It's Spring Cleaning Time for Your Wardrobe
Well, housecleanin' time is with us once more;
And, landsakes alive, it's an awful chore!
What with scrubbin', rubbin', and washin' paint,
It's not any picnic; you bet it ain't!...
For it has to be done each Spring and Fall:
The attic and cellar, bedrooms and hall.
Each room, in its order, gives up its dirt,
Till I am weary and my back does hurt!
~Gertrude Tooley Buckingham, "Housecleanin' Time" (1940s)
It's Spring... rain falls... flowers bloom... temperatures rise... and it's time to do some spring cleaning, yes? Could your closet use a Spring refresh? Your wardrobe might be calling you to include it in your spring house cleaning.
As a matter of fact, in the NY Times best-selling book entitled The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and Cathy Hirano, the following order is suggested for organizing and cleaning up:
- Clothing
- Books
- Papers
- Miscellaneous
- Momentos (including photos)
The approach is a graceful, gentle one with the question "Does this spark joy?" ever in mind.
On the website "The Everygirl", Valerie Chen expounds on this question with seven questions of her own, useful when cleaning out your closet:
- Does this fit?
- Have I worn this in the last 12 months?
- Is it likely I will ever wear this again?
- Is this currently in style, and/or does this still accurately represent my style?
- If this is damaged in any way (e.g., piling, rips, stains, missing buttons, broken zippers, fading, etc.), will I actually make the effort to get this repaired in the near future?
- If I was shopping right now, would I buy this?
- And most importantly: Do I feel confident when I wear this?
If you answer a resolute "no" to any of the above questions, perhaps it's time to bid the garment a fond farewell. Maybe there's potential to sell the item.
Moreover, clothing donations are welcome at various organizations including Goodwill, The Salvation Army, Dress for Success, Pick Up Please, etc.
When it comes to cleaning out closets, climates with drastic temperature changes like ours, necessitate a total wardrobe switch. Nowhere is the seasonal wardrobe change more welcome than in Italy. Known as the cambio di stagione, a biannual ritual is pursued whereby closets are opened up and cleaned out from top to bottom, resulting in a total wardrobe change.
The clothing utilized in the colder temperatures is moved out and space is cleared for the patterns, prints, and bright colors of the warmer temperatures. This cleaning out process often demands a full-day commitment with its extreme thoroughness.
At any rate, Spring gives us a wonderful reason to do a bit of freshening up in our closets which translates to a bit of freshening up in our very lives. Here's to a more organized, orderly, tidier, coordinated, peaceful you! Happy Spring 2015!
26th Jun 2015