10 Tips & Tricks to Getting Started with a Wardrobe Declutter

Do you find yourself just really frustrated with your closet more so than normal? I know I definitely have because we’re just home more and we’re around our stuff more. I personally start to feel claustrophobic and I kind of nitpick every little clutter area in the house, especially when it comes to my wardrobe.

This is why today, we’re going to list 10 simple steps to take before you actually do an entire wardrobe cleanout. And by the end of this, you’re going to have it be such a breath of fresh air and so many new possibilities that you didn’t even know you had in your wardrobe.

If you’re feeling claustrophobic with your wardrobe and you’re feeling like it’s a cluttered mess, this will really be helpful to you!

Why do you want to declutter your wardrobe?

Here’s the thing…when we have a wardrobe that feels cluttered and also looks clutter, it just makes it really hard to get dressed efficiently and easily. And that’s when we really start to create that decision fatigue where we stand in front of our closet and we feel like we have nothing to wear but it’s full of clothes, right? It’s not a fun way to start your day, especially with how we’re living right now. That’s the last thing you want to be frustrated about.

And even though it might be a good distraction, it’s not a fun distraction, right? The secret to having a simplified wardrobe is to doing cleanouts like this. And I’m telling you, you’re going to find so many hidden gems in your wardrobe that you most likely didn’t even remember that you had.

You spent your money on clothes, and then you go and you do a cleanout and you find clothes have tags on them. I mean, that’s your hard-working money. The last thing we want to do is be wasting our money.

You’ll also start to really appreciate everything that’s in your wardrobe and you will wear them more than once you discover them again. It’s in there. It’s taking up space. So let’s make great use out of it.

How many times a year do you typically do a clean out of your wardrobe?

Don’t know, that’s okay. This is a no-judgment zone and we’re only here to improve.

I have a few tips that might help you out in starting this process.

Go into your wardrobe and just wear an outfit that you haven’t worn for a while and see how it makes you feel

Do this for a few outfits. Just wear them for like an hour or something or like a couple of hours around the house. Obviously, you’re not going anywhere, but just to see how it makes you feel.

Keep your hangers the way that they’re facing and as you wear your clothes and you go to hang them back up, turn those hangers the opposite way

As you change your hangers, you’re going to start noticing hangers that still are on the old hangers. And those are going to be the pieces that you don’t wear. So it’ll give you a good idea of a good gauge as to what you’re wearing and not wearing in the closet.

Check what you wear

If you find yourself wearing the same shirt all the time, then that’s obviously definitely a keeper. So pay attention to how often you wear certain clothing.

Pay attention to what is always left on laundry day

When it’s time to do your laundry, pay attention to what you’ve left in your closet, or in your drawers that you haven’t worn yet.

Try your clothes on

Taking inventory of what you’ve worn and what you haven’t worn, and then try on the pieces that you haven’t been wearing to see if they still fit you. If they don’t, then definitely those are going to be taken into consideration whether to donate or to keep.

Give yourself a deadline to make alterations for clothing rather than just keeping them and letting them sit

Pull them out, maybe add a little sticky note on them with the date. You can set a deadline to get those alterations done on those pieces so that you can finally wear them.

Give clothes to someone in need

I love to donate to women in distress through organizations or donate them to a family.

Have a donation box ready for you to be able to just dump your clothing into

Rather than keeping it hung up or in the drawers to add to the clutter, it’s better to just take them out right away.

Ask yourself the right questions and you need to be super honest with yourself

It’s great to have goals if you’re maybe looking to lose a few pounds or even, you know, gain a few pounds and you’re waiting for that. That’s great if it’s a super realistic goal. But if you’ve had that goal for a certain amount of time and it’s not happening, it’s okay.

It’s okay to “say maybe” and give yourself a maybe box

Your maybes are not actually hanging up and they’re not actually still in your drawers so it clears them away. it helps you see what are the for sure hundred percent yeses pieces versus having maybes and yeses in your wardrobe.

Interested in learning more?

Why not join our “Stuck at Home Cleaning Challenge”!

This is a four-week challenge. There’s not if not a huge commitment during the four weeks but each week, you’re going to have a weekly prompt for that week’s clean out challenge. And each week, we’re going to clean out a different category of our wardrobe.