This past summer my family announced that they plan to move into a new house. I lived at highschool (boarding school), and am now at college, so I haven’t spent much time in my childhood room for a long time. Moving houses means reorganizing, and boxing up items I do not want anymore. Since this announcement, I have read multiple articles on moving, and obsessed over meticulously organized closets and bookshelves.
Whether you are moving into a new apartment, house, or back into college dorms, creating an organizational plan beforehand is crucial. First, you should go through all the items in your current space in order to filter out unwanted or unused inventory. There are many books and articles who can guide you through this process (the bestselling novel “The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo comes to mind) however, to save you the time I have created a list from a myriad of online sources.
1.) Take everything out of your closet and organize it into piles
2.) Throw away (or recycle!) anything with holes, stains, ect.
3.) Try on every item! If you don’t feel great wearing it don’t keep it.
4.) Ask yourself two questions: When was the last time I wore this? Does it bring me joy?
When you have seperated your clothing into a “keep” pile and a “discard” pile you can now move on to the next step. Discard items can be donated if they are in good condition. There are several online websites where you can sell your clothes for money! Check out sites such as Tradesy, Vestaire Collective, or Poshmark to sell used clothing and accessories. I personally use an app called Curtsy where you can easily buy and sell used clothing—the site even sends you a prepaid shipping label! Donating and selling your clothing will make it easier to part with items, and is a great way to help the environment.
Often, the hardest part of moving is fitting your entire wardrobe into a new space. Professionals suggest organizing a closet by category of clothing. Dressy items should go on hangers, t-shirts should be folded and put together, ect. You can always invest in cheap organizers to keep items separate and visible. Your most used clothing should be stored at eye level. This prevents you from digging through your nicely organized folded laundry, and makes grabbing them easier. Some suggest organizing drawer contents in the order in which you get dressed. Finally, consider using the “one in, one out” policy. Everytime you add a new item to your closet you should get rid of at least one item. This ensures that your amount of clothes will never get out of hand again! Isn’t the point of shopping for new clothes to replace old ones?
Keep these tips in mind when you are moving into a new space, or even to revamp your current space in time for New Years!