As the sun comes out and you start trading jumpers for dresses, you might start to notice your wardrobe looking a bit sad. Maybe it’s full of blacks and browns that just aren’t fitting for the summer, or full of clothes that you never even took the label off, or maybe you’re still hoarding that one pair of jeans that you will ‘definitely fit into next year’. Now is the perfect time to de-clutter your wardrobe to make room for all that holiday shopping.

I always tend to de-clutter at this time of year, it means you can put the winter clothes you’ve been loving into storage and throw out the pieces that didn’t quite make the cut. It also makes way for the inevitable summer splurge that happens as soon as the sun makes an appearance and you realise you can’t wear jeans for the 5^th day in a row. Through my own de-cluttering experience and from helpful hints of the internet, I’ve gathered some tips to help you sort out your wardrobe.

The first is probably the most well-known wardrobe ‘hack’ to de-clutter, but barely anyone actually puts it into practice. This is the ‘reverse hanger hack’. It involves putting all the hangers into your wardrobe backwards, and turning them the right way around once the item has been worn. This way, after a few weeks you will see what your favourite and most worn items are, and what pieces have never seen the light of day. Now you have to decide if you will honesty and truly ever wear these items. Be realistic, does it fit? Will you wear it next year? If not, it’s probably time to part ways and move on. But don’t just throw your clothes away, ask your friends and family if they are interested first, then decide what is in a good enough condition to be donated to a charity shop or sold online (Ebay or DePop are perfect for selling second hand clothing). If there are some pieces that have lived life to the full and really cannot be passed on, don’t just throw them in the bin because you can recycle them! Clothing is the second biggest polluter on the planet – don’t add to it! You can pop your clothes in a clothing bank (these are often found near supermarkets) or you can search your local council website to find a local collection.

[Photo Credit: HomeBeautiful]

Once you’ve thrown out all the clothes you don’t wear, you will have made enough room to warrant a shopping trip. However, my advice is to not go in blind! You’ll probably end up in the same situation in 6 months with clothes that still have their label on! Instead make a comprehensive list of clothing you really need. Maybe you threw out your only pair of black jeans because they were too worn, so these will need replacing. Or maybe you’ve noticed you don’t have a jacket that’s suitable for the summer. Write this down so you know where to spend your money and reduce the amount of impulse purchases made (hopefully!).

[Photo Credit: SpaceandShape]

When you go to hang up all your shiny new purchases, take a minute to put some order to your wardrobe. Instead of everything being mixed in together, hang your clothes in categories to make it easier to browse. You could even add in sub-categories if you want to go full ‘Monica’. You might have a section for dresses, but within this you might have ‘occasion dresses’ or ‘going out dresses’ or ‘casual dresses’. This means that when you have a wedding to attend (for example), you can see the full range of possibilities in one place, making it much easier to pick an outfit.

I hope this post helped you out if you are doing the dreaded spring clean, let me know in the comments if you have any other tips for spring cleaning or de-cluttering!

As always, thank you for reading and thanks to Soap and Glory for supporting this post!

Emma x

P.S. Apologies for the lack of original images, as I say, I'm in the process of de-cluttering and moving out of uni so my wardrobe isn't looking particularly Instagramable right now!