How To Declutter Your Wardrobe In 5 Steps

So, it’s the weekend again and you still haven’t decluttered your wardrobe. Perhaps, if I shared my top tips with you, you wouldn’t have any other excuses, no?

Decluttering wardrobes can be such a tough decision especially if you are a hoarder. I would know because I am too, never knowing when to let go of one favourite shirt or another little black dress. Here is one thing I learned though, A good wardrobe declutter is like therapy: it gives you clarity.

So, if you want to get some ‘closet clarity,’ Check out these 5 steps below!

1. The Talk

Time for some truth-telling here. The first step to decluttering is to present yourself at the scene (your wardrobe/closet) and have  ‘the talk’ with yourself.

What does ‘The Talk’ entail? Honest questions. Let’s take you through these questions as you appraise the outfits in your closet.

• Do I wear it?
• When was the last time I wore it? if ever
• Does it still fit?
• Is it no longer in the best condition I.e, stained or torn?
• Does it still reflect my current ideals and image?
• Will it serve me as style choices for the kind of places I now go to?
• If you have answered these questions honestly and the most common response is No, you know what to do. Continue on to the next steps.

2. The Stripping

Get your mind out of the gutter for a minute, and let’s go a-stripping! For this to happen efficiently, start by pulling out similar outfits and choosing what’s most relevant. Do you really need those two black suits? Are you ever going to wear your second pair of white shoes?

If your wardrobe is still looking jam-packed by the time you’re done, strip again. Pull out all the ill-fitting, similar-looking, and irrelevant closet items. If that pair of blazers is sitting in your wardrobe simply because it looks pretty, then it needs to go too.

The more the items in your wardrobe are readily visible, the more progress you have made with your declutter.

3. The Gifting 

For this, you need boxes, baskets, or bags. Every item that you have ‘banished’ from your wardrobe needs a new home. The question now is, who?

Think about it. Your family, friends, or a friendly neighbour who may appreciate it. How about donating to charity?

Group the items according to these categories, and plan to send out. You never know whose day you will be making with these precious acts of kindness.

4. The Fixing

Now that you have successfully shed your wardrobe off some weight, now is the time to check all those outfits that need fixing. Got a dress that needs amending or a bag that needs a new strap? Don’t throw them away.  Get a separate box and put them aside.

Why?

You never know what a good amendment can do to restore an outfit. Also, whether or not you don’t need them anymore, there are people/organizations that collect and recycle clothing items too. You should ask around your area.

5. The renovating

Here we are, the finish line. After putting away everything that no longer belongs in your wardrobe, you can now begin to reorganize it.

A great tip for this is to group outfits in categories of colour and purpose. For instance, you can dedicate a section to work shirts, then organize in groups of similar colours. This may be a tiring process, but it will definitely come in handy when you need an outfit urgently.

Whatever needs folding should go in neat rectangular shapes and whatever needs hanging should be spaced out as much as possible.

There you have it, hacks to declutter your wardrobe in 5 steps! I hope that at some point this weekend, you schedule a time and say, in the words of my favourite rapper, “I’m cleanin’ out my closet.”

And, have a beautiful weekend!