Do you change over your closet for the fall/winter and spring/summer seasons? I never used to do this, but I recently started and it’s made a huge difference! I actually just performed this task the other day and thought I would walk through the process so that you can try it too. It really has made a difference for me, everything feels so much less cluttered and more organized—it’s like a whole new world!
Exploding Closet Syndrome
A closet isn’t designed to contain four seasons worth of clothing. It’s designed to hold the clothes you’re going to wear for the coming season. My closet used to explode—you guys have seen it—because it was housing literally all of the garments I own. When the summer and early fall is over, or when late spring rolls in, it’s time to change over your closet to free up space and to breath new life into your wardrobe. If you haven’t done this before, don’t worry, it’s easy to do and makes a big difference.
Start By Sorting
Start by pulling out all of your non-seasonal items. This would be garments that are not temperature appropriate, and those that are last season’s colors. For example, all of my shorts, and bright orange and yellow tops went away, and my sweaters and merlot-colored tops came out. When you do this twice a year, your closet will always have some transitional pieces, like jeans and dress pants, cardigans, and blazers—which is fine. Your closet should be about half empty at this point. Place all out of season garments on your bed or the floor.
Review & Declutter
Next, if you’ve done this before, take all of the clothing which you’ve stored away from last season and sort through each piece. Do you still like it? Does it fit? Is it to your taste? Are you going to wear it or are you sick of it? Be honest and critical here. Make a donation pile for anything you don’t like, and here’s the best part, a shopping list of things you need. I like doing this because I only have to look at my clothing for half the year, so I get less sick of seeing it all the time. I got rid of about 15 garments when I did this the other day.
Restock & Store
Now, hang up all of the in-season items. I like to organize by garment type and then by color. So, my jeans come first, then my skirts, dress pants, dresses, sweaters, blouses and shell tops.
Finally, finish up by folding away your off-season clothing and storing it wherever you can. I have a cupboard designated to do this, but if you don’t have extra cupboard space, get an under-the-bed bin to take care of the clothing.
You can do the same thing for the front closet. Switch out seasonal jackets, shoes and outdoor accessories. Case in point, I have a real beat up pair of black over-the-knee boots which have seen better days and really need to go. The last time I purchased these boots, which are a wardrobe staple, was four years ago, so it’s time to go shopping and replace them.
Rinse & Repeat
When the next wave of seasons roll in, you can go through the same process. You’ll feel like you have more options, you won’t have to pass over half your closet to find something to wear, and you’ll actually have less clutter in your closet because you’ve only got the good, seasonal stuff in there.
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I’ve been changing over seasonal clothes for as long as I can remember, mostly due to limited closet space. I’ve recently read “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo and she addresses going through all your belongings, starting with clothing, to see which items bring joy and donating all those that don’t and just take up space. Love the concept.