Who else is rotating seasonal clothing from cold weather to warm weather? Even though we have at least two false springs here in Idaho we’ve already started the process.
Young Children
With my younger boys, I’ve gotten out the short sleeve shirts, but left all but the snow clothes in their drawers.
We have washed and packed up the snow clothes but left out one warm coat because it’s Idaho.
I want to avoid having too much in their drawers at any one time so I pack up their out-of-season clothing once the weather makes up its mind.
We have a lot of hand-me-down clothes so I also have my younger kids pre-approve their clothes because they are starting to have strong opinions. If they won’t wear it, I don’t want to store it or fill their drawers with it.
I like to avoid the fight where the kid wants to wear snow boots in July, by packing up out-of-season items and keeping them high in the closet, a shed, or garage.
Teens
Teens don’t tend to grow as much, but their style is a bit more fluid. So I have them go through their drawers and take out anything they don’t like anymore.
They then are in charge of letting me know what they need for the next season. We usually do one shopping trip and get everything to fill the holes in their wardrobes.
Rotating Seasonal ClothingTip:
If you don’t know if you want to keep something, try it on. Does it look good on you? Is it comfortable? Does it fit with your current style? Would you feel comfortable wearing this in public for the rest of the day? Would I buy this for full price today? Any questions you can ask yourself to help you really evaluate a piece of clothing will be helpful.
Adults
I find that adults struggle more with aspirational clothing. Kids won’t wear stuff and it’s easy to declutter, but adults attach a lot more meaning and emotions to their clothes. They are more likely to say “this costs a lot of money” “It’s still like new” “I want to lose weight and fit back into this” “It’s good quality” “Someone gave this to me”
While all of those may be true the most important thing to consider is DO YOU WEAR IT? All of the rest of those concerns don’t matter if you don’t like wearing them.
Some clothing is sentimental, that’s fine, just take it out of your closet/drawer and put it with your memory items.
If you’re trying to lose weight then save a couple of your favorites and donate the rest. You’ll want to treat yourself when you do reach your goal weight with clothes that are in style.
It’s easy to look at your clothes from a place of scarcity. “If I give this away then I won’t have enough clothes to wear.” But that’s your inner pack-rat speaking. Don’t worry, we all have one.
In reality, you probably have plenty of clothes. I’m sure you’ve heard the statistic that you only wear 20% of your clothes. You probably have clothes that you never wear. The color’s wrong, the fit is wrong, the fabric isn’t comfortable, it needs to be mended, it’s out of style, whatever. Having a closet full of clothes that you don’t wear is limiting AND depressing. So get rid of those extra clothes.
Remember:
Sometimes you have to go through your clothes a couple of times to get down to the ones you really love. It’s normal to organize in layers. You can read more about organizing clothing in these other posts: Evaluate Your Clothes, Organizing Clothes with Teens, and Having Trouble Deciding What to Give Away? If you want one-on-one help organizing a space, call Colleen at 208.736.3306 for a free consultation. I’d love to help you on your organizational journey. Virtual options are also available.