Spring Clean Your Wardrobe In 7 Easy Steps

How to Spring Clean your Wardrobe

It’s that time of year again! Here’s how to spring clean your wardrobe in 7 easy steps

By Chere Di Boscio

A spring clean is usually associated with dusting every corner of the house, scrubbing out the fridge, oven and freezer, and tossing out old magazines into the recycling bin.

But a spring clean should be a full clean. And as we enter a new season, that means your wardrobe should be weeded out of unwanted items, too.

It’s a great idea. Not only will doing so leave more room in your closet, making it easier to find the items you do wear, but there are actual psychological benefits of doing so, too. As ‘the Queen of Clean,’ Marie Kondo, says: “The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past”. In other words, you can’t expect great change in your home or life if you are not mindful of your own progression and journey.

On a more materialistic note, given the average British woman apparently has approximately £1000 worth of unworn clothes in her closet, there’s also potentially a bit of money you can get back by cleaning out your closet, as well as lessons to be learned from all that wasteful shopping.

But many of us don’t really know how to even begin to clean out our wardrobes. Which is why we turned to image consultant Stephanie Roper from The Wardrobe Angel for advice.

She gave us some great tips! So if you’re wondering how to spring clean your wardrobe, just start with these ideas, below. You’ll be glad you did!

Sustainable fashion images below: www.ahblo.com

How To Clean Out Your Closet This Spring

How to Spring Clean your Wardrobe

1. Brutally Assess

Stephanie advises your first tip to spring clean your wardrobe is to take out the stuff you haven’t worn for a year from your closet. Then, find a (brutally honest, and preferably stylish!) friend to tell you what looks good on you, and what really doesn’t work.

If you’re ditching something you just feel isn’t ‘you’, this friend could also offer a fresh pair of eyes to suggest accessories that could perk up an item and give it new life.

Stuff to keep? The garments that typically form the essentials for a capsule wardrobe. Think: black and white tees, jeans that still look good and fit well, blazers and jackets you love, underwear that’s not torn to bits.

2. Categorise

Once you’ve established what will stay and what should go, you’re ready for the next tip to spring clean your wardrobe. Simply lay out all the resulting items of clothing on your bed and categorise them under three different areas. These are:

  • Alterations
  • Charity
  • Sell

3. Get Creative

For any garments in the ‘alterations’ pile, you’ll need to get creative. There’s a lot you can do! For example:

  • Dresses that are too short can sometimes be cut into shirts
  • Old jeans you never wear can be transformed into shorts
  • Shoes in colours you don’t like can be dyed
  • Shirts you no longer wear can embellish sweaters: think of sewing old collars and cuffs onto a jumper for a 2-in-1 look

If you’re not handy with a needle and thread, just take the item to your local tailor. Consider taking sizes up or down to suit your body shape, shifting hemlines, and fixing any holes or missing buttons and closures to make an item wearable again.

4. Make Money

Did you know if you spring clean your wardrobe right, you can make some extra cash?

If you’re trying to sell your old clothing, make sure it’s in good shape, and remember that branded clothing sells at higher prices and sells faster, too.

Any bags, shoes or clothes from popular high street stores could go onto Facebook’s marketplace or Ebay, while designer clothes and accessories can go into Vestiaire Collective or another higher-end website, where you’re more likely to get a better price.

Finally, anything you can’t fix or sell should just get given away. This could be to a charity shop, or you could attend a clothes swapping or ‘swishing’ party if you wish to come home with something ‘new’.

how to spring clean your wardrobe

5. Toughen Up

Find some things hard to part with, and you’re not sure why? You may not want to get rid of special items for sentimental reasons. Like that peach-toned maxi dress you wore as a bridesmaid to your best friend’s wedding, for example. Or the first ever pair of designer shoes you bought…twenty years ago!

Stephanie acknowledges that many of us hang on to clothes that we have emotional connection to. But she also says springtime is a time of renewal and letting go. If you’re really attached to a certain garment, take a pic to remember it. “Put photos of that particular time on show instead,” she advises.

6. Employ The 3Rs

Stephanie says the “3Rs” of recycling apply not only to rubbish, but to your wardrobe, too.

  • Reduce: if you find items that have not been used in over a year, give them away. If they’re in tip top shape, sell them.
  • Reuse: Instead of throwing things like old tights and underwear away, find a way of reusing them. For example, you can use old tights to wash delicate underwear. Just cut the legs off, place the item inside, and tie the end. This will keep lace from fraying, and things like cashmere scarves from stretching. Old cotton T-shirts and undies can be used as rags for dusting.
  • Recycle: You can’t dump unwanted clothes in your home recycling bin yet. But there are indeed textile recycling points in most cities. All you need to do is search for one near you.

7. Resist Restocking!

Now that your wardrobe is all cleared out, our last tip to spring clean your wardrobe is essential! In short, remember not to be tempted to re-stock it full of even more rubbish. Research shows the average woman wears around 12 favourite items again and again, whilst neglecting the less preferred items in her wardrobe. Do you really need more?

To quote Marie Condo again, “clutter represents indecision.” Congratulations! By learning how to spring clean your wardrobe, you’ve taken decisive action. Welcome to a more minimalist, simpler future.

 

Chere Di Boscio
Latest posts by Chere Di Boscio (see all)
RSS
Follow by Email
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Reddit

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RSS
Follow by Email
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Reddit
Scroll to Top