Fashion

5 Steps For Decluttering Your Closet For This Summer

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Is your closet always full and overstuffed? Maybe it is time to declutter it before summer sets in! This guide will take you through all the steps you must take to clean and organize your closet.

No matter the size of our closet, there comes a time when we realize that there simply no more space for additional pieces of clothing, not even a single t-shirt. And, like it or not, when that moment comes, you should consider decluttering by throwing away worn-out clothes, donating what you don’t wear anymore (or never did), and repurposing old clothes. Easier said than done, right?

Just like you do, we all find it difficult to say goodbye to pieces of clothing that we used to wear a lot in the past, spent a lot of money on, or think will go back in trend. But, let’s be honest, you’ll probably not going to wear any of that stuff again, and all they do is stopping you from finding what you actually wear quickly.

Now that summer has just started, it is the perfect time to clean out your closet so that you don’t find yourself in the middle of the summer with lots of stuff you didn’t wear, and probably won’t wear next summer either.

Here are five steps to follow to declutter your wardrobe for this year’s summer:

1. Divide your items by season

First things first, you need to start with stowing away sweaters, jackets, and gloves, or any other winter item that you won’t be going to need for at least three months from now. Let’s be honest, it simply makes no sense to overstuff your closet with hats and gloves when all you’ll be doing is wear sundresses.

The no. 1 rule in decluttering the closet for summer is getting rid of all the winter clothes by storing away those you want to keep and throwing away or donating those you don’t want to keep.

So, start by taking all your clothes out of the closet and divide them by season. Create a different pile for the summer clothes and a separate one for all your winter clothes.

2. Create four separate piles

Now, you’re going to have to divide those two piles you have created at the first step into four different piles: summer items to keep, winter items to keep, one for things to throw away, one for items to donate.

Friendly reminder: try to keep your four separate piles as far away from each other as possible so that you don’t risk things ending up in the wrong pile.

3. Look at each piece of clothing

Once you have set up separate areas for the four piles, it is time to actually go through all your clothes and sew what goes where.

While you’re at this step, we recommend you to apply the six months rule. What is the six months rule? It’s actually pretty simple: as the name suggests, you have to take each piece of clothing and think about whether or not you’ve worn it in the past or if you’ll wear it in the next six months. If the answer is a “no”, and even if you are unsure, the piece of clothing most likely shouldn’t be in your closet anymore.

While you move forward through your closet, make sure that you place every piece of clothing in the right pile:

A piece of winter clothing you want to keep will go in the winter items to keep, same for summer clothes, and for those you don’t want to keep decide whether they are in good shape to be donated or they are worn out and must go straight to the trash.

4. Keep the basics

Have you ever heard of capsule wardrobes? If not, let us tell you that they the holy grail of having a minimalist closet where you can always find something to wear and won’t have a breakdown every time you must find an outfit.

A capsule wardrobe is pretty much a compact closet that only contains a bare minimum of pieces that are all perfectly matched with each other.

This type of closet organizing works perfectly for saving time in the morning and saving you from taking out everything from your closet to find the “perfect” outfit. Why? Because when you go for basic pieces of clothing, you’ll no longer spend a lot of money on “trendy” pieces that become quickly outdated and only overstuff your wardrobe.

So, how do you declutter your closet to turn it into a capsule wardrobe? Pretty much all that you have to do is only to keep essential pieces of clothing such as plain-coloured shirts and dresses, basic pairs of jeans, and a nice pair of sneakers that go with everything. Also, you can keep a few “trendy” pieces that never go out of style and match with everything such as a black leather jacket, faux leather leggings, or jeans jacket. If you are needing to keep your jeans to safety, here are some tips for storing jeans.

5. Repurpose and reuse old clothes that you think have the potential

The online DIY community is in love with easy hacks to reuse or repurpose old clothes. So, you’ll find thousands of videos and blogs online from which you can learn how to turn pieces of old clothing into stylish and “brand-new” clothes.

Your old clothes are like an extra stash of fabric that is ready to be sewn, decorated, and given a purpose. So, all you need is a little bit of creativity and a few hacks to upcycle your clothing. For instance, you can use bulk satin ribbon to apply on your old basic t-shirts to make them look trendier. Or, you can shorten a long dress and turn it into a piece of clothing with a completely different style. You can make a cardigan from an old shirt, turn an old t-shirt into a pillowcase, or turn an oversized t-shirt into a dress.

There are really so many DIY ideas you can use to upcycle your clothing. All you need is a little bit of creativity and some basic sewing and cutting skills.