Log #7: How To Know If It's Time To Toss Out The Old Clothes

As fashion and seasons change, we change. We make plans in wanting to do things different and not have certain materials that reflects on our past lives in the past year or five years. The most common place that we always make changes is right there in our room. You know the place. You go inside multiple times a day. The closet.

One of the most common questions we ask ourselves is how do we know when it’s time toss out our old clothes? You’re beginning to declutter, deciding whether to keep or remove things from one room to the next. Most rooms are simple, but we can all agree that our closet is by far the most difficult space to sort out. This is how you know when it’s time.

Open the door and take a good look inside.

This is when you put your observational skills to the test. Look inside your closet and give a deep look from the shirts down to the shoes. You’re being self-aware in seeing exactly what you’ve been wearing for the last three or five years. Understanding and realizing that maybe it’s time for certain clothes to be removed. Don’t act on impulse and just start removing things off the hangers, creating piles of clothing across the room. Take a look at everything the first time, so that by the time you start all over again, you’ll know what to toss out.

There really isn’t a certain date and time everyone follows in regards to going in their closet, and tossing out their old clothes. We all have that one day when we say to ourselves that it is time to start decluttering. But it all starts with just opening that door, taking a sharp gaze at it, and finally coming to the realization that to start giving that closet more space, and look cleaner.

After that, you can do all the crazy things you want to do; play dress up with the clothes while looking in the mirror. Then of course beginning the three-way label process: keep, storage, and toss. Now if the clothes are obviously showing signs of wear and tear, a change of color, or a smell that can never go away no matter how many times you put it in the laundry. That’s the definite moment when you have to tell yourself it’s time to get that piece of crap out of your closet.

Don’t turn it into a souvenir. The fabric is dead. Let it rest in peace and get it out of there. You don’t want to walk around the street looking like a homeless person because you’re having detachment issues with that shirt. If you care about it, just buy a new modern version of it.

We all update our closets every season and year as we grow up. We follow trends or come up with our own style with a mixture of old and new. When the time comes that you want to get rid of those old clothes you’ll know. You’ll look at them and just say it’s time to toss those things out. And that’s when the decluttering begins.