Spring Cleaning and Transition

Y’all. I’m sitting outside, in a sleeveless jumpsuit, without a sweater and I am not cold. Spring has arrived (I also have a stack of tissues in my bag because, well, spring has arrived).  

For the past month, I have been balancing between a partially winter wardrobe and almost spring wardrobe with the cold rainy weekdays and warm weather weekends. But my closet (as wonderful and beautiful as it is) cannot hold both. So I finally did a spring clean and while the initial hauling out of everything was tedious, in the end it felt great.

So this one’s for you, my friend who has yet to do her spring cleaning, or has yet to attempt a wardrobe cleaning period – my wardrobe (spring or otherwise) cleaning process:

1. Take everything out. Empty drawers, pull clothes from hangers, unearth chests, etc and take out all the clothes, even pieces you know you love and wear. Once you lay everything out next to each other, it’s easier to see the expanse of your closet more clearly; that striped t-shirt you love, might look less lovely next to your three other striped t-shirts.
2. Group similar pieces together. All your t-shirts in one pile, denim pants in another, business casual tops, skirts, dressy dresses, etc.
3. Take a deep breath, turn on some motivational music (my preference is 90s throwback music), and mentally prepare yourself for the hard part of being honest with yourself.
4. Sort (honestly) by keep and toss. Keep the pieces you love, the ones you wear, the ones you know will work with the other pieces you are keeping. Toss the pieces you’re hopeful for, but have never worn; the pieces you know are well past it’s time; and the pieces that will only work for one outfit. See? It takes some real honesty with yourself.
5. Repeat, repeat, and repeat until you’ve gone through each pile. There isn’t a great end point for when the process is done, which I know is not very helpful. For me, my end point is when I’ve successfully gone through each pile and felt that I have honestly sorted keep and toss.

As you Marie Kondo each pile, I also recommend not looking at a piece for too long. The longer you hold onto it, the more likely you’ll be able to convince yourself it’s worth keeping and you can find a way to make it work. I do this all the time, and when next year comes around and I still have not worn it, I do it again. I have a few pieces in my wardrobe I have worn once and still convince myself I’ll wear, even though it’s been a few years…

In the end, the goal is to have tossed clothes you honestly don’t wear or will never wear and to have kept only the clothes you love or have to have for work necessity (such as pencil skirts).

I have a few rules to cleaning out my wardrobe and in helping myself curate a closet I love, but that’s to come in another post 🙂

Also(!), a perk of cleaning everything all out has been that I have now made room for other clothing pieces I’ve been eyeing and want to incorporate into my wardrobe. Like this wonderful wide-leg jumpsuit/overall. Just look at the buttons! And the pockets! It’s been a perfect winter-to-spring transitional piece because I can layer it up with a turtleneck, sweaters, and boots (as I’ve done here). But I could also wear it with a basic t-shirt, bandana around the neck and keds, and it’s spring time ready.

Best part? Found at Marshalls for under $20.

What are your spring cleaning tips? Do you have any transitional pieces?