Clever Clothing Decluttering Tricks

16 Oct 2017

Clever Clothing Decluttering Tricks

Is your closet bursting at the seams and yet, you can’t find a thing to wear? When you have too much and your clothes are strewn all over the floor and hanging out of drawers, it can be hard to find anything at all, much less be able to put an outfit together! Your entire day can be thrown off if getting dressed in the morning is chaotic, stressful and time-consuming. If this sounds like you, then maybe it’s time to declutter your clothing.

There’s no better time than now. The end of a season is the perfect time to reassess your wardrobe. Before you pack up and store all those summer clothes, take a look at what you have. Consider whether you really want to pack and store items that you haven’t worn, and are unlikely to wear in a year from now.

As you prepare to tackle the challenge of decluttering your clothing, start with these six questions to help you decide what should stay and what should go:

1.  Do I need it, do I wear it, do I love it?
2. Do I have more than one of the same item?
3. Have I worn it in the past year?
4. Do I have something similar that’s actually better?
5. Does it have a hole or stain?
6. Does it fit me now?

If you don’t answer a resounding “yes!” to any of these questions, then it’s time to let it go.

But, what if you’re still having trouble letting go of clothes, even though your answers to these questions would suggest you give them up? Sometimes you just need a clever little trick to help you with an honest wardrobe review. Here are a few clever clothing decluttering tricks to help you let go of the clothing you no longer need, use or love.

• The “Backwards Hanger” Trick – Hang all of the clothes in your closet the “wrong” way, so that you are hooking the hangers from the back of the rod. If you wear it, hang the item back up the right way. Anything still left on a backwards hanger at the end of the season should be donated or consigned.
• Assign an Expiration Date – If you’re having trouble deciding whether to let something go, give it an expiration date (anywhere from a month to 6 months) – literally write the expiration date on a colored dot sticker, stick it to the clothing item and move on. If you haven’t worn the item by the expiration date, let it go.
• Stow the “Maybes” – Similar to the expiration date trick, pack all of your “maybe” clothing in a box and put an expiration date on the box. This is a good trick if you’re in the process of losing (or gaining) weight. Give yourself a few months and if they still don’t fit, or they fit and you just don’t like them, let them go. I had a bin under my bed of summer clothing that was too small when I unpacked it this spring. I kept it there because I was in the process of losing some weight. The other day, I tried it on again and it all fit! Yay! But, after all that, I only ended up keeping a couple of items. The rest just didn’t work for me anymore, even though they now fit.
• Give the Underdogs a Chance – We all know that we tend to wear a few favorite articles of clothing all the time. Give your other clothes some love and make a game out of trying to wear your underdogs instead of just your favorites. You will find some new favorites or some major “oh, that’s why I never wear this” clothing that you’ve been holding on to. You won’t know until you try. This trick pairs really well with the backwards hanger trick.
• Pack Your Bags – Another great trick is to pretend pack for a trip or vacation. What would you take with you? This gives you a chance to put together your best and most versatile outfits and pieces of clothing. Now take a look at what’s left behind – if you didn’t want to pack it, why? And why are you holding onto it if it didn’t make the travel cut? This will help you get rid of clothing you may be holding onto for no reason.

Try some or all of these clever clothing decluttering tricks and see which ones work best for you. You’ll free up space in your closet for the clothes you really wear and love!