Cleaning. Not exactly a word that sparks joy. It is probably not what you most deeply want to spend your Sunday afternoon doing. However, sometimes you have to clean out your closet.
Luckily this guide will give a lot of tips on how to make the process of cleaning out your wardrobe more fun and affectable. We often tend to keep clothes we no longer wear, simply because we once used to love wearing them.
But this guide will help you get rid of all the things you no longer wear or need, and even make money on them. So let’s dive into these 10 tips on how to clean your closet.
Start out with piles when you clean out your closet
If you going to do a big clean aóut of your closet and are determined to get to the bottom of all the things you don’t use anymore and get them out of your way it can sometimes help to organize it.
The easiest way to do that is to divide all your clothes into piles. The number of piles depends on what you are planning to do with the clothes you no longer want, but an example could be four piles divided into: “keep”, “donates”, “sell”, “thrown out”.
You can also make other piles such as “upcycling projects” or “items for clothes swapping with friends”.
You might also like: 12 easy ways to upcycle your clothes
Remember, the less you throw out the better it is for the environment, so if you have the opportunity to either donate it, sell it, or maybe swap it with friends the more sustainable it is. Think about how you can expand the lifetime and use of each item you no longer want.
When you are done sorting your clothes into piles simply follow the instruction the piles gives you such as “keep”, “donate” or “sell”.
Categorize your items to create a better overview
Have you ever wanted something really bad and then ended up finding out you already have something similar in your wardrobe?
Or maybe feel like you never have anything to wear but a closet full of clothes. You even sometimes find yourself standing in a big pile of your clothes having a good old fashion clothing-crisis.
If you can recognize yourself in one of these scenarios this tip will help you a lot. It takes some time but it will totally be worth it.
What you have to do is categorize your clothes. How you choose to categorize your clothes is totally up to you. You can choose to categorize it by color, by type (say dresses together and blouses together, etc.), or you could even categorize it by where you would wear it such as workwear together and so on.
If you clean out your closet this way you find out exactly what you have, and how much space the different categories take up. This will also help you get a clear picture of which type of items you have a lot of and which ones you might want to invest in.
The long-time methode to clean out your closet
If you find it difficult to pick out items in your wardrobe you no longer need, then this tip might be helpful. Often when you clean out your closet you end up in the memory hole thinking back at the fun night you wore that dress or how those jeans used to be your favorite.
Even though you know deep down you’ll never wear those pants or that dress again it can be pretty easy to convince yourself that you will.
So instead of arguing with yourself whether or not that dress still looks as good on you, write on a piece the paper the exact date of the day you are cleaning yo closet and place this piece of paper on every item in your closet.
Whenever you use an item just take off the piece of paper. This will not only help you clean out your closet but also help you to get a better indication of which items you use the most.
After six months you should clean out your closet again and wither donate, sell, etc. the clothes you haven’t worn the past six months. Cause chances are you won’t wear it again if you haven’t done it during the past six months. They will be easy to recognize, cause they will have a piece of paper on them.
Items such gowns and other special occasion outfits and seasoned clothes can of course be excused.
Organize your clothes in seasons
If you have different clothes for the different seasons an easy way to get some more space in your wardrobe is to sort out all your clothes by season. Put all the clothes you don’t wear right known in bins and store them somewhere else.
That way the clothes you only wear during the summer won’t be taking up space in your wardrobe during winter. That will give you a clear view of which items you have for each season. And it is probably the easiest way to clean out your closet, cause you don’t need to throw anything away.
When in doubt try it on
If you are finding it difficult to clean out your closet and get rid of items, then try this approach. Try on every single piece of clothes in your wardrobe. We often have a certain memory of clothes but they do not fit with how we really feel when we wear them sometimes.
So before you decide that it is impossible to clean out your closet try every single piece of clothes on. You might look and feel gorgeous in every single item, and that is just amazing.
But oftentimes we tend to store clothes we never wear, simply because we like the idea about, but don’t really feel comfortable when putting them on. And if you try on an item and it doesn’t feel right, you know what to do.
Think before you buy
The easiest way to make sure your wardrobe doesn’t get messy and overflowed is by not adding any new items to it. It is really as simple as that. This is of course also the most sustainable way to do it.
This might seem like quite a difficult challenge, but a lot of times we buy clothes we don’t need, just because we want to jump on a certain trend or feel inspired in the dressing room.
So if you find it difficult not to add new items to your wardrobe every month here are a few tips you can follow:
- Make and agreement with yourself that if one thing is added to your wardobe another item has to go. This means that if you want to buy, let’s say a new shirt, you have to find one item in your wardrobe you either choose to sell, donate and so on.
The important thing is, that before you buy a new item you have to find one in your closet you can no longer keep. This will make you think more before you buy.
2. The ex-boyfriend test. So basically this test will help you when you are trying on clothes and don’t know whether you should buy them or not. If you find yourself in that situation think about this; Would you like to meet your ex-boyfriend in that out?
How would you feel if you randomly stepped into him in that exact outfit you are considering buying? Would you feel confident? If not, put it back and walk out of the store.
Fold your clothes more neatly
There are a lot of ways to fold different types of clothes. Actually, there is probably a lot more than you think.
The way you fold your clothes will have an impact on how they lay on your shelves and in the drawer. If you fold your clothes in certain ways it will make it easier for you to get an overview of what you’ve got, when you open your drawer or closet.
On top of that, folding your clothes in the right way will also provide you with more space in your wardrobe, so if you have a hard time fitting all of your clothes into your closet, consider folding them in a new way.
Just stop throwing your items into your closet while looking the other way. That will make it so much more difficult to get an overview of what you got and will lead to a lot more outfit crisis than if you’ve folded and organized your clothes neatly.
Divide your clothes into different wardrobes
Oh, the joy of finding a cute item in the back of your closet that you completely forgot you had. It is almost like getting a new piece of clothes.
Sometimes it can seem like all the clothes you have in your closet is boring, but what if I told you that you can trick yourself into getting all hyped up about the clothes you already have.
You might also like: Where to Sell Used Clothes Online
What you’ll have to do is divide your closet into two wardrobes. We often have a lot of clothes we don’t use, but because we stare at them every day when we open our closet we still get tired of them.
But by dividing your clothes into two wardrobes you can switch between these two (or how many wardrobes you like to make). Then, when you are tired of one wardrobe, you simply switch it with the other, and it will feel like you’ve got a whole new bunch of clothes.
This might sound a bit time-consuming, but it is easily done if you do it while you clean out your closet anyway since it will give you a better understanding of which items you actually use.
Remember the private section
When you clean out your closet you often forget the private section, also known as the underwear drawer. But this section of your closet is just as important as the rest.
Wearing a bra that is too old can actually end up hurting your body. So start sorting all of your underwear and throw out worn-out bras and underwear that are barely hanging on.
Get rid of those freebee shirts and accessories
We tend to hold on to stuff. Because we never know when we might need it right? But the truth is, you will never need that freebee t-shirt. So let it go. If you have freebee shirts, you probably also have matching hats or bags or what do I know. And you don’t need those either. So do yourself a favor and throw that freebee logo-stuff away next time you clean out your closet, cause it just ends up taking up space.
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