How to Organise Your Wardrobe!

How many times have you been late to work because you can’t find all the pieces you need to put your work outfit together?

You know that how you present yourself is critical in conveying a professional and organised image but you can’t seem to get it together, and always seem to be racing against the clock in the mornings. How are you always late?

Another common situation for busy Mums, you will just throw on your Lululemon, as per usual for the day. Oh, wait. You have breakfast with a friend today at 9.30. You will have to come back home again after school drop off and get changed and will probably be late.

Fast forward to 9.30, you have finally found your favourite top but need a white cami to go underneath. Can’t find one! Arrgh. You throw on a big jacket over your Lululemon and slink away to breakfast feeling awful about yourself.

Here’s another familiar scenario…

What about when you have to be somewhere for dinner in 10 minutes, and you have tried on 47 different outfits and look your husband square in his eyes that have practically rolled into the back of his head and proclaim “that’s it! I’m not going! I have nothing to wear!!”

Enough is enough! Time to get organised! I’m going to share a few tips to help you organise your wardrobe!

A well-managed wardrobe is essential to arriving everywhere on time, being organised, looking fantastic and appearing completely in control of your life.

I just love the difference a wardrobe audit makes on my client’s overall stress levels, knowing that every time they open their wardrobe every single item suits them perfectly and has them looking their best. An organised wardrobe starts your day on a positive note and sets you up with a fantastic foundation for the rest of your day.

An organised wardrobe should be reviewed and culled at least 2 times a year. The best time for a mini wardrobe cleanout is when the new season stock hits the stores, towards the beginning of spring and Autumn.

 

Here’s a step by step guide to help make it more enjoyable.

Step 1 – The recon!

This is the fun part! Spend some time in the stores, look online at fashion blogs, peruse through store lookbooks and catalogues and make a list of what suits your personal style and body shape. Here you are getting a strong feel for current styles while gaining perspective for being ruthless with your clothing cull! Keep this list for when you have completed the next steps.

Step 2 – The cull

Turn on some music, get into some comfortable clothes, prepare some heavy duty garbage bags and have your full length mirror at the ready!

Go through each piece of clothing in your wardrobe that is from the previous year; we are going to make four piles, Culling pile, Style Success pile, Alterations pile and Possible Fashion Comeback pile. I have created the below chart for you. You have to be ruthless with this chart. You have to really love something and it must be congruent with your personal style to make it past the first point on our chart, otherwise straight to the cull pile!

 

Step 3 The send-off

Now bag the Cull pile and your Possible Fashion Comeback pile, store the comeback pile in a place other than your wardrobe if you can. For those who get very attached to their clothes, you may wish to pour a glass of your favourite bubbly and either gift your items to friends who will love them, or donate only the quality clothing in good condition. There is another option which is proving popular at the moment, ‘buy sell and swap’ pages on Facebook, where you can post your items for sale with images and a short caption. Ebay, Gumtree, and hosting a garage sale are also a popular option for turning your unloved goods into cash!

Step 4 Get clarity on what you need.

Now spread your remaining clothes on the bed and make a note of your lifestyle e.g., days of work per week, days at home, days you socialise per week. If you want a template of a list to help you, you can download one from my website. www.stylewithcindy.com.au/wardrobe_worksheet.pdf  you may wish to adapt it to suit your needs.

On your sheet, list the clothes you have for each of the activities you do, then with your notes from your recon of the shops and magazines, slot new items in the gaps using a different colour pen until you have a complete wardrobe to suit your lifestyle. Remember to think about mixing and matching and the colours that suit you as well as everything else in your wardrobe.

Now that you have successfully sorted through everything, time to reorganise!

See my blog post on Wardrobe Revamping for how to store your clothing to best maximise your space and have everything well displayed.

Remember, Your Wardrobe needs to:

Reflect Who You Are

Be a Fun place to Visit

Only have items you know you wear now! TODAY!

Once you have finished with your clean up don’t forget to take the clothes that were on the alterations pile to your tailor and have them altered, and take anything to the dry cleaner that needs a freshen up!

Trust me; all your hard work will be worth the reward!

Happy sorting !!