Spring Cleaning: Closet Edition

by Allison Shaw

It’s spring, which means it’s time for spring cleaning! If you’re like me and you have a tendency to hoard clothing, there’s no better time to clean out your wardrobe and get it ready for the summer! Nothing beats having a clean, organized space, so here’s a few tips to help if you’re thinking about cleaning up.

First go through everything you have and make three piles for keeping, donating, and chucking. It might seem a little bit tedious, especially if you have a larger wardrobe, but it helps to remind yourself of everything you have. As you go through your clothes, put everything that you wear in the keep pile. Not things you bought and will wear at the right time, only the things you rotate on a day-to-day basis (excluding things like formal wear). The six month rule is a great way to determine this — have you worn it in the last six months? If the answer is yes, keep it. If not, consider donating it. For the donate pile, put everything you have that’s in good, wearable condition, that you no longer wear or don’t wear often enough into this pile. There’s plenty of thrift stores and clothing drives that will gladly take these things, or you could try your hand at selling them at shops like Plato’s Closet. Finally, the chucking pile should be things like older socks, undergarments, anything you don’t use or wear anymore but wouldn’t want to donate.

So now you’ve donated or made some cash off your clothes, and you have all your keepers waiting to be put away. Consider different methods of organization for your space. Color coding is a great way to keep everything together, while also creating a satisfying sense of visual organization. It looks the best with hanging clothes, so try hanging all your items of the same color together. Another strategy is to try different methods of folding your clothing. Maybe roll up your shirts so you can see them better in the drawers, or try arranging your bottoms so you can see all of them. Making sure you can see all the clothes you have is a great way to stop yourself from feeling like you have nothing to wear, or from overbuying clothing you don’t need and cluttering your space.

If you’re looking for a spring cleaning project, consider decluttering your closet space! It’s probably been a while since you last thought of it, so there’s no better time than the present. Besides, then you’ll have space to fill with shopping done over the summer. Happy organizing!