Your Guide to a Summer Closet Clean-Out | Home Cleaning Austin

Many of us find ourselves with a little more free time on our hands in summer than in other seasons, which makes summer the perfect time of year to tackle that wardrobe clean-out you told yourself you’d handle as part of your spring cleaning but still put off. Having organized, uncluttered bedroom closets is an essential part of having clean Austin homes, so make sure you actually make yourself buckle down and get to work! The following tips will help your experience be quick and as stress-free as possible.

Start by making three large piles on your bed – if you cover your bed with clothes, you’ll be more motivated to finish the job and get everything straightened up by the end of the day. Separate your clothes into separate piles for winter, summer, and spring/fall items. Be sure you truly empty all your clothes out of your closet, bureau, dresser, or anywhere else you store such items. If you have accessories that specifically correspond to a particular season, sort these as well. (Most of your accessories will likely work equally well for any time of year.)

Your next step is to designate three more separate areas of your sorting space: one area for things you’re definitely keeping, one for things you’re definitely getting rid of, and one for things you’re not sure about. Then go through each seasonal pile, one item at a time. As you’re deciding what to place where, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Does this fit me well?
  • Does it have stains? Rips? Snags? Pilling? Fading? Missing fasteners? Can it be repaired, and will I be willing to spend the time or money to fix it?
  • Did I wear this during the last appropriate season? (Allow yourself a little more leeway with summer clothes, since it’s summer now, but be sure to take notice of what you wear over the next several weeks.)
  • Can I see myself wearing this again in the future? Does it align with current fashion trends and/or my current personal style?
  • Would I buy this piece if I saw it in the store today?
  • How do I feel about myself when I wear this item?

Be honest with yourself: if a piece doesn’t seem worth keeping, don’t keep it.

After your initial keep/maybe/toss sorting, go back through your “maybe” pile and ask yourself the questions over again. If an item has tremendous sentimental value but you honestly don’t expect to wear it again, store the piece of clothing elsewhere – and do your best to limit your keepsakes to a very small number. If you keep anything else from your “maybe” group, be sure to mark it somehow, such as pinning a note to the item’s tag or hanging the item from the back of your closet rod rather than the front. At the end of each season, go through your clothes again quickly and clean out any of these items that you didn’t actually wear.

Your second-to-last step is to decide what to do with the pile of things you’re not going to keep. Any items that are still in good shape can be sold or donated to an organization such as Goodwill or your local homeless shelter. (We’re always in favor of Austin households helping other Austin households!) Please don’t donate items that are stained or falling apart – the people that will take advantage of your donation don’t deserve to wear trash anymore than you do. Clothes that are no longer useful for regular wear can be saved and cut up to use as rags or worn for dirty household jobs – you only need a certain number of these things, however, so don’t be afraid to simply throw some items away.

Finally, put anything you’re keeping back where it belongs, and bag or box up things that will be sold, donated, or dumped. Your closet is now nice and clean! Don’t you feel better?

Share This Post :

Joehar

Joehar

Nunc class nec habitasse vel nullam at tempus. Semper eget placerat dictum egestas ut tempus aenean cras lectus mollis.

Categories

Latest Post