If you’ve read other posts on the blog you’ll know that being green is really important to me and I also like to live a fairly uncluttered life, for my mental health and because I think it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you end up with too many things. Recycling old clothes by taking them to the charity shop or donated them to clothes banks is a great way to keep your wardrobe environmentally friendly. Spring is a great time for tackling the wardrobe, as winter clothes can be packed away, or sorted to see what the kids have outgrown or won’t wear again. I think it’s important to go through our clothes and rid ourselves of items we no longer wear – having a wardrobe full of things that don’t fit, aren’t quite our style or were unwanted gifts just doesn’t help anyone. From underwear to overcoats; it is important to cycle through clothing each year and I’ve got some suggestions to make this easier for you.
Don’t forget to clean out both yours and the kids’ wardrobes – if yours are anything like mine, you’re constantly buying new clothes and having to sort out what no longer fits. This makes room for new items over the year as well as allowing the wardrobes to breathe and it’ll make you feel better as well as make getting ready quicker if you have an organized wardrobe. Here are some of the things you can do to help clear out some clothing this year.
Install a new wardrobe
The first idea you can implement to force a positive change is to install built in wardrobes that are more efficient than your previous ones. This might add more space, allowing your clothes more room to breathe, or it might just make the room more efficient. Having a sleek, uncluttered room can really help with mental health.
Vacuum bag winter clothes
A great way to breathe some air back into your wardrobe once winter passes is to bag up all of your winter items such as jumpers and pants and put them in a vacuum bag until winter comes around again. These can then be stored easily under the bed or in any cupboard. Winter clothing is chunky and takes up a lot of room, so it can also stop air flow through your wardrobes and this can eventually cause you to suffer from mould in the wardrobe. Wash your winter clothes, make sure they’re completely dry and bag them up; and by the time winter comes around again you’ll have some fresh smelling items to wear!
Not worn it for a year? Recycle it
We know how hard 2020 was, and this is why this is a slight exception to the rule. However, if you have items of clothing you haven’t worn for a long time you shouldn’t keep them. There will be old dresses or tops you bought that just haven’t seen the light of day; and your kids will have outgrown half the wardrobe. Be ruthless with forgotten items and simply get rid, it’s likely that you won’t miss them much. Donating these items to charity shops or other clothes banks that collect clothes can really help. Reusing items is the greenest way – if you can’t use them, someone else can. Even old or stained clothes can often be recycled by the textile industry, so always do a search for clothes recycling in your area before putting anything in the bin.
Sort your outfits
Outfits are a great way to consider what clothing you want to keep or not. It’s also a great way of storing items and organizing your wardrobe. Style is a fun thing to play around with, and creating outfits from your clothing is always fun. Consider every item of clothing and consider what outfit you could make from it. If something works specifically well, you can hang them together in the wardrobe so the outfit is ready to go, saving you time rooting through your drawers looking for the exact shirt you wanted to go with this skirt. If you can’t think of any other clothes the item would work work with, it might be time to let it go.
Use some of these simple tips to help you go through your old clothing this year and clear out the odds and sods. Breathe some life and space back into your wardrobes and make room for the odd treat here and there throughout the year instead!
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