Organising & Declutting your clothes

A new season is upon us. Autumn is finally here! So what does that mean for you and your clothes? It’s time to declutter and get organised.

I find the start of any new season a perfect time to do some decluttering around the home and get myself a little more organised. And clothes are a great place to start.

While shorts, singlets and dresses have been the go-to for me over the past four or so months, the nights are beginning to cool down a little and I find myself today wearing long pants and a long-sleeved top - who’d have thought it after the Australian Summer we’ve just had! It has been so hot that finding a long sleeve top in my wardrobe today proved to be not as easy as it should have been.

So, I’ve decided it’s a good time to sort through my clothes and get prepared for Autumn. Perhaps it’s a good time for you to do some decluttering and organising around your home too? 

Not sure how or where to start? No problemo, we’ve got your covered. Read on to learn how to get past the overwhelm and start decluttering and storing your clothes.

How to start decluttering your clothes

There are four easy steps to follow when doing a seasonal declutter of your clothes:

Step 1: Take everything out of the wardrobe and give the space a clean

• Put all wardrobe items on your bed so you can easily see what you have - seeing your wardrobe makes it easier to discern what you really need/ want and what you can part with

• Once you have removed the items from your wardrobe, wipe down the shelving, dust, and vacuum.

Step 2: Purge anything you're going to donate or sell

• Grab yourself two bags, boxes or bins and label them, ‘donate’ or ‘sell’

• Keep these boxes or bags close to your wardrobe and/or drawers so that it is easy to stay organised while you declutter

• It’s time to be ruthless! To make this job easier, one tip to help you here is to assume you are getting rid of everything and then just keep the items you absolutely love and use often - shifting your mindset to this way of thinking, rather than the other way around, will make this step in the process much easier for you

Step 3: Put ‘keep’ items back in the wardrobe neatly

• Once you have discarded items in the ‘donate’ or ‘sell’ boxes it’s time to put away your ‘keep’ items in a neat and easy to find way. There are multiple ways to store your ‘keep’ items including in drawers, shelves and hanging them. Below you can see how I like to sort and store my clothes (see ‘how I sort my clothes wardrobe).

Step 4: Get rid of your ‘donate’ and ‘sell’ items, quickly

• Drop off items at your local donation or charity

• Photograph and list any items you want to sell in Facebook buy/sell groups, or on eBay etc.

• Consider setting yourself a reminder a week after you list your ‘sell’ items to re-list any items that haven’t sold (perhaps at a lower price point)

It can be tempting to leave ‘donate’ and ‘sell’ items sitting in a bag in your garage or in the back or your car for months and months on end, but don’t do it! You’ve worked hard to declutter so get those unneeded clothes out of your life and take advantage of the extra space in your home and the peace of mind that comes with it.

Note: We recommend that you do a thorough wardrobe sweep once a season.

How I sort my clothes wardrobe

I find it’s best to sort clothes by season and by type. 

For example, I like to fold my t-shirts, shorts and active wear and store them in drawers or shelves in my wardrobe. I then hang nicer items like blouses, dress shirts, pants and dresses in my wardrobe by type - with all the pants together, all the dresses together etc. 

Once I have organised them by type, I will sometimes colour code them as well, but this step it’s absolutely necessary.

When you put clean laundry away in your wardrobe, take that extra minute to hang things where they go. You’ll save yourself that minute (plus some) the next time you go looking for a particular item and know exactly where to find it!

Note: For those of you with a more ‘minimalist wardrobe’, the best way to organise clothes in your wardrobe may be to sort by colour – otherwise, I would recommend sorting your clothes by season and type as mentioned above.

Space-saving wardrobe storage and organisation ideas

If you don’t have room in your wardrobe for ALL your clothes, put your out-of-season clothes in storage containers until you’re ready to switch out your clothes in your wardrobe for next season.

You can find all kinds of storage options available these days at your local homewares stores including Kmart, Target and Big W, including large plastic containers and vacuum seal bags. My go to is the vacuum seal bags, as they are a fantastic space saver for the home.

Now, go forth and get decluttering!