It’s that time of year again - spring cleaning and organization is motivating us all to refresh our spaces. Not feeling that motivation? I’m here to help with some simple steps to get the process started.
Spring is a great time to refresh our spaces. Let’s focus on a few areas of our home and tackle them one at a time until we feel ready to face spring with a clean organized space! Over the next few days I’ll be adding new posts to focus on different areas of your home. Today lets start with a big one:
YOUR CLOSET
This is a big one for me! My closets were a hot mess. I had added my spring and summer clothes but hadn't yet removed my winter clothes. These days we can experience 4 seasons all in the course of one day so I’m always hesitant to begin packing anything away. However, as the temps kept warming up and we are well into April I decided it was time to commit to packing away the heavy winter wear!
When you open your closet you should be greeted with pieces you love and options you are excited to wear. If you open your closet and see chunky knits and heavy corduroys your mind can easily get overwhelmed. So let's take those items and store them away! One of my favorite storage solutions are vacuum seal bags. First, you can store a lot in them, and second, you can vacuum the air right out of them and they become so much easier to store, taking up less space. I slide these bags right under my bed!
Some winter items I recommend keeping in your spring closet include lightweight knits, cardigans, blazers which are great for layering in cooler weather or for air conditioned environments.
You should definitely remove heavy knits, turtlenecks, flannels, corduroy, wool, boots, booties and fleece.
But wait - before you start packing things away, I highly recommend you ask yourself whether you wore that piece this past season, if it fits, or as Marie Kondo would say "does it bring you joy?" If you know you are ready to say goodbye to that piece, set it aside. Once you’ve accumulated some pieces you no longer want to keep I recommend inspecting them to determine whether you could list them on Poshmark (click here to open a Poshmark account and use code JAIMEHOWENSTEIN to get a $10 credit). You could also consider sending items in ThredUp with their free closet cleanout kits, bringing to consignment shops or donating to your local Goodwill or thrift store. If items are damaged you may be able to bag them separately, label the bag SURPLUS and still donate them to Goodwill who can use these items as scrap material for other purposes. Try to avoid throwing clothing away which will just add to our landfills.
Once you’ve removed winter clothing, start adding in your spring and summer pieces. I like to organize my closet by color and type. So I have all my white and cream tops together I start with tanks, tees then long sleeve. I keep skirts in one area, dresses in another and pants hanging. I suggest using S hooks for denim as it makes them so much easier to access and it takes up less space in your closet, not to mention how visually appealing it is! I also find great joy in having all matching hangers. I have tried the velvet slim hangers and while they do work great for things like cami's, I find them to be difficult to use for things like cotton tops that seem to resist sliding onto them. I love the look of wood hangers but they are rather bulky and take up a lot of space.
DRESSERS
Go through your lounge-wear (somehow I have a feeling we all accumulated a lot of lounge-wear during this past year). I also have a bad habit of taking old t shirts and throwing them in my lounge-wear drawer and then never reaching for them. I have a few cute sets I love and the rest - I’m saying goodbye to. Stretched out leggings, items with holes or too much wear need to go!
How about that lingerie drawer - underwear loosing elasticity, bras that don’t fit properly, socks missing their mate? Let’s get rid of these pieces! Maybe it’s time to restock and purchase some new items! I use small drawer organizers to keep items separate and organized. I purchased mine from IKEA for a great deal, but you can find them at places like Target, Walmart and Amazon too. I've linked some at the bottom of this post.
PAJAMAS - I love some cozy pjs but in reality I tend to sleep in shorts and a tank top since I sleep hot. So those cozy fleece pjs and flannel sets need to go! Keep your favorites, say goodbye to the rest, no one needs 20 pairs of pajamas! I'm talking to myself here!
BAGS, HATS and SHOES
Time to take the boots and pack them up and replace them with the sandals and espadrilles. This is when I also take out all my fun straw bags and totes. I love my spring and summer accessories! I have a large bin that I used to keep my hats and bags in, but recently decided to display mine. If you have a collection that is a bit more high end or expansive than mine, I'd recommend a system of dividers to help. I've seen some stunning closets that display their handbags and hats and just love the aesthetic of that, so I when I cleared away some sweaters I was left with more space to give this a try. I love how it gives a bit of a boutique feel to my closet!
If your closet space is limited and you can find a space to have a garment rack, I think it's a great way to plan outfits in advance. I am currently using mine for photographing items for poshmark, but prior to that I was using it to plan out a weeks worth of looks at a time. Another great space saver is using a closet rod extender. You hang this from your main rod and it adds another rod beneath it. We use these in my sons closet so he can easily access his clothing. The top then becomes a space for out of season items he doesn't need.
Here are some great items to add to your closet organization!
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CLOSET BEFORE
CLOSET AFTER
Thanks so much for reading!