Finishing up a semester or the year, it’s almost a ritual to organize my whole wardrobe and room by recycling papers and other goods that I don’t need anymore that could help other people. Since a young age, my mom always had us clean up at least once a year to not accumulate things we don’t use. As a result, I have built this habit of not keeping things too long or even getting them in the first place if I know where they’re going to end up going: to the back of my closet or that go-to drawer in the bedroom. Yes, you know what I’m talking about. We’ve all been there.
The thing is that when I was younger, I didn’t like to say goodbye to my things and my clothes, but once I started to get older, I realize the true meaning behind it and the beautiful symbol doing it can have in our lives. It’s about saying goodbye to the old so we can welcome the new.
For this reason, I decided to organize my things at least every six months—as my mom taught us—and to not accumulate stuff I don’t need in the first place. I love doing it by the end of each semester; it feels like a closure moment to me to prepare myself for a new chapter in my life.
This year is no different. Amid a turbulent moment in everyone’s lives, organizing our exteriors can significantly impact how well we feel about ourselves and our environment. Creating a space you love being in is definitely a crucial aspect of our well-being. A study made by the University of California in 2010 found that people who lived in environments that had too many things stored and accumulated had more cortisol levels (the hormone associated with stress). In other words, being in a messy and visually “dirty” environment can make you feel more stressed and irritated.
Luckily, there are ways to manage that, and it’s definitely a thing in our control. So, with summer around the corner, it’s time to focus on decluttering our spaces and providing space for new things to come. Remember: our exteriors reflect our interiors.
Here are some life hacks to organize your wardrobe this summer.
- Pile Up!
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I know it can give anxiety for many to pile up all your clothes in your bed, and I literally mean all of it, but it’s worth it, trust me. Go to your wardrobe or closet and get all your clothes and start making three piles with them. The first pile should be clothes that you have, but you don’t like (don’t try to pretend you don’t have them because we all do!). Your second pile should be of clothes that you like. And the third should be of things you LOVE! Be aware that it’s not the same. There are things we own that we absolutely love and are passionate about, and others we like them maybe because of a memory we have wearing it or someone gave us.
What is fascinating about this method is that you’ll see how many clothes we actually don’t like, but we still have to keep them. Why do we keep things we don’t like? We should only wear things that spark joy to us and make us feel our best.
- Speaking Of Joy
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I’m sure most of you have heard about Kondo’s Method either by reading Marie Kondo’s book or watching her TV show on Netflix. Her method is very effective, and even though we’re getting rid of some things, the focus is definitely on what we want to keep.
Kondo’s Method consists of holding each piece you own or object and asking yourself, “does this spark joy to me?” If it does, keep it. If not, it’s time to say goodbye and thank that object or clothing piece for every moment it was with you. We acknowledge the importance that things had in our life, but accept it is time to let go. This method is so effective that people have been using it for different purposes in their lives, including evaluating their personal relationships.
One thing is for sure: life is too short for us to wear something we don’t like. To hold on to relationships that are good one day and wrong at the other. To have most of our activities be things we can’t wait to be done with. Only keep things that speak to your heart and bring you joy.
- After The Hard Decision
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Once we’re done evaluating what we want to keep in the new phase of our lives—always remember you’re preparing yourself for a new chapter—it’s time to organize to optimize your daily routine.
Try to think of what your routine looks like. What do you wear the most? What color needs to be on an easy-access place for you? Do you need a special section in your closet that you don’t currently have (like our face masks)? Remember that this is your space, so really take the time to create the best efficient closet ever to motivate you in your daily routine.
- First Things First
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After evaluating what you need to emphasize in your closet, it’s time to “think before doing.” How do you want to organize it? Do you want to have the same colors displayed in one place? Are you hanging your pants, shorts, and skirts? Do you have enough drawer room?
By organizing mentally first it will help you later remember where your things are and make you do the organization faster—as funny as it may sound!
Display your clothing pieces in a way that it’s appealing to you that makes you want to get up each day and dress up. Then, you should be having fun in your closet!
- Visuals Are Everything
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There’s no way to deny it: pleasing aesthetic environments have a touch of uniqueness and coziness. So even if we can’t build anything or paint our walls in the closets, you can still give a personal touch to it and customize it the way you want.
One of my favorite tips is getting hangers of one color only or DIY to make it more personalized. Another decoration you can make with a tight budget is decorating boxes or clothing divisions for your drawers or shelves.
- Cultivate The Neat Mindset
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Some of you may be thinking, “It sounds like a good idea, but I will keep it organize only for a day.” For that, I say: if you think this way, it’s going to be just like that.
Cultivating a mindset that you can keep your closet organized because it’s a reflection of yourself is really the key to shift this behavior of cluttering to being scheduled. The formula is simple: if you make a mess at some point, just make sure to tide it up before it gets worse. Then, when you start to see it’s becoming disorganized again, take some time (mostly ten minutes) to reorganize it. After all, spending ten minutes tidying it up is better than a whole day doing the process all over again.
Also, if you cultivate the habit of doing this at least once a year, it’s not going to be that messy as the first time when you do it again. In other words, you don’t want to spend a whole day doing the process every time you organize your wardrobe, so make sure it’s neat!
- Keeping The Process At Heart
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The process of decluttering doesn’t end when our wardrobes are all set up and organized the way we pictured it being. It’s a continuous process and growing habit, and for that, I want to give some tips on how to keep the process within yourself and possibly expanding to other areas of your life:
– Whenever you’re purchasing something new for your space, ask yourself if in a year from that day you’d be saying goodbye to it.
– Ask yourself if you really love that clothing piece before buying or if you really need it. But try to focus on the love part. Creating a wardrobe with elements that we genuinely love wearing and looking for can impact our mood and well-being.
– Don’t gather papers. It’s not healthy for the environment neither for yourself. But, unfortunately, we have the habit of getting flyers from stores or even cards. So get in the habit of saying no to those and start becoming more digital!
– Don’t keep things that you don’t like. It may sound cheesy, but we do this. We often have things (clothes, objects, accessories, shoes) we absolutely don’t like but somehow feel attached to them. Try to understand it: is it because of a memory? Clearly visualizing the impact it has on you can help seeing why we can’t let it go.
- Reinvent Yourself
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All that being said, my last message is to continually reinvent yourself. We’re constantly evolving and in the process of growing, creating new memories, and seeking new opportunities. So why would we keep things from other times if others can benefit from it too?
When you think it’s time to reinvent yourself, this method is definitely the go-to process. Don’t forget to separate the things you don’t use and give them to people who actually would use them!
As said before, our exteriors reflect our interiors. My mom said that to me once, and I never forgot its truest sense. When we treat our things to be disorganized and messy, something is not right. We need to take care of what we have because that decides if we keep having them with ourselves.
The same works for us: take care of yourself, because in the end, all we have is ourselves and our own company. So treat yourself well and everything you have!