Rotating Your Wardrobe

[lasergirl]

It's that time again! At least, in some of the areas which are showing more Spring-like weather in North America, and for our friends in the far South, it's heading into winter. Either way, take advantage of the spring/fall cleaning bug to reorganize your closet/wardrobe and re-evaluate the stuff you don't use or wear anymore!

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The one thing I've been putting off is putting away laundry/organizing my closet. I have a few different 'looks' and I have quite a few vintage pieces I only wear once in a while but which do best hanging up instead of crushed into a tote or drawer.

Yesterday I started to do the seasonal rotation of the wardrobe, putting all my winter stuff away, and getting out the spring/summer stuff. I also took the time to purge some of the clothes I haven't worn in the last year. It's such an old-fashioned thing to do, but it's so sensible because it frees up closet space (eventually) and helps you evaluate the stuff you *really* need.



My closet is an awkward affair with a bar that's too high, no internal light and is also where I put my dresser. My room is the smaller of the two in the apartment, and I didn't have the floor space to put the dresser anywhere else. The light problem was sort of ameliorated by the addition of a couple IKEA lights designed for closet use (which I got free from a friend). I don't think the bar height is something I can change. My landlord was also the renovator and he's 6'6" and that's a perfectly reasonable place to put a bar for him (and it has wooden cross-braces attached to the wall). Asking him to fix anything is like pulling teeth.

I've sort of dealt with my hatred of the closet, but I am still attempting to find some kind of system for storing my clothes that actually works (and is extremely cheap). Right now, this is what I do:



To the left: long dresses and coats that need to hang. Longer skirts, followed by shorter skirts.
To the right: blouses/dress shirts, light jackets. If I hang stuff all the way across on the bar, then I can't see anything because it blocks the light, but my skirt hangers are thick and take up a lot of space (but I like them because they are the crimpy kind).

There's a 'nook' in the closet on that side so I can throw stuff into the space between the dresser and the wall - I keep vintage fur pieces in a cloth bag (because they are a little smelly at the moment) and a bag full of rolled-up neckties. I don't have any kind of accessible storage in that area because I'd have to move the dresser to get to it anytime I wanted it.

I use my dresser for everyday clothes:

Laundry basket: jeans, sweatshirts, sweaters.
Top: socks, underwear, bras.
2nd: tank tops and leggings
3rd: tshirts
4th: pyjama tops and bottoms


Then there's under the bed (but I have a futon and the frame is awkward for storage and the floor is very uneven in the corner):



Pink suitcase: vintage and modern lingerie, vintage gloves, scarves.



Blue suitcase: vintage and modern jewelery.

I have some shelves as well:



Top Shelf: vintage and modern dress shoes
Bottom Shelf: Vintage and modern purses

My reasoning behind the shelf storage for shoes and purses was to 'merchandise' my room like it was a boutique. It wasn't working for me to have everything piled in a tote or a box where I couldn't see everything, and even though this means I will have to dust (eventually), for the time being it's a kind of classy way of storing my collections of stuff.


And, in posting this, I'd love to see responses from you guys about stuff maybe I hadn't thought about for storage solutions, and I'd LOVE to see what you are doing with your own storage/clothing rotation!

Comments

[sophinisba]

Thanks for posting! This was neat to look at, and I've been trying to figure out some of the same stuff this week, as we're moving into warmer weather and because I started a new job recently where I have to wear dress pants more often. Actually, now that it's getting warmer I can probably start wearing the skirts that I haven't worn since last summer. I also have a sort of similar situation with needing to keep a chest of drawers in the closet, though I also have a dresser in the bedroom itself.

Going through my clothes last weekend helped me find a lot of stuff that I don't wear anymore and I was able to donate it and free up some space. I think I could free up some more by storing some out-of-season clothes under the bed like you're doing. I have some storage crates from Target there but I hadn't thought of using my suitcase, which is currently just taking up room of its own in the closet.

Okay, as soon as I hit "Post Comment" I'm going to get up and give this another try.

[lasergirl]

HAHA I actually started this post this morning before I had completed my wardrobe purge, and then I discovered the camera battery was dead, and then I had to go and walk the dog.... it was an all-day affair, but my closet is lighter by about 20 pounds of clothes and the big pile of stuff that lives on the floor between my desk and my bed is gone! (Well mostly, that's where my dirty laundry basket lives).

The other thing I have to do now is curb my habit for buying secondhand clothes. Because they're cheap, I buy them to wear them a couple of times and then end up tiring of them and tossing them back into a donations bag. Some of the vintage pieces I have gotten that way (but not too many).

AND I shop secondhand as half of my job, so it's a constant temptation.

[sophinisba]

Heh, yeah, I was noticing that on my recent trips to Goodwill, I wanted to stop and shop, which would tend to hinder my efforts to clear out space (and make my next move a little easier).

[lasergirl]

I am in a big kick for getting rid of duplicate stuff right now... hard, because I have a roommate who uses my things (kitchen, living room) mostly, but in my effort to de-junk I have gotten rid of the TV set I never liked, purged my fabric stash and have had stuff to take to the Sally Ann pretty much weekly.