Shopping In -- Your Own Closet!

Susan Koeppen: It Can Save You Plenty Over Buying New Clothes; Wear Items You Forget You Even Had!

(CBS)  You don't have to look very far and you don't have to spend any money to get some great new looks.

As Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen explained Thursday, all you have to do is look closely in -- your very own closet!

Stylist Melanie Charlton Fascitelli says the key is cleaning it out, then organizing what's left, so you know what you have to choose from.

Fascitelli worked wonders for Tracy Beckerman, of New Providence, N.J.

Beckerman, a busy mom of two who also has three pets and a writing career, has little time to organize her closets.

She told Koeppen she had no idea what's in them, adding, "I just keep buying more stuff and putting it in" them.

Beckerman, Koeppen observes, is like millions of Americans. who have plenty of clothes but feel as if they have nothing to wear.

"I basically end up wearing the same thing over and over again," Beckerman admits, "and I just kind of keep recycling like the same six or seven outfits, which is ridiculous."

But Fascitelli says the solution to the "I have nothing to wear" problem is, as the title of a book she wrote says, to "Shop Your Closet" rather than running out to buy what you need.

She says most of us already own 40 to 50 percent of the clothes we'll need for the season so, "It's just about going back into your closet and finding what you have, familiarizing yourself again with your closet and your wardrobe."

And, Koeppen points out, with the average person spending $300 to $1,000 a year on new clothes, shopping your closet can save you a bundle.

How much? "Anything," Fascitelli, "from all of it, to 75 percent, literally. I think it's one of those things. ... You might have one season when you don't have to buy a thing."

She took a look at Beckerman's wardrobe and said the first step is "editing" your clothing -- getting rid of things you don't wear.

Beckerman said she has doubles of items, "triples, quadruples, and then there's some stuff from like, when disco was king!"

Once you've cleaned out your closet, it's easier to see what you have, including things you forgot existed!

Fascitelli was able to put together four new outfits for Beckerman in just a few minutes.

"She really helped me kinda piece together everything in a completely different way than I had looked at it before," Beckerman says, "and I don't feel like I really need to run out and go buy a bunch of stuff now."

The key to shopping your closet is being organized, Koeppen stresses, so you know what's in there. And set up your closet like a store. Pants go with pants, shirts go with shirts, etc. And color-coordinate. Go from light to dark.

Koeppen herself says she cleaned out her closet and found a pair of suede boots she'd forgotten she had. She wore them to work and got a ton of compliments on her "new" boots!