Decluttering Your Wardrobe 102

Now that you are finally warming up to the idea of decluttering, you have decided what clothes will go and which ones will stay. It’s time to share how you can ensure you don’t end up in the same situation again.

Separate them into categories

You can do this in a few ways; by separating the tees from the shirts and the gowns from the pants or your work clothes from your leisure or casual outfits. You could even organize them by season.
For example, it’s fall right now, and my fall clothes are hung up and easily accessed; my winter clothes for the chilly days are behind them. Once fall is gone, I will move my winter clothes forward and put my fall clothes at the back of the line.

Decide on a limit for each category

Now that you have them in categories, decide on a limit for each type.

No, you can’t keep 24 pants when you only have two tees. Yes, some colors can be universal, and the whole world is into styling mild tones with popping tones, but after decluttering 101, you know that if you can’t think of something to pair it with, it has to go. Plus, this is another chance to declutter.
Whatever limit you decide on is up to you, but please ensure it’s realistic and sustainable. This brings us to the next section.

Decide what to fold or hang

This part is vital as you shouldn’t fold some clothes while others can do without being hung up. For example, you know you shouldn’t be folding up a silk or any cloth. You have to turn the inside out to iron.

Silk, satin, and dress shirts belong on hangers; it’s a great way to keep the wrinkles away, keep their shape or style and look adequately cared for. I love ironing just as much as the next person, so I keep many of my clothes hung up and wear them weeks later, so I don’t have to iron.

Note that you can hang up a few favorites when organizing jeans and fold up the rest; when I say favorites, I mean not more than two in each color. This isn’t just for decluttering; trousers get heavy on your hangers and can eventually bend and break them.

Give yourself a set number of hangers and drawer space

After you have decided what to fold and what to hang, you also have to make sure you have an already decided number of hangers and storage space to work with. One way to do this is to clear out less drawer space than you need and buy fewer hangers. This will keep you on the decluttering side for a while longer.
Let’s say you have 15 clothes in the ‘back in the wardrobe’ section; you make available to yourself only 12 hangers.

Wait, let me explain why; you have just gotten on board with decluttering; self-control isn’t so high right now; in fact, there is a high probability that you snuck that favorite sweater with the tiny coffee stain in there. So, if you don’t have space for it, you might be convinced to let go.

Turn your hangers around

One thing I do after decluttering is to turn my hangers to face a certain way, and when I have worn and washed that particular outfit, I turn the hangers the other way. It helps me to know what I have worn and what I am yet to wear. This brings me to the next point.

Keep track of what you wear

Organizing your wardrobe in a way that makes sense to you can help you keep track of what you are wearing and which outfit has become your new favorite and also helps you to track what you aren’t wearing so that you know which outfit would go first when next you declutter.

Make a point to wear each item you own

My partner has a wardrobe system that never made sense to me until I started decluttering. He organizes his clothes in a straight line, and every time he comes out of the bathroom, he picks the one that is first on the line and goes with it.
Once an outfit is worn and washed, it goes to the back of the line until it’s its turn again. I guess it also helps that they are all similarly colored, so he doesn’t have a hard time choosing what to wear.
Guess what? His wardrobe hardly needs decluttering! And he gets to wear every single item he owns.

Donate clothes you are decluttering asap

Do you remember when you said you were going on a diet and still bought a six-pack of beer? What happened to the diet? Yeah, old habits die hard.
Once you have decided to declutter and have organized your wardrobe, the next best thing is to donate those clothes to the needy. Please don’t keep them around the house and don’t put off donating them either.
Getting rid of them can ensure you don’t return to them.

Conclusively

Decluttering doesn’t just help you get rid of old junk; it helps to give your wardrobe a new look and keeps your closet organized while relieving you of the mental stress of what to wear.
Stay shamelessly clutter-free.

Originally published at https://shamelesspen.com on November 20, 2022.