Summer is almost over and the autumn season is almost here. What this means for many of us is that it is time to pack up those summer clothes to replace them with autumn and winter clothes. What better time than now to clean out your closet? Chances are that you may not even be sure where you should start – especially if your closet is overflowing with clothes that you haven’t seen in quite a while. Here, you will find some tips which should help cleaning out your closet go a little bit smoother.
Make Cleaning Your Closet Interesting
There are several things that you can do in order to make cleaning your closet as interesting as you possibly can. If you stay the most interested in something by talking to someone, you may want to think about inviting a friend or family member to keep you entertained while cleaning out your closet. If you have a tv in the room that you are cleaning your closet in, you may want to think about watching tv or a movie while you clean out your closet. If you enjoy listening to music, you should bring a portable or plug-in radio into the room where you plan on cleaning your closet out of. No matter what you do, just make sure that you are interested. Otherwise, you will end up rushing in order to get your closet cleaned as soon as possible.
Remove Everything from Your Closet
Removing everything from your closet, so that you can see nothing except for the floor, the rack where clothes hang and any type of shelves there may be, is very important. The best way to look at your closet is as a fresh, clean slate. You should only add things that you really want inside your closet, rather than things which are going to pile up and accumulate dust over time. It is also a good idea to make sure that you vacuum the floor before putting anything back inside the closet.
Make Two Piles of Clothing
The first pile will, of course, be the pile that you decide to keep. Rather than making a pile of clothing, you can always start putting things back into the closet as you decide to keep them. The second pile will be the clothes which you are deciding to get rid of. There should not be any pile that is in between, or what we may refer to as the “maybe pile.” Making the immediate decision of whether you want to keep or eliminate a certain piece of clothing from your closet is the best way to make sure that you do not keep something because you are unable to decide if you should get rid of it or not after it has been put in the maybe pile. If you really do not want something, put it straight into the get rid of pile.
Get Rid of Everything that Doesn’t Fit
Chances are that there are some pieces of clothing inside your closet that do not fit, whether they are too baggy or too snug. If they are too baggy, do you really want to keep them, unless it is for relaxing or sleeping purposes? And if they are too snug, do you really think that you will lose enough weight to fit back into them any time soon? Many find it effective to keep buying an entirely new wardrobe as an incentive to lose weight to begin with. While there may be one or two pieces of clothing that you know you will never be able to find anywhere else again that you may not be able to part with, it is a good idea to make sure that you do not go over a one or two pieces of clothing limit.
Be Entirely Realistic With Yourself
One of the main things that you will probably want to take into consideration when deciding if you should get rid of something or keep it is how long ago you wore it. Unless it is not the season to wear it, you may want to think about when the next time you will really want to wear it again is. Though there are always certain exceptions, such as formal or “dressy” clothing, it is important to be entirely realistic with yourself.
Limit Yourself to Favorites and Essentials Only
If you have a very large wardrobe and you really need to cut down on the amount of clothing that you have, the best thing to do is limit yourself to keeping favorites and essentials only. For example, you may need a white shirt. But that does not mean that you need four white tank tops, five white t-shirts and three long sleeve shirts. Limiting yourself to what you need, as well as what you like the best and wear the most often, is a great way for you to cut down on the amount of clothing that you have.
These are just so of the many things that you can do in order to make cleaning your closet go a whole lot smoother. While it may not really be your favorite thing to do, the truth is that you will probably feel a whole lot more rejuvenated with a fresh, clean closet.
