Is it Time to Declutter your Wardrobes?
Posted on 22nd January 2019 at 07:54
"A tidy house is a tidy mind."
It’s an old, well-worn adage that’s hard to deny, and the satisfaction of a tidy home and the sense of order it brings.
But a tidy house doesn’t necessarily mean a house that’s not still full of clutter.
Many of us find ourselves doing a cursory clean-up, a ‘quick, someone’s coming round’ kind of tidy that sees us throwing things into cupboards and under beds where said items languish for days, weeks, sometimes even months and years.
Gradually, our cupboards, drawers and wardrobes get fuller and fuller until they’re crammed with so much ‘stuff’ they are fit to burst. And were those hastily hidden items really worth hanging on to in the first place?
Enter Marie Kondo, the Japanese ‘organising consultant’.
The new Netflix sensation and Japanese tidying guru has been inspiring people with her own ‘KonMari Method,’ to getting your home in order.
Insta feeds and tweets are full of before and after pictures of now uber-organised cupboards that are apparently ‘sparking joy’ and making us glance disgustedly at our own disorderly mess.
Whether or not you believe that tidying and organising really can ‘spark joy’, decluttering cupboards and wardrobes is a job we tend to put off, not least because, to really get the job done, things have got to get temporarily worse to get better. Everything’s got to come out to assess what’s worth hanging on to and what needs getting rid of.
“The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don't.”
― Marie Kondō
In the spirit of taking on one thing at a time, we’ve drawn together a few things that often end up in your bedroom wardrobes that you could probably do without...
Clothing
Ok, so the purpose of your wardrobes is to store clothes and we’re not suggesting you get rid of all of them because that would be silly. And you’d be really cold. But there are inevitably items that either don’t fit, are way out of style, that you’re holding on to for sentimental reasons or have in multiples (six grey hooded tops?) Give yourself a fashion show, see what fits and what you’ve worn recently and then work out what you want to keep and what would be better donated to charity, packed off for recycling or repurposed. The same works for footwear- Those heels that gave you blisters, the old trainers that you haven’t worn for years, the walking boots that rub. The dogeared slippers. Yep, we’re taking to you.
Gadget packaging
You bought a new laptop, iPod, phone, hair straightener, electric toothbrush. You hastily unwrapped it, eager to get started with it. You put the box in the bottom of the wardrobe for when you need to refer to the packaging. You won’t need to. Off to the recycling box you go.
Odd socks
They parted ways. It was never meant to be. Stop holding on to something that was never meant to be, man. Let them go.
Suitcases and Holdalls
How many bags do you really need? Which ones to you regularly use? Can you store larger suitcases in an attic or garage to give you more space?
And that one with the broken zip that spilled a week’s worth of dirty clothes out on to the luggage carousel at Gatwick, yeah, you definitely don’t need that one.
Mystery Cables and Chargers
These live in the Mystery Cable and Charger Drawer and have no place in your wardrobe.
(Well, we did say we’d take it one step at a time and the mystery cable and charger drawer can be tackled another day, we’ve got another episode of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo to catch up on…)
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