14 Nov 2022

Top Tips to Organize your Closet this Fall

A seasonal wardrobe change is a perfect time to organize your closet, helping you contain closet chaos by keeping your wardrobe current and making room for new purchases. However, it’s not always easy to part with unused or unneeded clothes that take up precious space. If you find that you are having a hard time figuring out how to organize or having trouble letting go, these tips will help.

Here are our top tips to organize your closet this fall:

Gain Insight By Asking Yourself Questions.

The first technique is to look at some of your unused clothes and ask some simple questions to help you make room:

Do I need it, do I wear it, do I love it? Ideally, you’d answer ‘yes’ to all three for everything in your closet, but you should be able to answer ˜yes’ to at least one for every item you decide to keep.

Do I have more than I need? Just because you choose to keep some t-shirts, for example, doesn’t mean you need to keep them all. Do you really need 4 bathing suits when you only go to the beach a handful of times each year? Probably not. Keep the best and ditch the rest!

Have I worn it in the past year? If you’ve made it through all of your seasons and activities and haven’t worn something once in the past year, that’s a good indication that you’re not going to ever! Here are some ideas that will help you determine what clothes to put in the donation box

Do I have something better or could I get something better? If you have 3 pairs of black pants, chances are you always gravitate toward the best pair. If you feel you must keep more than one, just choose one back-up and get rid of the rest. And if you feel forced to wear something you really don’t like, make it a point to replace it ASAP.

Does it have a hole or stain? Wear and tear happens, but there’s no sense in keeping items that you don’t wear because they’re not in good shape anymore. Many donation places will recycle textiles that can’t be sold, so you don’t have to throw them out either. Also don’t fall victim to keeping tons of past-their-prime clothes for messy projects and yard work at home. Keep a few options for this type of work and say ˜sayonara’ to the rest!

Does it fit me now? Items you keep should fit you well and fit you now. Pregnancy or a recent baby are perhaps the only reasons to keep things that don’t quite fit you now. Keeping several sizes in your wardrobe for weight loss and weight gain does not work well for most people as a weight management or closet management strategy.

Could I do something positive with it? Many people have a hard time letting go of clothes they spent good money on and/or clothes that are still perfectly useful. But if you aren’t wearing them, they’re not doing anybody any good, right? So sell them on-line or through a consignment shop or donate them and take a tax deduction. At least someone else will be making use of them!

Making it easier to let it go:

Along with asking some questions, consider these important tricks to help you assess the importance of the existing pieces in your closet:

The backwards hanger – 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 item and move on. If you haven’t worn the item by the expiration date, let it go.

Stow the maybe box – Similar to the expiration date, pack all your maybe items in a box and put an expiration date on the box. If you haven’t been tempted to get any of the items out by the expiration date, go ahead and donate the whole box.

Give the underdogs a chance – We all know that we tend to wear a few favorite items 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 insights into why you never wear this item in the first place.

Pack Your Bags – Another great trick is to pretend to 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.

Deciding to Donate or Consign

Once you’ve made the important decision of which articles to let go of, sending those clothes for consignment is an excellent way to pay it forward. Here are some clothing consignment tips:

• Consignment shops all have their own guidelines as to what they will and will not accept, but here are a few general rules.
• It must be in current fashion (within the last year or two)
• It must be in new or like-new condition and clean- no pills, stains, wear, tears, etc.
• Clothing with the tags still on it will sell for more $.
• It must be appropriate for the current season, or upcoming season (consignment shops will not accept winter clothes in the spring, summer clothes in the fall, etc.).
• Clothing must be on hangers
• Some places will require an appointment and/or a minimum number of items.
• What you’ll get:
• Usually 40-50% of the sale price.

Whatever you decide to do: sell, consign or donate your clothes, don’t let them sit — get them out the door! 

Closet Maintenance
Once you have edited your wardrobe down to items you only use and love, take it another step and swap out any plastic and dry cleaner hangers for slim, slip-free free hangers that hold onto clothing better and give your closet an overall improved, upscale look.

The key to keeping it well organized is to limit impulsive clothing purchases. When you are shopping, think about what you prefer in terms of styling. Do you like ¾ sleeves as opposed to long sleeved tops? Are you a minimalist or prefer monochromatic over prints? Consider features; if a pair of yoga pants has a fold-over waist, will you like that or not? If you stick to what you like once you have completed your wardrobe detox, you are more likely to avoid unnecessary and impulse buys.

The availability of cheap clothing contributes to closet excess. Be careful not to purchase too many inexpensive items that add up to cheap and limited-life pieces. It’s easy to get caught up in deals or sales and before you know it, your cart full of items will become a closet full of items. There is nothing wrong with buying something inexpensive, as long as you love it! If you do, mix up your wardrobe with better quality pieces. They will fit better, the quality will likely be better and you will feel better when you wear them.

You can save the discount shopping for trendy styles you might want to try, but use caution not to overbuy in this category. These items will come in and out of style quickly and having to get rid of all of them in a year won’t make you happy, it’ll just make extra work.

If you follow these techniques and tips you’ll have your wardrobe whipped into shape in time for the cold weather!

P.S. Did you know that we offer closet design services as well as organizing? We work closely with the Container Store to design the custom closet of your dreams! Contact us today for a free phone consultation. 617-893-9242.