With every new year our intentions reset - for some we set our goals and hope we will at least stay on track for the month of January. For others they will go about cleaning up their life - often that starts with health and wellness and then moves onto the house and our surrounds. This brings us to the topic for today of the ultimate closet clean out and truly how satisfying that can feel.
If you are on holidays and at home, this is the perfect time to dedicate a few hours to the clean up. What you will need is the patience to pull everything out of your closest or wardrobe and work through each item breaking them into one of the following categories.
Keep - items that you wear consistently and deserve a space in your closet. Think about how to hang or fold or store each item. Do you want to colour code? Do you want to keep items by season (handy if you are limited on space)? Do you want to keep in order by the type of garment? Then return each item to the correct location. If hanging - highly recommend velvet hangers - compact, means garments will not slide off and kind to your clothes unlike wire.
Unsure - this pile means you should try on and then work through why or why not it should stay. If the item needs to be repaired or altered or dry cleaned - create a seperate pile and make time to complete those tasks. If the item does not fit and altering will not assist or does not suit your style it’s time to say goodbye, that is a new pile. If you have not worn an item for over a year ask yourself if you are truly going to wear this piece again. Otherwise it is taking up expensive real estate in your closet. Note: for most of us we have been home due to COVID-19 and living in active wear or loungewear therefore the 12 month rule may need to be flexible.
Goodbye - this pile can be separated into sub groups. The first one is any items that are unwearable and should make their way into the bin. The second group is for items you would like to donate, there are many worthy causes that will take well cared for second hand clothing. The third group is for anyone who is struggling to let go of an item because of what you spent on it - then consider selling online or at a market. The second hand clothing resale was huge in 2020 and will continue as consumers become more conscious about their fashion footprint.
The key is to be ruthless and only keep what you wear and what suits your style. There is nothing more furstrating than sorting through piles of clothes that you do not wear. It is time consuming to have a wardrobe not work hard for you. Getting dressed should be painless and fun each day. A clean and tidy closet is the best place to start.
