Organizing, Redesign & Staging

Sunday, October 14, 2007

To Every Season -- Turn, Turn...

Let's talk about changing out clothes for each season. Here in New England, you could change out the closet 4 times a year. But it can be difficult, too, because one week it is in the 90s and then a cold front makes it 35 degrees. (You have to be flexible to live here!) It is easier to kind of group Fall clothing with Winter, and Spring stuff with Summer and then only do it twice. I like to keep it pretty simple, so that's what we do.

I also have a system for seasonal clothing that differs for kids and adults. For the kids, I have open baskets (on a shelf in the closet) labeled "Too Big" that hold clothing items for the future, including out-of-season things that will fit at one point. When it is time to pull out warmer or cooler clothes, I pull down the bin.

I take those items that are the in the closet currently and divide them into 2 categories: still can wear for following year/season (back into "Too Big" bin) and too small for the following year/season (to be donated). Items like jeans or sweatshirts that can be worn year-round stay if they fit, but otherwise go in the "to be donated" pile.

Because kids are always growing and clothing sizes change, it is easier to have as many clothes in close proximity so you can frequently check to see if they fit. Otherwise, they'll be out of sight and out of mind, and you may miss opportunities for kids to wear the clothing.

For adults, since our sizes don't change much for snow boots and sweaters et al, I use out-of-the-house plastic tubs that you can store in a garage, attic or shed. Since it is easy to separate my stuff from my husband's, all of our clothing that is season-specific (for winter it might be heavy sweaters and boots) goes into a labeled bin. It gets swapped out with the other season-specific bin (with, say, shorts, tank tops and flip flops). Again, I suggest trying to do it only 2x a year.

Note: if you know you have a vacation coming up where you'll need summer-y things, this method works well, too, instead of having ALL the clothes you own in your closet at one time.

Happy Fall!