Switching your clock forward for daylight savings is your cue to give your closet a once-over. This is the perfect opportunity to re-evaluate your wardrobe choices – decide on the keepers and the goners. This way the items you would love to keep don’t have to be crammed in cardboard boxes or shoved deep into your closets anymore. Use your space better and store your winter wear post winter in many clever ways!
But before you do, make sure it’s CCDD
Make sure your winter wear is cool, clean, dry and dark. Clean your wardrobes and all the spaces you plan to use for storage (especially if you are using your garage). This is to ensure bugs and insects don’t stay back to gnaw on your clothing. Besides, dust and leftover food particles attract pests. The moisture trapped in storage encourages moths and these pests can eat your clothing! That why it’s important to launder all your winter wear before you store them.
No-nonsense storage bins
Avoid re-using a box or carton you find in your garage that could do the job. Instead, get a storage box meant for storage, meant for storing clothes too. These are typically made of plastic, are airtight and are usually very basic looking – which is fine! If you’re short on storage space, get boxes that can easily fit under your bed. Find them at Ikea, Kmart, or Big W.
Comforter bags for storage
If you are a minimal person who does not want to accumulate more things in your home, you can always re-purpose things you already have. Comforter bags are great because you can still see what is inside; they can be zip locked and stored in overhead spaces in your wardrobe.
Shoes into shoe boxes
If you’ve got shoes or boots you won’t be using for half the year, then by all means store them where you’re storing your winter wear but put them into shoes bags or shoe boxes first. You wouldn’t want to get the dirt from your shoes on your laundered clothes.
Fold wool clothes
Yes, ditch the hangers for winter wear. Clothes made of wool stretch if they are left to hang for a long time. This is not the case for coats though – coats can be hung to maintain their structure. Fold wool clothes neatly and store them in containers or on the shelf at the top of your wardrobe.
Use padded hangers
Stay away from wire hangers or thin plastic ones. Although space-saving, thin flimsy hangers can cause your clothes to distort over time so for storing your winter wear in fabrics other than wool, use specially padded hangers for extra support. They keep your clothes from stretching out of shape.
Vintage suitcases and crates
Here’s a clever way to store your winter wear! You can re-purpose vintage suitcases or trunks, clean them, and dress them up for storage. Once you have all the winter clothing folded inside, these vintage storage pieces can turn into perfect accent furniture piece in your home.
Make use of unused spaces
Behind the door, under the stairs, inside and under your beds, there are always unused spaces. Make use of them by building makeshift drawers, racks, keep baskets or colourful bins to decorate the space while you store your winter wear in them during the warmer months.
Add character with basket storage
Basket weaves add character to almost any room they are used for display in. whether it is in your study, your bedroom, your closet or laundry rooms, get baskets of different sizes and fold in your winter wear inside them.
Before you even think about storage, a clever way to go about it is to sift through your belongings. Take a good look at all your pieces, your kids’ clothing, and all winter wear to determine what to keep and what to get rid of. If you’ve got suits or suits separates you are ready to part with, but are still in good condition, donate them.