Seven Tips for Cleaning Out Your Custom Closets This Fall

If the cooler fall temperatures have you scouring your home for your missing sweaters, jackets and outerwear, it’s time to clean out your closets. It’s not just the pumpkin spice everything season. It’s also the perfect time to organize your custom closets and create a space that works for you this fall (and all year long)  by utilizing the seven tips below:

1. Start fresh
2. Sort through your clothing ... again
3. Decide whether to fold or hang items
4. Streamline your summer wardrobe
5. Sell extra items
6. Make room for bulky winter clothing
7. Form a plan for next season

Stop letting your overstuffed closets add frustration and wasted time to your daily routine this fall. Use these tips to get a handle on your messy closets before you start packing them full of your fall wardrobe.

When considering a full-on closet clean out, remember to start fresh by removing everything from your closets and sorting items into several piles: keep, donate, and sell.

The Stylescribe explains that this methodical approach will allow you to really focus on evaluating every item in your closet. You won’t overlook anything, and you’ll give every piece the consideration it needs. Plus, seeing your closets completely empty will show you the possibilities. Additionally, it’ll give you a chance to do a deep cleaning of your closets before filling them back up.

If you’re like most homeowners, you’re going to need to take at least two passes through your “keep” pile of clothes before you make a big dent in the number of items. You may find yourself becoming sentimental about certain items, which can ultimate hinder your ability to decide which pieces are actually useful. 

Is there any room for a particularly special piece that you don’t actually wear? Sure, there is, but try to keep those items to a minimum. If it helps, you can hold yourself to a max number of these special items. To maintain an organized closet all year, you need to differentiate between those items you like to wear and those items you just like. Make this into an exercise to sharpen your ability to be honest and determine which pieces are adding to your daily happiness and which are just taking up room.

One of the biggest issues with crowded closets are overstuffed hanging racks. You want your clothes to have a little space to breathe on the hangers, not be smooshed up against neighboring items. Plus, finding and sorting your hanging items will be much easier to accomplish when you don’t have to part a sea of clothes every time you look for something. 

Simply Spaced recommends this rule of thumb for knowing which items to hang and which to fold:

• Fold these garments: athletic items, sleepwear and under garments
• Hang these garments: suits, dresses, jackets, coats, blazers, blouses, dress shirts and pants



Fold or hang these items, based on your preference and space restrictions: casual shirts, shorts, jeans, sweaters (heavy sweaters can lose their shape if hung), belts, ties and other accessories

Now is the perfect time to go through summer wardrobe items that you didn’t wear and purge them first. The last season should still be fresh in your mind, and you’ll remember exactly what your go-to items were. You’ll also be able to recognize out-of-style items and anything that doesn't fit. 

Note: This is a great habit for the start of every new season. Go through the clothing and accessories from the past three or four months and decide which items you no longer need.

Need extra motivation to downsize your wardrobe? How about the chance to make a little extra cash while you clean? Consider selling your gently used items online. There are numerous options out there, and the marketplace has never been more receptive to buying second-hand clothing, particularly if it’s a name-brand item.

Good Housekeeping notes several popular places to sell your clothing, shoes and accessories:

• ThreadUP
• Poshmark 
• Etsy
• eBay 
• The Real Real

As the year wears on and the temperatures drop, you’re going to need more and more items and accessories to fight the cold winter ahead. If you’re struggling to find space after purging your warm-season items, why not store them away?

CubeSmart recommends placing summer clothes in plastic containers with tight-shutting lids, as opposed to cardboard boxes. For dresses and things that need to be hung, put them in garment bags. They also recommend thoroughly cleaning your summer items now, before the stains have had time to set over the course of several months.

Once you decide to overhaul your closet and create a neater, more functional space, brainstorm how you want it to be organized going forward. If it became overwhelmingly messy, this is your chance to address that symptom by pinpointing the deeper problem:

• Too many nostalgic items
• Poor lighting 
• No defined closet area storage spaces
• Duplicate items that you keep buying 
• A serious shopping addiction

The goal is to avoid having to perform this long, drawn-out purging ritual every fall.

If you get your custom closets to a point of organization and make an effort to keep them clean all year long, you can ensure that those spaces will continue to work for you and not against you. Once you’re done with this fall closet cleanout, you can go out in that favorite sweater you just rediscovered and reward yourself with a pumpkin spice-flavored treat.

• https://thestylescribe.com/2019/09/06/closet-cleanout-tips-poshmark-donate-sell/
• https://simplyspaced.com/2018/09/transition-your-wardrobe-how-to-organize-your-closet-for-fall/
• https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/money/g26415683/how-to-sell-clothes-online-sites/