Prep your Closet for Spring Fashion #7DaysofSpringCleaning

I always embark on a massive clean out of my closet twice a year, fall and spring. It’s the perfect time to reevaluate how you’re utilizing the space you have, as well as what you have in that space and making it more user-friendly.

Here are some suggestions for a successful closet clean-out:

1.  The first thing I do is more of a visual scan of the closet situation. What’s working and what’s not working? Can I not get to the pieces that I reach for the most?  Do I have a bunch of items that I don’t wear taking up precious space? Make the time to literally pull EVERYTHING out and group it by season, style, color, or all three. Whatever works for you.  It may take you a few hours, or a whole day, but I promise you will not regret spending that time to have a clean, well-organized closet that will help you to get ready in a snap. When you need to take a break, take this fun Goodwill quiz to figure out your closet personality:  http://snapp.to/1gjJGU1

2. Try on the things you haven’t worn lately. If it doesn’t fit, is no longer to your taste, or maybe it was just an impulse purchase gone wrong, put it in the donate pile. Clothes, shoes, belts, handbags, you name it. It can all be donated to places like Goodwill.  Thanks to the programs made possible by donations of gently-used items, more than 216,000 people earned jobs in 2012 – that’s one person finding a job every 33 seconds of every business day. So you’re literally donating your stuff AND helping to create job. Who knew that cleaning out your closet seasonally could be a philanthropic endeavor at the same time!  You can even calculate how much your donation helps your local community by using Goodwill’s Donation Impact Calculator https://donate.goodwill.org/.

3. Get clean and organized.  Before you do anything else, take a good look at that empty closet. Dust it, vacuum it, clean it! Dust accumulates there too so why not take the time with a totally empty closet to give it a good scrubbing.  Next, organization.  Would a shoe rack, additional shelves, hangers, bins, help you stay more organized or add space? Places like Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond and The Container Store are great for closet storage solution items.

4. Utilize the Rotation Method. This is a little something I made up. I don’t have a very large closet since I live in an apartment, so I rely on the Rotation Method. Each major change of season (spring and fall) I rotate out my winter clothes (I store sweaters in bins under my bed!) and move heavier items to the back of my closet, since I won’t be reaching for them as often. I add in my tees and tanks, store my boots for next fall, and put my sandals back into my closet.  I like to organize by style and color, from darkest to lightest. I know, a little OCD, but it allows me to see all of my options.  Also, no matter how hard I try, those tees, tanks and shorts I washed, ironed and folded so nicely at the end of the summer? Yeah, a wrinkly mess.  Never fails.  So I end up washing and ironing them again before I put them back into my closet or drawers.