If you’re at all like me, your winter closet is nothing like your summer closet. In the summer, clothes are lighter, thinner and in many cases, much more casual. In the winter, I need bo9ots and scarves and extra sweaters and by February, my closet is a mess. I want to have some lighter weight clothes available for those pop-up warm days, but I still need access to the layers of tights and wool socks for days like today.
And, I’m starting to get the sick-of-winter-I-want-everything-ready-for-spring blues. I want my spring and summer closet back!
So one of the things on my agenda this week is a full on declutter the closet and get ready for spring attack. It won’t be pretty and it will take a couple hours, but it’s worth it in the end.
1. Sort clothes by type
This doesn’t always mean the same thing to all people. My husband prefers to sort his clothes by how they are used. Gym clothes go in one portion of the closet and work clothes in another. Dress clothes go somewhere else entirely.
Most places recommend that women sort their clothes by type as in where you wear it on the body: dresses, shirts, sweaters, pants, skirts, leggings, and such. You can even group all tops and bottoms together. Whatever works best for you and the way you dress. Have a weekend wardrobe an a work wardrobe? Separate that way. Do what makes the most sense for you!
Then, while you have it out of the closet and sorted by type, go through each piece and decide which pile it goes in: keep, donate, trash or store. Keep is for the things that are seasonally appropriate, things that fit and things you love. It’s February in Oaks, Pennsylvania. Chances are your swimsuit should not be in this pile!
The donate pile is for things that are in good condition with no rips, tears or stains. If you wouldn’t wear it, don’t donate it, trash it. The trash pile is for just that, things that have lost their usefulness as clothes. You may want to check for local Planet Aid or similar donation site that recycles used clothing into cleaning rags or other upcycled goods.
And the store pile is for that swimsuit, your summer shorts and the clothes that you aren’t ready to get rid of, but aren’t going to wear.
Once you’ve narrowed it down to what you want to keep, go through it again. Sometimes, I discover that even though I love something, I Have three sweaters that are virtually identical or 14 t-shirts from my favorite fandom and I will never wear them all. Add more to your donate or store pile.
2. Decide on one type of hanger for your closet.
A hodgepodge of wire hangers from the dry cleaner and plastic hangers things came on makes your closet look messier than it is and makes it harder to stay organized. Decide on the best type of hangers depending on what your closet contains. Flimsy hangers aren’t good for hanging heavy coats, but wooden hangers are bad for silk blouses.
While the closet is empty, wipe it all down for dust.
3. Hang clothes by type or color coordinate.
Deciding what to hang up and what to put in bins, drawers and shelves should be easy. If it’s delicate, bulky, or prone to wrinkling, hang it up.
Then, based on how you get dressed, determine if you want your clothes organized by what they are or by color or both. My closet usually ends up with tops on one side and bottoms on the other. Tops are then subdivided by color and how dressy they are. Casual clothes on the right, dressier clothes for work on the left. Choose a system that works for you!
4. Use shelves or bins for sweaters and jeans.
Some things, like jeans, are ideal for folding and stacking on a shelf. All those clothes stores can’t be wrong, right?
And sweaters just don’t do well on hangers. You get hanger marks in the shoulders. Fold them and store in stacks on shelves or in decorative bins. Mine are in bins, sorted by color.
5. Make your next purge easier.
Honestly, this is a tip that doesn’t work for me, but others swear by it. They say if you put the hangers in backward and turn them around after you wear something, you’ll see exactly which clothes you actually use and can more easily decide what to get rid of next time.
If you will remember to do this and keep up with it, and then actually get rid of the stuff still facing the wrong direction at the end of the season, then this is the trick for you. I won’t. I’ll make an excuse about the weather not being right or forgetting I had that outfit or just not remember to turn any hangers around.
Once you’ve followed these easy steps, and need a place to store that off-season clothing, give us at call at
Spacemall. We’ve even got some tips for organizing your stuff in storage.