This Spring Get Your Closet Clean

Spring has finally arrived! It’s time to stow away snow boots, parkas and blazers and pull out the lightweight blouses, peep-toed pumps and dresses. When spring hits we’re sometimes tempted to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe but resist that urge and clean up instead and you may be able to go shopping in your own closet!

Purge – Make a mess

First bring everything out of the closet, dressers and storage bins so that you can take inventory of what you have. This is the part of spring cleaning where you’re faced with a heap of clothing that may or may not include old seventies themed costumes, but we don’t judge! Take stock of things that you want to keep and things that would best be given or thrown away. The general rule is if you haven’t worn it in two years it’s time to toss it. Remember that that top you’ve been holding on to that still has the tags on it may be the prize of someone else’s wardrobe while it’s only going to die a slow torturous death as moth food in the back of your closet.

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Your Junk Makes Money

Forgive yourself for buying something that you didn’t use, vow to make wiser fashion choices in the future and let it go. Remember that’s one less thing that you’ll have to store come fall. Donate the pile of clothes you don’t want or need to the Salvation Army. You can deduct the donation come tax season. If it’s a designer item, auction it off on Ebay or Portero.com which is a site that auctions high end items for you and takes a commission on the price of the sold item.

Get Organized

After you’ve purged your wardrobe of items that don’t fit, are damaged beyond repair or you’ve only held on to for sentimental reasons, it’s time to make sense of the pieces that are left. You can group your wardrobe into two categories – career wear and casual clothes. If you dress more casually for work you may find it useful to group your clothes only by category, tops, bottoms, jackets etc. Within those categories you may want to take it a step further and arrange by color. It’s visually pleasing to look into your closet and see a rainbow in the morning. That may help you get your day started off right.

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Don’t Waste Space

No matter how large or small your house is the key is to maximize the space that you do have. Take a trip to the Container Store and find some under-the-bed storage bins, over-the-door shoe hangers and clear shoe boxes. Launder/dry clean and pack up the sweaters and thick trousers that you won’t need again until next fall and tuck them under the bed. Throw in some scented sachets. L’Occitane makes great ones. You could also use dryer sheets as a cheap alternative.  Arrange your shoes in the clear shoe boxes and it’s a nice, highly-organized touch to place a photo of the contents of the box on the outside. That way you can see what you have quickly without taking every shoe out.  Use the over-the door shoe hangers to organize accessories. Once again you can see what you have without having to dump your jewelry box out on the bed.