How You Can Prepare Your Wardrobe for Spring...

Featuring Guest Blogger: Cynthia Sues

March 20th is the official first day of Spring 2011. YAY!! I’ve had enough dry skin, runny nose, hibernating in front of the t.v, putting on hat, gloves, scarf, three layers of sweaters and coats just to go to the corner. I am not a fan of winter...
But, I love Spring and one thing I love to do at the onset of Spring is clean out the closets. It doesn’t sound fun but it is because it gets you psyched for change and a cute new Spring look and makes your space feel fresh and new.

So here are my tips for an awesome Spring cleaning:

Hand wash all your wool and cashmere sweaters, scarves, leggings and put them away! I put mine in the plastic zipper bags that come with new sheet sets, pillows or comforters. They are a sturdy plastic and are just like the storage bags they sell. Throw in a couple of herbal moth repellent sachets. If you didn’t save those handy reusable plastic zipper bags then you can buy some storage bags but don’t forget to pop in the moth sachets. It’s too tragic to put on your favorite sweater next winter and find out the moths loved it too.

Store your boots! Put them back in their box if you saved it or in some other box or storage bin. This helps you to stay away from them now that winter is over. Even your Uggs!! It’s enough already with the Eskimo boots and shorts - not really a cute look even on celebrities. Put the boots away till next winter. They will be old friends when you pull them back out again.

Now, the wardrobe... Most of us don’t have an entire winter wardrobe. After the knits and boots we are back to our basics. But Spring cleaning means throwing out the worn out, very faded, doesn’t really fit stuff. Go through one at a time and be honest. Then those items that are in good shape but for some reason you never wear, think about why you never wear it. Some times I switch out the buttons on a jacket and it suddenly looks adorable. Or I turn up the hem 3 inches and a skirt goes from frumpy to cute. See if some small change might make that thing more wearable and put those things in the “has potential” pile. Then hang everything back up in a very systemized way. Like your closet is a boutique. All sleeveless together, then short sleeved, then long sleeved etc. You can even group by color. Whatever seems uber-organized to you. This will make very obvious what you’ve got a lot of and what you are lacking. Then you can start planning some Spring shopping!

Go to one of those closet/container/organizer stores and buy a couple of things that appeal to you. When I bought one of those over the door hanging shoe organizers it made a bigger impact than I ever thought. Or those plastic 3 drawer organizers. Suddenly I could see a whole section of closet floor and it felt so clean and neat. Even buying some new coat hangers (maybe skirt hangers?) makes all the difference. Or get fancy and buy a belt rack... Go crazy!

Have a Happy Spring!