o you constantly hold off on decluttering your closet? Does the mess keep piling and piling up that it has practically swallowed your closet whole? It may be time to finally take care of that overwhelming clutter, and our handy guide is here to help.
We’ll help you through:
- What having a clean closet means for you
- How to declutter your closet - step by step
- How to sort your items
- How to consider your items
- How to maximize your closet
- And many other helpful tips and tricks!
What Having a Clean Closet Means for You
Efficiency
A clean closet promotes absolute efficiency in everyday life. It will save you time when looking for a particular item and your outfit decision-making can go smoother now that your items are sorted and in clear view. This upkeep will help you easily maintain your mess on a frequent basis, decreasing your need to declutter a messy closet.
Less stress
Studies show that clutter creates feelings of anxiety, guilt, and ultimately – stress. Visual clutter can be overwhelming and frustrating to the brain, especially when it comes to being a distraction and another bugging task that needs to be done. It makes it harder for you to relax and could even hinder your productivity elsewhere. However, a clean, organized closet frees up so much of that stress and will help you feel more in control.
Increases your productivity
Once you go through the egregious decluttering process and that high stress level has gone down a bit, it will boost a positive mindset and create a sense of accomplishment. You might find yourself cleaning out other closets or areas in your place after you’ve decluttered your closet.
Necessary wardrobe rotation and donation
A clear view of all your clothing items allows for you to rediscover your underlooked items or decide that an item has served its purpose. You can also use this organization to create a seasonal rotation system, where you separate your closet based on season.
Expanding the lifespan of your clothes
When properly organizing your closet, whether it's by neatly folding and storing the items, you are helping them from getting wrinkly and damaged. Thus, organizing can help you keep certain items longer and in good condition, which will essentially save you money.
Establishing your own personal style
Being able to see all your clothes through a clean closet, you can see your personal fashion sense more clearly. This will come in handy when you are looking to expand your personal style by seeing what items in your style you are missing or what you have too much of.
How to Declutter Your Closet - Step by Step Guide
It’s time to jump right in and begin this step-by-step decluttering process!
Set a time
To allow yourself the proper time and dedication to get this task done, set up a time when you will conquer the mission of decluttering your closet. And depending on how big this clutter is, be sure to set even more time aside for the bigger messes.
If your closet consistently gets out of hand, consider setting a time each week, about 10 to 15 minutes of rearranging, decluttering, and donating so that you won’t have to deal with a larger mess again.
Empty out your closet
It may seem like taking everything out is just transferring the mess from one place to another, but when you are in the process of taking items out of your closet, you will start to assess what items are in there and allow you to make a few organizational changes to your empty closet.
Sort Out Your Items
Sorting out your closet items helps you categorize your items in a way that will be beneficial for organizing your closet. Consider having three sorting piles: one for items to keep, one for items to donate, and one for items you need to discard.
Keep in mind when, where, and how soon you will donate the box of clothing and items so you don’t have another clutter building up in your room with those unwanted clothes.
Then once you have sorted your items through those three piles, it’s time to go through the keep pile. Sort out the items by their clothing type or season type, whatever way you think is best for your sorting methods. If you want to separate the current season clothing from the off-season, opt in to storing those off-season clothes in a separate bin or drawer. That way, you have a bit more space in your closet without those seasonal clothes.
Consider Each Item
If you are looking to free up more space in your closet when decluttering, consider each item and their value to your closet. This process can sometimes be hard and will take up most of your time decluttering, but there are some tips to help you through this difficult decision making.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Does this item still fit?
- When was the last time I wore this item? Was it in the past year?
- Do I still like this item?
- Does it align with my current fashion sense?
- Does this item hold any sentimental value?
- Are there any special occasions in which I could see myself wearing this item?
- Is the item in poor quality, i.e. tears, stains, etc.?
If you are having trouble on a particular item, put it on and wear it throughout the day and see how you like it. This is especially great for items you never wear because you see whether you still like it.
Try on all the items you aren’t sure about, that way you can test out if they still fit and look flattering on you. Also, if you are skeptical on getting rid of an item, think about ways you could upcycle or reinvent the item instead of having to get rid of it.
To track how often you wear an item, try the reverse hanger trick. This is where you turn all your hangers around in your closet, and then turn them back around whenever you wear that item. After a few weeks or months, you can see what items you aren’t wearing and use that as consideration to get rid of it.
Maximize Your Closet Space
Now that your closet is cleared out and empty as can be, you want to utilize the empty space with closet organization products to easily sort your items. Instead of your clothes and shoes scattered on the floor, a storage drawer or shoe organizer will help you make the most of your closet space and help you find things way easier and without all the mess.
Closet organization products could be:
- Shelf dividers
- Clear storage bins
- Over-the-door organizers
- Vertical hanging organizers
- Vacuum-sealed bags
Hangers
Slim hangers can help you store more clothes in your limited closet space, instead of bulky, thick hangers. You could also get hangers that allow you to hang multiple items vertically, as a way to lessen your horizontal space.
There are other ways you could utilize the closet’s vertical space. One way is installing another rod below the top one, that way you can hang even more items.
Shelves
Shelves, including cubicle shelves can be used for an abundance of items and belongings. They can be more easy to use than drawers with easier ways to sort and rummage through them.
The best way to store items in cubicle shelves is in similar categories and rolled vertically. You don’t want to mix up any items, to ensure that you are staying absolutely organized. You could even label the cubes or shelves to go the extra organizing mile.
Over-the-door organizers
Another way to maximize your closet space is through the closet door. Hanging an over-the-door shoe organizer will give you a space for your shoes. There are other hanging storage organizers you can opt into, allowing you to place other items like belts, bags, or other accessories.
The KonMari Method
Another amazing declutter method is the KonMari method. From famous organizer Marie Kondo, this method has revolutionized the way people declutter their messes while also helping the mind. It essentially helps with overconsumption and the mentality that you “had to have it” with your clothes.
This method revolves around whether an item you have brings you joy and serves a bit of purpose. But if it doesn’t, then you should discard the item. The KonMari method is more about being mindful and more optimistic towards effective cleaning.
Here are the steps:
- Take everything out and organize into categories - i.e tops, bottoms, dresses, etc.
- Decide what to keep and what to discard by inspecting whether it brings you joy.
- If you are taking a while to decide, that means you are struggling with how much joy it is bringing you, so you should discard it.
- Learn from what you are keeping or not keeping. This can help you make more informed decisions the next time you go shopping.
- With the pile you decided to keep, store them vertically in your drawer, so that you can see all of them.
- Donate or upcycle the items you have discard to get it another purpose and ensure that it doesn’t end up in landfill.
- And that’s that for the KonMari method!
Get Cleaning!
There are several methods to try when it comes to decluttering your closet and we hope that one of these will work best for you and your clutter. And though the process can be egregiously time-consuming, your mind – and closet – with thank you for doing so!
