-shirt, but I see people keeping 20 white shirts, and then saying, ‘I can’t get organized,' and 'It’s so hard for me to get dressed.’ I think having a lot of the same kinds of things makes it hard for people to stay organized because they feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff they have in their closet.” –Lili Pettit, Clutter Healing

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(Image credit: Modern Legacy)

How she does it:

“I like to ask people, 'If you were to go shopping today, would you buy this T-shirt off of the sales floor?' Most likely the answer is no.” –Lili Pettit, Clutter Healing

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The Perfect T-Shirt

Cropped Jeans

Ankle Boots

Trench Coat

Black Blazer

Classic Bag

Button-Down Shirt

Leather Jacket

Menswear-Inspired Watch

Suede Pumps

Little Black Dress

Pencil Skirt

Editor in Chief

Kat Collings has over 15 years of experience in the editorial fashion space, largely in digital publishing. She currently leads the vision for editorial content at WhoWhatWear.com as the site's editor in chief, having risen through the editorial ranks after joining the company in 2012. Collings is a Digiday Future Leader Awards nominee, was named Buzzfeed's best fashion Instagram accounts of the year, and is a member of the CFDA Awards Fashion Guild. Prior to Who What Wear, Collings worked on styling projects for brands such as Vogue, Teen Vogue, Lucky, and Oliver Peoples. She graduated from UCLA with a BA in communications and calls Los Angeles home.