WARDROBE DECLUTTERING TIPS

 Guest Post by Michelle Sanfilippo

My name is Michelle and I am a Personal Stylist and Image Consultant. I help women find their own unique style with personal shopping, a colour analysis or a wardrobe detox. My clients come to me for lots of different reasons, but mainly either because they are stuck in a style rut, buying the same things over and over again, or wearing the wrong colours. Most of all, they want a decluttered, well-organised, updated wardrobe that reflects their personality, job or personal style…and it’s my job to help them achieve this!

So… be honest…how is your wardrobe looking at the moment?

If you’re like most women, it might have a little way to go before you start sharing pictures of it on Instagram with the hashtag #wardrobegoals!

But do not worry…whether you’ve done it before, or have no idea how to organise your wardrobe, I’m here to share a few easy tips with you.

As a stylist, it’s very important for me to give my clients a wardrobe that really works for them by first decluttering and then reorganising.

Did you know that we only wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time? That’s a lot of nice clothes that we’re just not wearing. It’s so easy to clutter up a wardrobe and forget about all those little gems hiding at the back! I’ve worked with many clients who are so surprised at how many items they have still with tags on, or at rediscovering clothes that they haven’t worn for years…does this sound at all familiar?

I show them how to “shop their wardrobe” mixing and matching items to create fabulous new outfits that work for their age, body type and personal style, whilst giving them ideas of how they can style the pieces they have, without spending any money. The goal is for my clients to quickly and easily be able to build outfits that they love with the clothes that they already have.

So without further ado…welcome to my wardrobe decluttering tips! Follow these simple steps to achieve that amazing wardrobe you’ve always wanted, giving you the confidence to build outfits quickly thanks to an organised, stress-free wardrobe.

1. GROUP YOUR CLOTHES INTO CATEGORIES.
   Take everything out of your wardrobe and group all of the same types of items together in piles, such as shirts/blouses, jeans and trousers, dresses, t-shirts/tops and knitwear.
   
   

2. KEEP. DONATE. SELL. STORE
   These are ultimately the 4 options for each item of clothing. Write these words on four pieces of paper and place them in different parts of your room.
   
   
   
3. DECIDE WHAT GOES INTO WHAT PILE.
   Start making your way through each pile of clothing, reviewing each item and transferring it into the keep, donate, sell or store pile.
   
   Not sure how to decide what clothes to keep?
   
   Make sure you ask yourself these questions for each item: “When did I last wear this?”, “How long have I had this ?”, “Does it have sentimental value?”, “Can I wear this again with 3 other items in my wardrobe?”, “Does it still fit ??”. This should make it a lot clearer in your mind where each item of clothing ends up.
   
   

4. FOCUS ON THE KEEP PILE.
   Once you have gone through all of the piles and decided the fate of each item of clothing, go back to the “keep” pile, as that’s the pile that will define your wardrobe.
   
   Go through each item and try it on.
   
   Do any of your items look tired and old?
   
   Are all of those colours well suited to your skin tone, hair and eye colour?
   
   Do all of those styles suit your body shape?
   
   #refreshingclothes Tips for refreshing clothes could be as simple as a trip to the dry cleaners, a new button or have you ever thought about dying certain items? If you have no idea on how to dye your clothes, I can share with you with you that I use Dylon clothes dye, easily bought from most supermarkets and have found it to be a great (cheap) way to spruce up an old skirt or t-shirt. It’s also a great way to experiment with new colours.
   
   #colours On the topic of colours…do you know whether you are wearing the right colours for you? Do you even know “your colours?”. A colour analysis is a fantastic way to discover the specific set of colours that suit you best, the ones that will enhance your features, compliment your skin tone & hair/eye colour and brighten up your wardrobe, making shopping for clothes a lot easier and more fun. Most of my clients are so surprised at their colour results. Knowing what colours to wear and which to avoid can be life changing!
   
   

5. GIVING YOUR CLOTHES A 2^ND LIFE THROUGH SALES / DONATIONS.
   
   You will need bags or boxes for the donate pile, storage boxes for the items you’re storing away until next season and post it stickers or marker pens to label your boxes/bags.
   
   In order to be as sustainable as possible and optimise the life span of each item of clothing, I recommend that clients donate unwanted items to their favourite local charity shop or sell them on Ebay or privately. If you can’t donate because of the current situation, please do make sure you keep your donations for when the shops reopen. You could also consider this website www.re-fashion.co.uk that says it donates to Breast Cancer and can send you a clothes bag and pay for the postage of your clothes donations.
   
   

6. HOW TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR CLOTHES THROUGH EFFICIENT STORAGE.
   
   In my personal opinion, it’s always best to use vacuum bags for clothes to protect them from moth damage and keep them fresh. These have the added advantage of also creating more storage space and can be bought from eBay or Amazon.
   
   If you are storing clothes in boxes, I would recommend that you buy anti mothballs to pop in the box. Always label the boxes or bags so that you know exactly what’s inside.
   
   

7. REBUILDING YOUR IDEAL WARDROBE.
   
   Once you have organised everything into bags and boxes and there is only the keep pile left...everything should go back into your wardrobe as a category, starting with long items first such as long coats, jackets, dresses, trousers, jeans, skirts. Then t-shirts, tops & blouses. If you have any drawer /shelf space to fold knitwear that’s great, if not make sure you have the right hangers that will hold your jumpers without them losing their shape. Remember, the thinner the hanger the more space you will gain in your wardrobe. I personally recommend the thin, non-slip, velvet hangers that you can easily buy from Amazon or on the high street. I also thoroughly recommend you buying storage helpers like boxes and trays to help tidy things away - Ikea has tons of options.
   
   Once your clothes are back in the wardrobe, all neatly organised and decluttered, it’s time to make that crucial shopping list for “key pieces” that are missing. You might be tempted to rush out and fill those gaps, but don’t. In order not to make the same mistakes again and reclutter your wardrobe, you really need to think about what you’re buying and why. Before investing in new pieces, it helps to ask yourself “will this go with 3 items I have at home?”. You don’t want to undo all of your hard work.

So…your wardrobe is now functional, practical and organised, ready for you to enjoy getting dressed every day and have fun creating your own unique style!

If you’re wondering how many times you should be going through this exercise every year, I personally like to do it twice a year - at the start of spring [pack away the winter clothes] and at the beginning of autumn [pack away summer clothes]. This makes your wardrobe ready for the new season and easier to update with key pieces.

To find out a little more about how I can help you develop and enhance your style, please take a look at my website www.michellesanfilippo.com. I am offering a special 10% off any of my services to all Cat Turner blog readers. You can simply email me at hello@michellesanfilippo.com or call me on 07900170973 to book a wardrobe detox session or colour consultation.

In the meantime, enjoy your new wardrobe!

Michelle x