A Tidy Start to the New Year – Tips on How to Purge Your Closet

4 good reasons to purge your closet in the new year

Finally decluttering your closet – sounds like a fun task for the new year! If you've been avoiding getting your wardrobe in order, you should reconsider. After all, the spirit of change at the beginning of the year is ideal for getting your closet in shape. You will be rewarded with more than just a positive mood boost when everything is in its place afterwards. The following four benefits await you if you give yourself a jolt and finally purge your closet:

• Gaining a better overview
  A crammed closet makes getting dressed in the morning a challenge. Especially when you have to get ready for work and time is limited, it's annoying to have to rummage through the chaos of clothes to find the item you want to wear. A tidy closet, where everything has its fixed place, allows you to find the right clothes immediately. As a result, you have your head free for more important things
• Greater appreciation
  You'll no longer have a guilty conscience early in the morning when you open the closet doors to find heaps of clothes that are too small as well as various wrong purchases staring back at you. If you only have clothes in your closet that you love and feel comfortable in, getting ready for the day in the morning can be really fun.
• Increased lightness
  Clearing out your closet is good for the soul. By purging, you can free yourself not only from material but also from psychological baggage. Getting rid of clothes that haven't been worn for years feels good. By decluttering, you learn to let go – and create space for something new.
• Better quality of sleep
  A messy closet is often the main reason why your bedroom looks as if a bomb has gone off. If your closet is too full and you have to use your bedside table and chair backs as a substitute, you're creating a sleeping environment that makes it difficult for you to rest. A tidy closet, on the other hand, means a tidy bedroom – and you can relax and unwind. You can find even more inspiration for clean and harmonious bedroom furnishings here. 

The best strategy when you purge your closet 

If you want to purge your closet, getting started is usually the first obstacle. To avoid feeling overwhelmed when you see the piles of clothes, it helps to be well prepared. If you have prepared all the things you need for the decluttering process, it will take a lot of the dread out of it. Get bin bags ready, set up a full-length mirror to try on and put together a playlist of your favorite songs. It is also important that you are not under time pressure when purging. It's best to pick a quiet weekend when you haven't made any special plans. This will take a lot of pressure off yourself – and decluttering will be a lot more fun.

Tips on how to purge clothes

Are you well prepared? Let's get started! With our practical tips, you will be able to purge your closet in a breeze.

1. Take inventory
   First, throw all your clothes on the bed. Don't just completely clear out your closet, but also add the clothes you have stored in your basement or attic. This will not only give you an overview of everything you own but will also raise your awareness of the fact that regular decluttering really makes sense when you take a look at the piles of clothes that have accumulated
2. Sort your clothes
   Now comes the next step. Consider each of your clothing items individually. Be honest with yourself. Then sort the clothes into four piles:

• Favorite pieces: Clothes that you love and enjoy wearing. You can hang these at right at the front of your closet so that you always have your favorite items within reach.
• Seasonal clothes: Clothes that you like to wear often but are currently hibernating and waiting for their season can later be moved to the back of your closet. In this case, it's worth buying a storage box with a lid. When summer comes around again, you'll have all your favorite items ready and waiting and can swap them out with your winter clothes
• Worn and torn clothes: This category includes favorite items that you have worn so often that they are now missing a button, or the hem is frayed. If you want to keep wearing them, you can have them repaired or do it yourself if you like sewing. But don't fool yourself – if you keep broken items and don't intend to repair them, it's better to clear them out.  Otherwise, they will only take up unnecessary space and cause stress because they will constantly remind you that you still have things to do
• Unworn pieces: We all have items in our closet that we no longer wear. There can be several reasons for this. If something is no longer your style but is still in good condition, you can give it away to friends or earn some extra money at online clothing auctions. Clothes that you only wear on very special occasions, such as an elegant dress for a trip to the theater, are best hung up somewhere on the wall. That way, you'll have it on hand when you need it, but it won't get in the way of your everyday life.
  A common reason for not (or no longer) wearing certain items of clothing may be that they no longer fit you properly. Perhaps you have gained or lost weight and the clothes now don't fit properly. In this case, you can take your clothes to a tailor to have them altered so that they become your favorite items again. But it makes no sense to keep clothes just in case they might fit you again at some point in the distant future. Firstly, it only causes frustration if you see clothes in your wardrobe every day that no longer fit you. And secondly, once you have successfully lost or gained weight, you will certainly long for new clothes to express your improved lifestyle.
   

3. Reorganize your clothes
   Once you've picked up every item of clothing and placed it in one of the piles, you can reorganize your closet. Take the opportunity to go through your closet once and then come up with an organization system that will help you keep a tidy closet. The best way to do this is to put your seasonal clothes at the back of the wardrobe and your basic wardrobe at the front, folding each item neatly. If you like, you can also sort your clothes by color. Not only will you then know where to look for an item of clothing, but you will also find a little moment of joy every time you open your beautiful closet.