 Imagine waking up on a Monday morning and walking up to your closet to find everything in place, neat piles of clothes, and organized drawers, and then, you wake up for real. Cleaning your closet is one of the most nightmarish things to do. Most of us are lazy enough to live with the clutter, while some of us are too busy to even think of re-doing the entire wardrobe. But if you know a few efficient cleaning closet tips and tricks, it can become a fun activity.This is our very own Marie Kondo moment, where we take pride in laying down these exclusive closet cleaning tips that will change not only your closet but also your life.
The Question of Joy
Speaking of Marie Kondo, the first and the foremost technique she talks about in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,is the question of joy. Take out everything off your closet, pick up each piece of clothing, and ask yourself whether it sparks joy in you. If it does, keep the clothing back to the closet. If the answer is now, it is time to give that piece of clothing or accessory away.Be grateful even to the materialistic items you own and whenever you decide to part ways with any stuff, pay your thanks for all the good times you’ve had. This way you not only value your possession but also declutter the closet.
The Color Scheme
Every cleaning closet guide book in the world will suggest you organize your closet by color codes. There are numerous benefits of setting up the cabinet using the color scheme. This way, you will also know the number of duplicates you have. You might quickly be hoarding tons of white shirts or just black trousers. Once you see the similarities of your style, it becomes clearer to shop accordingly in the future. Colour coding makes the entire closet more visually appealing too. This way, you will be motivated to keep the closet organized and clean.
Don’t Shy Away From Discarding Clothes
Once you have taken everything out, start by segregating three piles of all the things you found in your closet. Mark one pile as KEEP, another as DONATE, and the last one as THROW AWAY. The first pile will consist of all the things that you use and wear regularly. Your ride or die basically for every day. The Donate pile will include things that are still in good condition, but for some reason, you don’t get back to that item as often as you did. Instead of throwing that item, you can easily donate it to someone or pass it on to your friends who will use it. The last pile will be a tough decision to take, but please throw away the things you have used and how!
The 6 Month Cleaning Closet Rule
Once you have started to take things out of the closet, look at each piece, and begin to analyze the six months rule. If you have not used any piece of clothing or item in your closet for the past six months, and if you also do not see yourself reaching for that item for the next six months, get rid of it. Typically, if you have not worn something for six months, the chances are extremely slim that you will wear it at all. Don’t keep hoarding things just because it is difficult to part ways with an item. Once you get rid of it, you won’t even realize its absence in the closet after a few days.
Staple Pieces
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Instead of running behind the trend and the temporary buzz that tends to fade away every season, go for the classic and staple pieces. Invest in well-fitted jeans, a tailored fit shirt, a good denim jacket, a classic black dress, and more. You will get attracted to fancy trendy pieces, but honestly, you will not wear the neon crop top ever again in your life. Buy the pieces that you can somehow wear in all the seasons and take good care of them. Once you wash, fold and stack them properly, you will automatically increase their shelf life.
Get More Storage Units
The best cleaning closet tip is to get as many drawers, shelves, racks, and boxes as inside your closet. This way, you can segregate your clothes, accessories, delicates, shoes, scarves, and jewelry. Every time you open the closet, you should not be bombarded with too many things clustered in one place. Organize your space in a way where you can get exactly what you need at one go. You will not spend an entire one hour deciding what to wear if you follow this simple segregating technique and organization. This cleaning closet method might require some investment in a good wardrobe or a customized wardrobe, but it will be worth it in the long run.
Fold and Hang
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There are over 100 ways of folding and hanging clothes. You need to fold some clothing items neatly, while there are some that are better on the hangers. Find out the perfect way of storing the clothes without hampering the quality.If you fold your clothes neatly and in the right way, it will improve the look of your closet. A little trick is to iron all your clothes before folding them. This way, you not only get a crisp shirt as soon as you take it out, but it also takes a lot less space in the wardrobe.
Seasonal Closet Organizing
Try and organize your closet storage at least once every season. Keep altering your clothes according to the season. Putting all your sweaters on the top shelf during the summer season will not make any sense. Keep all the clothes that you are likely to wear in the current season in front. This will save you so much time during picking outfits. If you have some staple pieces that you can re-use through various seasons, allot a different space. Our advice would be to store seasonal clothes in vacuum bags to save them from moisture and dirt.
The Empty Wall Space
Another excellent tip for cleaning closet is to make the most of the wall and door space available inside the apartment closet. From putting rings to hooks to nails, you can make the optimal use of all the open spaces to you for putting the extra stuff that does not fall under a particular category in the closet. You can easily tie up the scarves around the hangers or put the loop earrings on the hooks as well.With tons of DIY techniques available on Pinterest and Youtube, you can tweak and create multiple spaces for the best possible use.
Set the Mood for Closet Cleaning
Last but probably the most effective technique for cleaning the closet efficiently is by setting up the mood. We do not mean lighting up the candles. But pick up a Sunday afternoon, play some music, get yourself something to eat, and take the closet cleaning process as a part of your therapy. If you look at cleaning the closet as a duty you need to attend to, you will always keep procrastinating. However, if you enjoy the process, it will be a productive way of being clutter-free.
