New Year New You - A Lazy Girl's Guide On How to Spring Clean Your Wardrobe

 It's the beginning of another year. January 1st 2022 and your wardrobe is spilling out into all sorts of places that it shouldn't. Jumpers you've not worn in two years, jeans you haven't fitted into for 15 years and items in shopping bags with the labels still attached that you have never worn, guiltily shoved to the back of the wardrobe. And that is before I even get started on the coats that take up way too much room and the boots and shoes you can't bear to get rid of (even though they are so uncomfortable) because you have convinced yourself they are akin to art.

But it's January 1st, and even the TV is telling you you could do with a tidy up. Every week there seems to be another app from which you can sell your unwanted clothes/rubbish. Vinted, Depop, Shopify. 'Just snap a picture of your unwanted items, upload your pictures and the selling starts. It's that easy' the television offers. Can they see inside your house? you wonder. Even your own television seems to be quietly accusing you of having lost all control of your wardrobe. 

The truth is, there's something about a messy wardrobe that makes your life feel messy. Perhaps it's because it's the first thing you look at every morning - who wants a chaotic explosion of clothing - like Zara's rails after the first day of the summer sales - to be the first thing you see when you open your eyes? And why do so many of us seem unable to keep our wardrobes under control? Cheap consumer fashion certainly has a lot to answer for. Previous generations seemed to own far fewer clothes, that were far better quality. The backlash against cheap fast fashion and the waste it causes is already underway - consumers now are looking to create a more sustainable wardrobe. Great Britons alone send 700,000 tonnes of clothing to recycling centres, textile banks, clothes collections and to charity each year. That's enough to fill 459 Olympic-size swimming pools. 

So with a promise to myself to shop ethically henceforth, to buy myself a sewing machine to learn to upcycle my mass of unworn clothes, and to sell all my unworn and worn pieces that I no longer have a use for, I have put together a not too taxing (it's the 1st day of the year after all) way to give you wardrobe a mini spring clean that doesn't involve hiring one of those Trinny and Susannah types who come to your house for a thousand pounds and make you throw away all your favourite clothes. 

Whether you are someone who has read Marie Kondo's 'The Life Changing Magic of Tidying' and live by it's message as if it were 'The Art of War' vs. mess, or whether you are someone who has managed to tune out the piles of clothes draped over that chair in your bedroom, you can always find a few new tips to help you declutter. Read on for some expert advice on how to navigate your winter wardrobe cleaning.

Make a Plan

All great plans start with a 'To Do' list in my life, and cleaning out your closet is no exception.  There's a certain comfort that comes of writing a list and ticking things off on said list, so this is a great way to start dealing with that Everest of clothes that is your wardrobe. Imagine your perfect closet space. How does it look? What's in it? How is it organised? Plot it all out before you tackle it in person. Once you know where you want everything to go, start kicking out things that don't fit your vision. Be ruthless. This is no time for emotion - you won't get rid of anything if everything you pick up to throw away reminds you of some incident in your life - 'I wore this dress on our first date', 'This was my favourite clubbing top when I was 18', 'I wore this jumper that day I saw Gerard Depardieu shopping in Topman Oxford Circus (true story)'. Detach all your emotions from the piece and look at it as what it is - a piece of material sewn together in a way that either fits you and looks good, or doesn't fit you and looks bad. Keep it or bin it on this basis. Unless of course it's your wedding dress, or a jumper your granny knitted with her own hands. You can keep those.

Edit Down

Spring Cleaning doesn't have to be done in the spring. In fact, you don't need to wait for any seasons to change to tackle your mountain of clothing. Purging can happen whenever you fancy. Packing to go away for a weekend? This can be a great time to have a look at what you've got and have a quick chuck-out while you're packing your cases. (I would recommend this only for those whose wardrobe purge isn't going to be the mammoth task that mine is. Who wants to start a huge job just before you go away for the weekend? This is for those who have a few bits too many, not a shop-full like myself).

Next step is to ask yourself that famed closet-cleaning question: 'Do you love it?' If you don't love it, why do you have it? Why is it taking up space? If it doesn't make you look hot-a-f anymore or it's not comfortable, why is it in your wardrobe/bedroom/house? If you're on the fence about an item, put it away for a period - say three months - and see if you miss it. Separation anxiety exists for clothes apparently.

Anything you've purged can go to charity or be sold. Avoid the temptation to store it in a black bag to go to charity or be sold. It will sit in said black bag in the corner of your room for the next year. This is no different to having it in your wardrobe. You are just moving the mess to another corner of your bedroom, only now it's in a bin liner. You need to get the clothes out of your house straight away.

Maximise Your Space

Review every drawer, shelf and wall space before deciding where you want things to go. Utilising overlooked areas — like the back of a door — will help you make the most of your space. Try not to put bulky stuff like jumpers and tracksuits in drawers - those plastic bags that you suck out all the air from and shrink your jumpers down to miniature-dog clothing size, work wonders.

Organise By Style, Then Colour

This is really showing off. If you manage to get to the stage where you've got all your jumpers organised by hue, then I really hate you - we have nothing in common and you shouldn't be reading my blog.

I'm kidding (a bit), the plan is to get your wardrobe to the stage where it is organised by style, colour and weather. For those who have a different weekday and weekend wardrobe, sort by use, keeping office wear and casual wear separate so it's easier to find.

Fold Your Jumpers

This is a tricky one. Jumpers shouldn't be on hangers as it ruins their shape. However, I've found that items laid out flat encourage the dreaded jumper munchers - moths. I don't have enough expletives in my vocabulary to truly express how much i hate moths. The pleasure I get from ending a moths life is quite visceral - I feel like Patrick Bateman after a particularly good kill. I recommend those plastic storage bags lined with lavender you can buy in John Lewis to keep them out. 

If you don't have a moth problem, you can stack your wool and cashmere in pretty colour coordinated piles that are both convenient and aesthetically pleasing. Whatever you do, if you're storing your knits in drawers, don't overstuff them. You'll ruin your clothes, break your drawers, and everything will end up a huge mess that you have to refold. Trust me on this one.

Hang Your Jeans

If you have a walk in closet or ample racks, then hark at you - aren't you lucky! But really - if you have either of these you should be hanging your jeans. Increased accessibility is the main reason for hanging your trousers. If however, your bedroom is the size of a walk in closet, shelves are second best alternative, You can also hang your favourites and put away your lesser worn items. For those poor unfortunates using drawers for trousers, vertical file folding (with the pocket side crease up) is the best storage method. Sort jeans by style and then by colour for easy selection.

If in Use Keep Boots On Lower Shelves

Boots take up a lot of space, so if a pair is gathering dust and not getting any street time, they should probably find a new home. Keep the ones you wear more often on a lower shelf and use boot stuffers to ensure they stay upright. Place any showstopping pairs on higher shelves, so you don't have to look at them and be reminded that you have barely worn them in two years and you hope your feet haven't become so fat from lockdown overeating that they don't fit anymore.

Maintenance Tips

We all have that one corner or chair that becomes our go-to deposit site for where you throw your worn clothes at the end of the night that aren't clean enough to go back in the wardrobe or dirty enough to go in the laundry basket. This corner/chair becomes a sort of Bermuda Triangle of clothes with one more wear before they are washed. This deposit site also harbours those outfits that don't come to fruition or the freshly-washed blouses that have yet to get hung up. The simple solution to this problem is to stop being so lazy and hang up your clothes.