Ah yes… spring cleaning. Some people avoid it at all costs, while others religiously purge their belongings every year in preparation for the ~warmer weather~. We’ve all had those moments where we take a look around our room, have a mini freak-out inside, and then have the urge to get rid of everything in sight or reorganize the entire place. Cleaning through the old to make room for the new can be therapeutic, especially for women whose favorite hobby is shopping and collecting random items throughout the year. But it can also be difficult to navigate what to keep and what to let go of. Here are 5 guiding tips to help you organize and decide what you truly want to keep, and what you definitely do not.
1.If you haven’t worn it in the past year, you probably won’t wear it ever again.
“But what if I get invited to a themed throwback event and I NEED this sweater with the peace signs on it from 2012?” …You don’t need it. You won’t wear it. The jean skirt you bought a few months ago with some hair clips will accomplish the 2000’s vibe just fine. One rule that always works for me is that if you haven’t worn it at all in the last year, you most likely will never wear it again, and that it’s time to get rid of it. Your style has evolved, and it’s just taking up valuable closet space at this point.
2.Check the expiration date on products.
If you’re anything like me, you’re the queen of hoarding makeup samples and trial size products you got from Sephora in attempts to expand your beauty horizons. However, what some people often forget or don’t realize is that many products have an expiration date. On the back of bottles, usually at the bottom, there is typically a picture of a small can with an open lid that has a number on it. This indicates how long the product is good for after you open it. For example, your favorite liquid highlighter could have the “12M” image on the back, which means that it’s only good for 12 months after opening. Using old beauty products with expired ingredients can damage and irritate your skin, and it’s best to just throw them out once they get too old.
3.If it doesn’t all fit in the drawers, get rid of some of it.
This is a problem that is especially relevant to college students. When you are living in two different places, it can be easy to lose track of how much clothing you actually own. If all of a sudden you bring home your clothes from school and you can’t shove all of your T-shirts into your drawers anymore, then maybe you just have too many. Do you really need 50 random T-shirts, most of which you got for free at events you didn’t care about? These are the things you need to ask yourself.
4.Go through ALL of your storage places, not just the closet.
Clutter can sneak their way into your room in many forms… not just stashed away in your closet. Open up your bedside table or your desk drawers and look at all of the unnecessary things in it. Old receipts, used gift cards, random hair accessories, the lanyard you used for your keys in high school? Take everything out, lay it all down in front of you, and decide what actually belongs in what drawer. It will give you peace of mind knowing that only your bedtime essentials are on your bedside table, only your school supplies are in the desk drawers, and so on.
5.Don’t forget about decor.
Don’t forget to include the knick-knacks and funky items you’ve acquired over the years. These things could be little extra items that don’t really have any purpose other than to just decorate your space. Decorative extras could be things like snow globes, figurines, wall hangings, or picture frames. For these extras that take up space in your room, ask yourself a few basic questions: “Does it look nice?” “Do I still like it?” “Does it fit the theme I want to have, or is it just clutter now?” This will help you weed out the unnecessary extra items that you’ve been keeping around, but never really gave much thought to. As your style grows and changes, so should your room!
These are some great tips to jumpstart your spring cleaning process. Remember that there are tons of different ways to get rid of old stuff besides just throwing it out. You can donate gently used things to places like Goodwill and the Salvation Army, or even sell your items on Poshmark to make some extra cash! Good luck ladies! HCXO