Punxsutawney Phil confirmed it this past Groundhog’s day: spring is on its way! It’s a season full of blooming flowers, baby animals, and freshly cleaned homes. But don’t stop with the living room and the kitchen—get your closet involved in the purging process as well!
If you’re having trouble letting go of your stockpile of shirts to make room for new pieces, shift your mentality from “everything must go” to “only good things must stay.” Similar to the method laid out by cleaning-guru Marie Kondo, organizing your outfits should revolve around discovering what makes you the happiest. Take a look at these easy tips and tricks to wake your wardrobe up from hibernation.
Sort Clothes Based on Category
As you put away your winter coats and reevaluate your closet, organize your clothes based on what category they fall into. Are they business attire? Gym clothes? Casual outfits? Fancy date-night apparel? Sort all your items into different piles based on the situation you would wear them in. Depending on your lifestyle, you’ll probably have a larger “casual” or “professional” pile than all the other categories.
Once you have everything sorted, start going through and getting rid of pieces that you don’t need. Who knew you had three little black dresses? Two is more than enough, and the other one would be a great steal for someone at Goodwill if you donated it! If you find that you don’t have enough pieces in one of the main categories, it can help inform your spring shopping exploits.
Throughout the process, just remember to think about the lifestyle you currently have, not the one you wish you had. Saving those adorable yoga pants for when you lose weight? While we 100% believe you can reach your goals, it never helps to have clothes in your closet that you can’t fit into. Not only does it demoralize you and make fitness goals seem unattainable, but it takes up space in your closet that could be put to use for pieces that make you feel good about your body at the present time!
Display Jewelry Throughout the Cleaning Process
Don’t forget about your accessories while you spring clean! It’s easy for jewelry, belts, and hair accessories to get lost in the shuffle and pile up inside a drawer. As you work on your closet, lay out all your pieces on the bed or on the floor so you can get a visual sense of how much you have. If there are pieces you immediately know you won’t wear anymore, go ahead and put them in the donation pile.
When you find items of clothing you want to keep, assess whether any of your jewelry or other trinkets pair well with it. Perhaps that pearl necklace doesn’t go with a certain dress you have, but if multiple outfits pass through your hands and don’t compliment it, you might want to consider whether or not to keep it. There’s no point in holding onto old items that never see the light of day!
Apart from jewelry, if you have a women’s watch, various headbands or books on how to get thicker hair, and a plethora of shoes, include these in the cleaning process as well. Anything that isn’t a main article of clothing should be assessed as well so you know exactly what it can be paired with to step out the door in style every day.
Turn Your Closet into a Focal Piece
Clutter easily stacks up behind closed doors. Have you ever opened your closet one day and suddenly realized just how much stuff is jammed in there? Like that old saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind.” To help keep the mess from creeping back into your life, turn your wardrobe area into a focal point that you’ll want to look at.
This could mean removing the doors from your closet and organizing its contents with colorful bins to add some eye-catching detail to your bedroom. Or if you keep most of your clothes in a dresser, use fun labels to indicate what items go in which drawers. Hang up your jewelry on a mounted rack instead of letting it pile up in a box so you can see your beautiful pieces every morning. And for shoes, use a cute multi-level shoe rack to add a rustic accent piece to an unused corner of the room!
Once you complete these steps, your wardrobe will feel like a wonderland! Get a head start on your spring cleaning this season and you’ll feel prepared to tackle the rest of the year in impeccable style.
