Giving Your Closets a Spring Cleaning
A great way to keep clutter from overtaking your closets is to rotate your wardrobe with the seasons. This way you’ll have more closet space for the items you’ll wear during a given season, making outfit selection and putting laundry away easier.
To make the transition from winter to spring and summer as smooth as possible, follow this simple step-by-step guide to organize your closet.
1. Purge unwanted and unworn items:As you remove your winter clothes to put them in storage, do a quick evaluation of each item. If you didn’t wear it all season, it doesn’t fit, it’s damaged, it’s outdated, or you just don’t like it anymore, donate it, sell it or pass it along to someone else.
2. Wash items you’re storing: Before putting your winter clothes away clean anything you’ll be storing so that it will be ready to wear when you take it out of storage next year. You’ll thank yourself for doing this later.
3. Choose the right place: Avoid warm, musty locations when choosing where to store winter clothes to keep mildew and insects away. A dark place is also ideal so you can prevent fading.
4. Prep your closet for new items: Before putting your spring and summer clothes in your closet, give it a thorough cleaning so that it’s ready for your new wardrobe. It’s always smart to start with a clean slate.
5. Retrieve warm weather items and do a quick inventory: After pulling out your spring and summer clothes, shoes and accessories from storage, evaluate each item before putting it into your closet. Donate anything that doesn’t fit or is outdated, damaged or worn out. Getting rid of these pieces now will keep your closet from getting cluttered with unworn items and save you time when summer’s over and you need to store these items once again.
6. Organize items by type: Separating your clothing by type (pants, shirts, skirts, dresses) and by category (casual, work, and formal) will keep your closet organized and save you time when choosing an outfit. When you place your clothing back into your closet, leave a little room between sections.
7. Purchase storage accessories as needed: You may own items that don’t seem to have a designated place in your closet, like bathing suits, scarves and exercise clothes. Investing in baskets or totes that you can store under your hanging space or on your shelves will keep these items organized together. Adding hooks are a great way to store purses and keep them off the floor.