As we welcome the new year with hopeful attitudes, the time has come to organize the disorderly spaces of our lives that we have avoided for far too long. There are desks to clean, bathrooms to scrub and carpets to vacuum. However, we can’t forget about one of the most important, yet intimidating places to clean – your closet.
Cleaning out your closet can seem like an exceptionally overwhelming task, especially when choosing which clothes to keep and which to donate.
If you, like many others, struggle to decide which pieces need to be retired from your closet, here are some of VALLEY’s most helpful tips to ease the process.
Try it On
Just like in a store, it’s hard to tell if you truly like a piece of clothing until you try it on. While organizing your closet, it’s best to try on the clothes you are debating on keeping. This way, you can be reminded of the old sweater that you loved to wear and forgot about or donate the old pair of pants that don’t flatter your body anymore.
Create Some Outfits
As you try on your clothes, try to create potential outfits with other items in your closet. If you find it hard to pair a certain piece with the other clothes you have, it might be best to throw it in the donate bin.
This is also a great way to prevent you from buying similar items that you already have in your closet. You might already have a white turtleneck hidden in your drawers that would look great under the new sweater vest you just bought.
The Three-Month Rule
There are some clothes that we think of as necessities in our closets when in reality, we never really wear them. A simple rule to follow to prevent you from hoarding your clothing is to think about the last time you wore something. If the last time you wore an item dates back to longer than three months ago, odds are that you aren’t going to be wearing it again.
Excluding pieces you wear for special occasions, you should think of donating anything you haven’t worn in a while. It’s time to make space in your closet for newer and trendier clothes that you are more likely to wear.
Make Some Cash
If you need more of an incentive to give away some of your clothes, think about selling rather than donating. After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Apps like Poshmark and Depop are becoming more and more popular by the day as thrifting continues to be a fashion craze.
Using online marketplaces, you are able to post pictures of the items you wish to sell on your profile, then all you have to do is wait for a response from an interested user. After packaging your clothes and sending them in the mail, the money can be sent straight to your bank account.
Platforms like these make it easy to earn some extra cash and participate in a more sustainable way of buying and selling clothes.
Make a profile for Poshmark here: https://poshmark.com/
Make a profile for Depop here: https://www.depop.com/
The next time you clean out your closet, try to remember just how easy it can be to separate your closet staples from your closet disposables. You’ll be grateful for all the space you now have for your future fashion purchases of 2021.
