5 Reasons to Spring Clean Your Closet

One of the main reasons so many women face the proverbial “closet full of clothes and nothing to wear” dilemma is their closets are a jumbled mess. Sifting through tightly jammed hangers and overstuffed shelves can be incredibly frustrating and overwhelming, leaving you feeling like you have nothing to wear.

Cleaning out your closest isn’t only practical, it’s economical and can help you save (and even make) money. To help you get the most out of your wardrobe–and save time, money, and stress on a daily basis–Tracy DiNunzio, closet organizing pro and founder of resale marketplaces Tradesy and Tradesy Weddings, is sharing her top closet cleaning tips.

Here are five good reasons to tackle all that clutter:

1. Save Money: In order to keep an article of clothing, see if it passes the test: Is it flattering by the cut, fabric, and color? Does it fit you right today (not when you lose 5 pounds)? Can any damages be repaired? Does it fit your current lifestyle? Women wear only 10% of what’s in their closets in a year but still spend a lot per year stocking it up.

2. Save Time: They say the average person wastes between a half hour to an hour per day searching for things…keys, files, tools, clothes, etc. That time really adds up. One of the key components to being organized is having a place for everything. Tracy recommends creating a dedicated location for your belts, bags, and jewelry to make it simpler to access and view what you’ve got, making is easier to accessorize and polish your look each morning.

3. Make Money: There are tons of sites and services that make it easier than ever to find cash in your closet. For example, Tradesy makes it easy to turn that underutilized fashion into cash, with the world’s fastest, safest, and easiest online buying and selling platform, designed especially for women who don’t have technical or sales knowledge.

All you need to do is take a photo and list the item (which takes under 60 seconds), and Tradesy takes care of the rest. They’ll even offer price recommendations so that you can move your items as quickly as possible. When a buyer comes along, they hold the cash in escrow, send you an addressed package to ship the goods, and once the box is shipped, the money is yours. Customer not happy? Tradesy will take care of the returns, free of charge.

The average woman hasn’t worn 15% of their wardrobe. As a result, she has $6,000 worth of resale value in her closet. Why not turn it into cash? Other great services include Goldfellow.com, a popular and reputable online gold buyer, Amazon for selling your books, and UsedInstruments.com to cash in on old instruments.

4. Let Go: Edit out anything that you’re holding on to for purely sentimental reasons. Your home is not the Costume Institute. Longing for your former figure and keeping clothes that don’t fit, or remind you of an ex, not only clutter your closet, but can prevent you from finding true happiness today. Analyze each old item in your closet and if you used to love it, feel just OK in it, or would rather have the closet space, it’s definitely time to let go and move on.

If you don’t wear something for 6 months, clean it out. After all, if you didn’t wear it this season, will you honestly wear it 12 months later?

5. Less is More
The American consumer culture can lead us to believe that possessing more brings greater happiness. Tackling this assumption can bring better mental health and happiness, and can improve our concentration and sense of well-being. In fact, owning more things brings with it more anxiety about how to pay for, protect, and look after them. The simple truth is that owning less is easier than organizing more.

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What are your closet organizing secrets? Tell us in comments!