If you're anything like me, you look forward to a good spring clean in your wardrobe.
I love pulling absolutely everything out and throwing it on the bed, then having a KEEP/THRIFT/SWAP pile.
The "Keep" pile always ends up being the biggest pile of all, although recently I've learnt to be more ruthless.
The "Thrift" pile is what ends up in bin bags and after I've offered most of it out to my Mum or Sister, I then put into the Salvo or Good Sammy's bin.
"Swap" is something new to me recently that I have discussed amongst friends but haven't quite gotten around to organising yet. So hopefully you'll be inspired to do this.
Basically, you just separate the clothes that you don't have the heart to give away just yet, but don't necessarily see yourself wearing within the next 3 months (usually as long as a weather season)
You then organise a "Get-together" with your girlfriends, wine is usually involved...they all bring their unwanted clothes along and you just have a good old fashioned swapsies.
Get somebody to make a master list of who has what.
Here's a REALLY cool idea, create a 'shared' pinterest account and give the password to everybody involved in the Swapsies group...take a photo of every single article of clothing within the swapping circle (time consuming at first but if everybody does their own it won't take long) post each individual photo up onto your Pinterest board with your name as the heading so they know who the article originally belongs to. Then people can log-in and see what's floating around amongst the group and go 'shopping'. All they need to do is comment on the photo and see if it's available. FUN!!!
Once you've got your clothes sorted, you need to store them nicely. Below are just a few little life hacks that I've learnt along the way that take out a lot of the frustration of storing clothes and keeping them well maintained.
First of all, it's important to mention that this year, I bought a portable clothes rack from Target, this just sits in the free space in the bedroom and I use it for work clothes that I most frequently wear every day.
It's easier to have them out staring at me for two main reasons;
1.) I can fall asleep looking at them and pretty much plan out the next days outfit so I can get up and go the next day!!! (it's hard to imagine what you've got when they're behind cupboard doors)
2.) They're easy to grab and I know exactly where they are (don't have to go digging through drawers or cupboard space...time consuming!!!)
Then, in my actual wardrobe, I keep my 'good' clothes, like all my dresses and any designer labels. I'm slowly starting to build up my collection of "Dress bags" to keep them in too, it keeps everything clean and dust free, looks cool, but also easy to lend out to friends.
Seriously...how many times have you gone to hang something on a metal hanger and it just slips right off!!! So frustrating!!!...But they're so cheap!!
Solution: Simply bundle a few hangers together and wrap them in an old t-shirt or spare fabric laying around as per below and you've instantly got slip-proof hangers without the price tag.
I love pulling absolutely everything out and throwing it on the bed, then having a KEEP/THRIFT/SWAP pile.
The "Keep" pile always ends up being the biggest pile of all, although recently I've learnt to be more ruthless.
The "Thrift" pile is what ends up in bin bags and after I've offered most of it out to my Mum or Sister, I then put into the Salvo or Good Sammy's bin.
"Swap" is something new to me recently that I have discussed amongst friends but haven't quite gotten around to organising yet. So hopefully you'll be inspired to do this.
Basically, you just separate the clothes that you don't have the heart to give away just yet, but don't necessarily see yourself wearing within the next 3 months (usually as long as a weather season)
You then organise a "Get-together" with your girlfriends, wine is usually involved...they all bring their unwanted clothes along and you just have a good old fashioned swapsies.
Get somebody to make a master list of who has what.
Here's a REALLY cool idea, create a 'shared' pinterest account and give the password to everybody involved in the Swapsies group...take a photo of every single article of clothing within the swapping circle (time consuming at first but if everybody does their own it won't take long) post each individual photo up onto your Pinterest board with your name as the heading so they know who the article originally belongs to. Then people can log-in and see what's floating around amongst the group and go 'shopping'. All they need to do is comment on the photo and see if it's available. FUN!!!
Once you've got your clothes sorted, you need to store them nicely. Below are just a few little life hacks that I've learnt along the way that take out a lot of the frustration of storing clothes and keeping them well maintained.
First of all, it's important to mention that this year, I bought a portable clothes rack from Target, this just sits in the free space in the bedroom and I use it for work clothes that I most frequently wear every day.
It's easier to have them out staring at me for two main reasons;
1.) I can fall asleep looking at them and pretty much plan out the next days outfit so I can get up and go the next day!!! (it's hard to imagine what you've got when they're behind cupboard doors)
2.) They're easy to grab and I know exactly where they are (don't have to go digging through drawers or cupboard space...time consuming!!!)
Then, in my actual wardrobe, I keep my 'good' clothes, like all my dresses and any designer labels. I'm slowly starting to build up my collection of "Dress bags" to keep them in too, it keeps everything clean and dust free, looks cool, but also easy to lend out to friends.
Seriously...how many times have you gone to hang something on a metal hanger and it just slips right off!!! So frustrating!!!...But they're so cheap!!
Solution: Simply bundle a few hangers together and wrap them in an old t-shirt or spare fabric laying around as per below and you've instantly got slip-proof hangers without the price tag.
I love a good scarf during the winter, they usually end up stuffed in a drawer collecting dust most of the year. Why not get a little bit creative and use some old PVC pipe to store them in a drawer neatly? Could work for ties, belts or even jewellery!
Here's an example below of my portable clothes rack mentioned earlier in this blog...
Of course, you don't have to use it for your work clothes, you could put your GOOD clothes on it to make it more of a feature in your space. Make it work for you!
WANTED!!! MISSING SOCK!!!..REWARD $1000 ....one of my BIGGEST first world problems.
Of course, easily avoided if you use a delicates bag for your intimates (which I do alllll the time of course!!!) ....not!
Let's face it, time is precious and we don't always have the time to consciously couple each individual sock as it goes in and comes out of the washing machine.
Solution: let's make a fun Missing Sock board and feel satisfaction as we slowly reunite each one. I bet we all end up with at least one that will still have vanished into thin air.