Closet Purge: It’s Always Time for a Wardrobe Cleanup
It's time to be ruthless and declutter your closet. Here's how to clean out your closet and get rid of clothes (plus, how to rebuild your wardrobe).
Whatever you want to call it — spring-cleaning, KonMari your closet, purge the wardrobe — now and then you just gotta dig in, declutter and refresh your closet. Before you hit the back button and return to shopping, before you pull the covers over your head and hide from that daunting task, before you make up excuses and procrastinate… we bet you can purge clothes from your closet in 4 hours or less if you follow these tips.
How do you decide what clothes to get rid of and what to keep? You could call that one person in your life who's a pro at organizing closets and cupboards — your grandma, your mom, your favorite aunt — or, you can be the grown up you are and do it yourself.
The hardest parts of cleaning out your closet are finding the time (excuses, excuses) and letting go of your stuff. Follow these closet cleaning tips for a painless experience. You might even find it fun.
How to Be Ruthless When Decluttering Clothes
The single most important factor in being assertive when getting rid of clothes is to let go of emotional attachments to the clothes. That doesn't mean you're letting go of memories. Yes, that was the peacoat you wore when you met your Bae, but the lining is torn, it's stained from too many lattes on the go and, besides, now you're rocking a puffer coat. Let it go.
This might sound strange coming from a clothing company, but clothes are clothes! It's the memories you have when you wear them that are meaningful, not the fabrics.
How to clean out your closet
Take everything out of your closet and organize it into three piles: What to keep, what to donate and what to toss. Follow these rules for cleaning out your closet:
Don't keep anything that:
- You haven't worn in the last year
- You can't remember ever wearing
- Doesn't fit
- Your partner doesn't like
- Has stains, tears or is falling apart
- Is so '90s
How to pare down your wardrobe
The key to paring down your wardrobe is to set a "when to get rid of clothes rule." As you decide what to keep and what to wear, ask yourself these 5 questions:
- Have you worn the item in the past year?
- Are you hanging onto clothes that no longer fit?
- Do you have duplicates or something similar? (Really, how many black hoodies do you need?)
- Is it stained, torn or coming apart?
- Do I even like this?
If you're still on the fence about paring down your wardrobe, try this: Anything you have not worn in a year (as well as anything you can't remember wearing), remove it from your closet and tuck it away, out of sight. In 30 days, if you don't miss it, you don't need it.
Reward Your Efforts: Rebuild Your Wardrobe
In this related post, we talk about how to build a capsule wardrobe — establishing clothing basics that are versatile and easy to mix and match.
Setting goals for cleaning out your closet and getting rid of clothes is the biggest part of a spring-cleaning wardrobe purge. Give yourself a reward at the end of the project.
Shop the latest trends and replace those pieces that you got rid of because they were outdated, ill-fitting, or so stained they're not ready for prime time. Redoing wardrobes is the best part of closet purge, and Rockstar Original has the latest trends for men and new arrivals for women.
