What Your Closet Clutter Says About You

We all know the basics of closet organization: hang like with like, store out-of-season items out of sight, and stick Polaroids of your shoes on their neatly-stacked boxes to achieve a million closet karma points. But, for those of us who still live in fear of an avalanche every time we open those doors, there's clearly some disconnect between the Domino closets of our dreams, and the overstuffed nightmares in our apartments. So, what gives?

Today, The Wall Street Journal identified six different types of clutter-keepers — and what each style says about you. And, according to its organizing experts, if understanding how to deal with clutter isn't helping you, then it may be time to figure out why you can't seem to part with your stuff. Do any of these tendencies sound familiar?

Buy Now, Wear Never — If your closet's full of items with price tags still attached, you may be shopping to fulfill an emotional, rather than material, need. To curb that, make sure you don't rush to buy each time you're celebrating something or nursing a disappointment. If online shopping is your Achilles heel, see if you can get into the thrill of selling all those "NWT" items on eBay, instead.

Misty, Water-Colored Memories — If you're still hanging on to your junior formal dress, your ex-boyfriend's flannel, and the outfit that landed you your first job — 10 years ago — you're a sentimentalist to the core. But, your poor, overstuffed closet may not be the best place to stash all those memories. That's what photo albums that you never look at are for, people.

Three Sizes Ago — It's no big deal to keep a pair of slightly too-snug jeans that you hope to fit into again. But, if you have an entire wardrobe of clothes that'd require a juice cleanse and a month of nonstop Bikram to shimmy into, you're probably better off kissing them goodbye and making peace with the body you have now — size ain't nothing but a number, after all.

Click over to WSJ to find the other three types of shelf abusers. Then, put on an episode of Hoarders and get to cleaning, already. (The Wall Street Journal)