Do you keep your winter and summer clothes all together in your wardrobe? Or do you store off-season clothes elsewhere? In this blog, I explain why I think it’s better not to put away your winter clothes when it’s summer, and vice versa.

4 reasons not to take your off seasons clothes out of your wardrobe
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1. You might forget what you’ve got

When you store off season clothes in a different place than your everyday wardrobe, you might forget what you stored away. When the weather is getting warmer, but you haven’t gotten your Summer clothes out of storage yet, you might see a nice spring top in the shop and buy it. And realise, when you get your Summer clothes out, that you have a very similar top already.

I hear this very often from my clients when I help them to declutter and organise their wardrobes. It’s one of the reasons why people end up with duplicate items, or at least very similar items of clothing.

On the flip side of this, when you forget what you’ve put away, it can be quite exciting to see it again when you do your winter-summer swap over. It can feel like shopping in your own wardrobe, without spending any money.

But I personally get quite excited about wearing my summer clothes again after the winter season, even though I’ve been able to see them on a daily basis throughout the year. I might have seen them throughout the winter, but as I haven’t worn them, it feels quite special to wear something different after a few months of wearing winter clothes.

2. To avoid yet another chore

Life is busy enough as it is, isn’t it? Running a household can feel like running a company. Or, as my mum sometimes says when she’s got the washing machine, dryer and dishwasher on, her factory is running on full speed.

When you store away your off season clothes, you’re giving yourself an extra chore to do. Twice a year! When the seasons are changing, usually around March/April and then again in October, you’ve got to go sort through your wardrobe and decide what to put away for a few months. And get everything back that you had put away a few months earlier. Do you really want to do that?

Instead, my advice is to simply keep everything in your wardrobe year round.

3. The seasons are not so clear anymore

It’s not always so clear anymore when one season ends and the other begins. Blame it on global warming! It can be difficult to decide when to swap over your clothes. You don’t want to be putting your winter tops away, and then needing some of those items again if there’s a very cold and windy day all of a sudden even though it’s already late April.

It’s also not always very clear whether clothes are specifically for winter or summer. Quite a lot of clothes can be worn year round. Is it really worth spending time and effort on moving clothes out/in of your wardrobe? Will it really make a difference?

4. Is your wardrobe really too small for all your clothes?

One of the reasons why my clients put their off season clothes away is because not all of their clothes fit in their wardrobe. I think this can be a good reason to store off season clothes away. Sometimes a wardrobe is on the small side, and sometimes it’s not possible to get a larger one.

However, even when people say that they’ve got nothing to get rid of, or perhaps they’ve even gone through their wardrobe and done a cull, there are often more clothes that never get worn than people admit to.

If you think your wardrobe is too small, I’d suggest to sort through it and see if you really want to keep everything that you currently own.

Japanese tidying expert Marie Kondo, who I did my Professional Organiser training with, says that people who boast that they’ve got nothing to get rid of, they usually still part with at least a third of their belongings. This could be you…..

So these are my 4 reasons not to swap out your off season clothes
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I’ll finish this blog post with some wardrobe decluttering and wardrobe organising tips.

Wardrobe decluttering – How to make the experience enjoyable

If you are going to try and declutter your wardrobe, here are some tips to make the process as easy and enjoyable as possible:

• Sort through your wardrobe category by category, for example start with socks and then move onto tops. Within tops, it can be good to make subcategories such as long sleeved, short sleeved, casual, work, knitted, and holiday.

• Focus on what you’d like to keep. Don’t go through your wardrobe looking for things to throw out. Instead, go through it and pick out the things that you really like. You’ll see that there’ll be items that you don’t pick, and those are the ones that can go. If you wanted to declutter and organise your wardrobe Marie Kondo-style, ask yourself for every item that you own ‘Does it spark joy?’ If it does, it stays. If it doesn’t spark joy, put it on the to-go pile.

• Once you’ve sorted through your wardrobe like this, make sure you’ve got an exit strategy in place that is quick and easy. By which I mean, aim to get your unwanted items out of your house as soon as possible, without it requiring too much effort from your side. Only once your unwanted items are out of your house (in the boot of your car doesn’t count 🙂 ) you’ll be able to fully enjoy the benefits of decluttering. A charity drop is usually the fastest way, or you could arrange a free charity collection from your home. Selling or passing items onto friends/family is much more time consuming. Consider if it’s worth the extra effort or whether you simply want a refreshed wardrobe as quickly as possible.

Or as Courtney Carver writes in her book Project 333:

I recommend giving things away in most cases. They weren’t making money in your closet, and they probably won’t now, either. Instead, get paid immediately with more space in your closet.

How to organise your wardrobe

My top tips for organising your wardrobe, Marie-Kondo style:

• Stand your folded clothes upright. Don’t pile up your clothes in your drawers, because you won’t be able to see what’s hiding at the bottom of your drawer.

• Store your folded clothes in categories, i.e. tops with tops, jeans with jeans, and keep similar colours together, i.e. red with red, blue with blue, and from light colours in the front to dark at the back, or as a rainbow. Shoeboxes are usually a great size to use as drawer dividers to store your folded clothes in.

• Hang like by like, i.e. coats with coats, tops with tops. Hang longer items on the left hand side, and work your way up to the right to shorter items. Within each subcategory, hang from dark to light, or in a rainbow.

Feeling inspired to refresh your wardrobe but not sure where to start? I can help you create a space that works beautifully for you and your lifestyle. Read more about working with me here.

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Tidylicious – Wardrobe Decluttering & Wardrobe Organisation in South East London

This blog post has been written by Hester Van Hien from Tidylicious. Hester is a Home Decluttering & Organising Consultant, specialised in the KonMari Method®, developed by Japanese tidying expert Marie Kondo. Hester helps people on a 1:1 basis to transform their homes into calm, clutter-free spaces. She’s based in South East London and helps people in Greenwich, Blackheath, Lewisham and surrounding areas, but is also happy to travel further out. You can also schedule virtual sessions with Hester, where she coaches you through the process via video call. Hester has been featured in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Mirror, Ideal Home, Woman & Home, and Real Homes. And she’s done talks at the Ideal Home Show and Home, Life & You.