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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Exeter chapter.

It’s January, and we’re all guilty of using this as an opportunity to attempt to sort our lives out and become organised, gym-loving health goddesses. Here at HCX, we like to use our “new year, new me” motivation to sort out our overflowing wardrobes. If you’re anything like us, you’ll have a lot of clothes that take up valuable space in your wardrobe (why are wardrobes in University halls/houses always so small?), and half of them you probably don’t even wear. Here are our top tips for having a clothing clear-out – tidy wardrobe, tidy mind.

If you walked into a shop right now, would you pick up this item and buy it? 

Go to each individual item in your wardrobe and ask yourself this question. If the answer is no, you probably either don’t love it enough or it’s not practical enough for you to miss it, and you should probably throw it away. Place everything into piles – things you’re keeping, things you can give to a charity shop and things that need to go straight in the bin (we’re talking about you, laddered tights).                                                                                                        

Put things in a bin bag for 6 months to see if you miss them. 

If the tip above is a bit extreme and you’re not feeling ruthless enough to just chuck away a large chunk of your wardrobe (shout out to all the hoarders out there – we feel your pain), then just put all of the clothing items you’re unsure about in a bin bag or suitcase and hide it under your bed for 6 months. If you haven’t missed any of the items after all that time, you can throw them away for good. This also gives you a chance to save any pieces of clothing that are actually worth keeping – I still regularly think about a grey jumper I threw out in a surge of ruthlessness 2 years ago and how much I miss it. Heart-breaking stuff.                                                                              

Organise what is left. 

Once you’ve thrown away everything you don’t want and/or it’s all in a bin bag under your bed, you can organise what you’ve got left. If you’re going to fold it all neatly in drawers (in an attempt to avoid the usual floor-drobe), do it in piles of tops, skirts, dresses, bottoms etc. so that you know where everything is. For the things that are hung up in your wardrobe you can do it in the same sections, or alternatively do it so that everything is hung colour co-ordinately. As long as it looks neat and organised, you’re winning.                                                                                               

Make a list of what you need. 

This is definitely the best bit. Once your wardrobe consists of only things you truly love or need, you can take a proper look at what you have and what your wardrobe is missing. The key here is to note essentials that you’re missing, not trend pieces that won’t last in your wardrobe for more than a few seasons – we’re talking things like a good pair of perfectly fitting jeans or basic tops that will go with everything. Now you can go shopping with the excuse that you need to because it’s part of your “new year, new me”.                                                                                   

 

 

Photo Credits:

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/446489750527612001/

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I'm Sarah, and I'm the current Fashion and Beauty Editor at Her Campus Exeter. I have dreamed of working for a fashion magazine since I was a little girl, and am now in my third year at Exeter studying English. I'm a self-confessed shopaholic and a lover of brunch, chocolate cake and the seaside.