A disorganized closet is a frustrating scene inside your home. You will not only find yourself repeatedly wearing one or three outfits, you will also find them no longer fitting or valuable to you.
The overflowing closet makes it hard for you to find your best dress, a jacket, or belt for the day, especially when you’re in a hurry.
Cleaning your closet is sometimes tricky because of the emotional burden that goes with it. You might have saved some clothes that you don’t need but are memorable to you. However, this radical self improvement that you will do will save you from stress and additional expense.
However, decluttering your closet is a rewarding experience. It will not only save your time but also save your sanity. Stop the madness, take an afternoon break and devote it to organizing your closet.
Some tips for decluttering your closet
Make an inventory
The first thing for you to do is make an inventory of the pieces of clothes you have. Remove all the items, including shoes and hangers, in your closet for you to have a fresh start. Place them on your floor, bed, or shelves. List them down or itemize the clothing according to its type, from shorts, dress pants, socks, jeans, T-shirts, blouses, dresses, underwear, boots, shoes, belts, purses, backpacks, scarves, jewelry, etc.
Organize by color
There is something good about organizing your clothes by color because it will help you track the duplicates easily.
Once you find that several items have the same color, you can now decide how many of them you want to keep. If you find five black blouses or more, choose how many of them will stay for good.
Another exciting part about organizing your items by color is you feel motivated to do it. The colors are always lovely. Once you see how your closet is filled with color-coded clothing, it always brings a smile to your face.
Label the items
You can grab a bag, some tape, or a marker. Label the bags for trash, charity, repair, keep, and sell, especially for your glitzy apparel or designer clothes.
Sort out seriously
You have to be merciless this time. Sort your items and place them according to the labels. You don’t have to look back once you have decided what to trash, donate, repair, keep or sell.
If an item is still in good condition and you have not used it for a year, consider it for donation.
Shoot it on the trash bag if the clothing has gaping holes, rips, or worn-out elastic.
If the dress lacks a button or two and has a small hole, consider it for repair.
If you don’t feel like using it anymore, have it under charity.
If the dress still looks fantastic to you and you find joy fitting it in front of a mirror, better keep it.
If the item has some stains, consider it for repair
If the dress doesn’t fit you anymore, immediately put it under charity.
The same with your shoes. If it doesn’t fit you anymore, give it away. If it has some gaping holes, especially on the soles, throw it out immediately. If it has some dirt that can be wash with water or some detergents, then go out and wash it!
Clean it
As you are going to the next step, you need to clean first its inside part. Check for some mites or any other insects that may have shared space with your wardrobe.
Clean the surfaces and floors. Be ready with your rag, warm water, and clean down the whole part of your closet. You can vacuum it, too. After cleaning your closet area, you can now sweep the floor.
Take action!
After you have piled up and labeled the items according to their purpose, you have to immediately take action before you feel like putting the clothes back in their place.
Bring the trash bag outside as soon as possible. You can call a local charity group for the charity bag or find the nearest drop-off area for donation.
For the items that need minor repairs, you can either repair them yourself or take the clothing to your favorite tailor. If the other things are still good for a bargain, then you may contact your siblings or friends to set up a garage sale. You can also make an online store.
For items with stains or dirt, you can pile them for laundry. Make sure you can finish it the soonest possible time so you can still go back to your closet and clean or get rid of more items if necessary.
Have a clothing chart
You can have a clothing chart if you want to bring fun while maintaining the number of your clothing inside your closet. In this way, you can be creative in monitoring the dress that you regularly wear or not. You can also use this list to pair with the accessories, belt, or scarf you intend to buy to complement the outfits.
The Bottomline
Your aim in cleaning your closet is to keep less than half of the dress and accessories you had inside. Thus, keep only those that you regularly wear. Keep only those clothes that go with your style. Maintain only the dress that makes you smile.