This Takes up the Most Closet Space According to the Home Edit

When it comes to the most cluttered spaces in your home, the closet is likely high on the list. There’s one clothing item that could be causing the most problems.

According to The Home Edit‘s Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, t-shirts are responsible for a sizable amount of clutter in closets.

In an interview with PopSugar, the pair explained the biggest issues that encounter when organizing young women’s closets (though the answer likely applies to everyone), and it’s t-shirt collections. Why? Many are involved in sports and clubs in high school. Then, when you get to college, you might be involved in a sorority or fraternity as well as intramural sports or other organizations. Over time, all of the t-shirts you collect for these activities add up. When it’s time to declutter, the memories associated with the pieces resurface making them difficult to part with.

So, how do you do it and reduce the clutter? Shearer and Teplin recommend creating three categories: to wear, to keep, and to donate. Of course, the shirts you still wear should be kept in your closet, and the ones you don’t should be donated. The “to keep” pile is a bit different, though. It’s designed for the t-shirts you can’t part with due to memories. The pair said to store them else—potentially with other sentimental objects—so they don’t take up space in your closet.

If you’ve been struggling to declutter your closet, the t-shirts in there might be the issue. While you’re sorting through things, don’t forget that there are also fun ways to recycle your t-shirts.