215 | Switch Out Your Wardrobe Seasonally? THIS Is the Best Time to Declutter Your Closet

Summary

Episode 215 Summary: "Switch Out Your Wardrobe Seasonally? THIS Is the Best Time to Declutter Your Closet"

In Episode 215 of the HER Style Podcast, host Heather Riggs, a seasoned image consultant and color specialist, addresses a pressing question from a listener named Nick regarding the optimal time to declutter a closet: should it be done at the start or end of a season? This episode provides a comprehensive guide on seasonal wardrobe management, offering actionable strategies to maintain a functional and streamlined closet year-round.

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1. Introduction to Seasonal Decluttering

Heather kicks off the episode by introducing Nick's question: "Do you recommend decluttering at the start or the end of the season?" (00:00). She emphasizes the importance of personalization in closet management, acknowledging that different strategies work for different individuals based on their lifestyle and wardrobe size.

2. Heather’s Personal Approach

Heather shares her personal method for managing her wardrobe:

• Year-Round Accessibility: Unlike Nick, who has limited closet space, Heather keeps most of her wardrobe accessible throughout the year, only storing away her extensive dress collection which she categorizes based on seasons.

• Seasonal Audits: She conducts a wardrobe audit at the beginning of each season. For example, as she prepares for spring and summer, she assesses which pieces resonate with her current style, fit, and upcoming activities (01:21). This proactive approach helps her identify wardrobe gaps and finalize her shopping list efficiently.

3. Recommendations for Decluttering Both Start and End of the Season

Acknowledging Nick's situation of switching items between seasons due to limited space, Heather advises a dual-phase decluttering strategy:

a. End of Season Decluttering

Heather suggests starting decluttering both at the end and the beginning of each season to maintain an organized closet.

• Categorizing Essentials and Favorites: Begin by identifying the most-worn and cherished items. “Start with your essentials and your favorites. The things that you wore the most obviously.” (03:15)

• Laundering and Preparing Clothes: Ensure all items are clean and ready for storage. Heather emphasizes the importance of laundry to prevent stains from setting over time.

• Identifying Replacement Needs: As you pack away items, note any that show wear or feel outdated. “Start a list of pieces that you might want to consider replacing when you come back around to fall and spring next year.” (05:00)

• Evaluating Unused Items: For items not worn during the past season, Heather advises a thoughtful evaluation to decide whether to keep or let go. “Evaluate why you didn't wear it... Is it an item that you're ready to let go of?” (07:30)

b. Start of Season Unpacking and Evaluation

As the new season begins, Heather outlines steps to ensure a smooth transition:

• Evaluating Fit and Condition: Try on each piece to confirm it still fits well and doesn't require alterations. “See if you need to make any alterations or do any repairs to those items.” (09:10)

• Brainstorming Outfit Combinations: Heather recommends planning outfits based on upcoming activities, which helps in utilizing all wardrobe pieces effectively. “Ask yourself if you're going to be wearing this. When can I wear this piece?” (10:45)

• Creating a Strategic Shopping List: Identify any missing essentials that would enhance the season’s wardrobe. “Start planning out that shopping list as you're unpacking and evaluating your pieces.” (11:20)

• Organizing as You Go: Maintain an organized closet by neatly arranging items during unpacking, making future wardrobe access effortless.

4. Benefits of the Dual-Phase Decluttering Strategy

Heather highlights several advantages of decluttering at both the end and start of each season:

• Maintains Organization: Regular audits prevent clothes from piling up and keep the closet functional.

• Enhances Personal Style Awareness: Continuous evaluation ensures the wardrobe aligns with current personal style and life activities.

• Prevents Wardrobe Ruts: Avoids the trap of wearing the same outfits repeatedly by introducing variety and intentional piece selection.

• Eases Packing and Storage: Reduces clutter, making it easier to store and retrieve seasonal items.

“Keeping up with a little light decluttering at the beginning and end of the season is going to help you keep everything very well organized and minimal if that's your goal.” (11:50)

5. Actionable Steps and Encouragement

Heather concludes the episode by motivating listeners to implement the discussed strategies:

• Set Dedicated Time: She announces her own commitment to a spring closet audit scheduled for Saturday, March 8th, encouraging listeners to similarly block out time for their audits.

• Engage with the Community: Heather invites listeners to share their experiences and feedback through Instagram DMs or by leaving reviews on Apple Podcasts.

“I would challenge you to do the same and pencil in some time to either switch out your seasonal wardrobe or evaluate what's on your list of items to replace or invest in for the upcoming months.” (12:30)

6. Conclusion and Call to Action

In the final moments, Heather emphasizes the ease and long-term benefits of adopting a seasonal decluttering routine, assuring listeners that while the initial process may be time-consuming, maintaining it becomes simpler over time. She encourages taking the first step by setting aside dedicated time for wardrobe audits and leveraging the tools provided in the podcast to build a dream wardrobe that fosters confidence and personal style.

“Once you've done a full round of this system each season, you're just going to be maintaining it from here on out. So it should get quicker and easier every time you do it.” (12:10)

Listeners are encouraged to participate actively by taking the free personal style quiz, submitting questions for future episodes, and joining the HER Style Collective for ongoing support and inspiration.

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Key Takeaways:

• Dual-Phase Decluttering: Implementing decluttering both at the start and end of each season ensures a well-maintained and functional wardrobe.

• Personalization is Crucial: Tailor your wardrobe management strategy to fit your lifestyle, closet space, and personal style preferences.

• Continuous Evaluation: Regularly assessing and updating your wardrobe prevents stagnation and keeps your style fresh and aligned with your current life.

• Organized Closet = Effortless Dressing: A tidy and well-organized closet simplifies daily outfit choices, saving time and enhancing confidence.

By following Heather Riggs’ expert advice, listeners can transform their relationship with their wardrobe, moving from frustration to a streamlined, confidence-boosting collection of clothing.

Transcript

[A]

I've shared quite a few tips on her style podcast about how I organize and maintain my closet and how to make your wardrobe audits more fun and effective. But I received a fantastic question from our friend Nick over on Instagram that I've never covered before. She wants to know, when is the best time to declutter your closet at the start or the end of the season? What a brilliant question, right? And as we start thinking ahead to spring, I know it can't come soon enough. And preparing to switch out our seasonal wardrobes, I'm happy to help you plan your decluttering session accordingly. Whether you switch out your seasonal wardrobe or not, my tips today will ensure that your closet stays functional, streamlined and optimized for every single season. I think you're going to love this system for maintaining your closet. So without further ado, let's dive in.

[B]

Welcome to her style podcast where we're all about empowering you to show up and get dressed every day with confidence. I'm your host, Heather Riggs, a 15 year and counting certified image consultant and color specialist, ready to build a wardrobe and a personal style you love. Let's get started.

[A]

I know I say this every single week, but I. I am really excited for today's Q and A Thursday question. As I mentioned in the intro, it came in from our friend Nick over on Instagram. She reached out to me not too long ago and said, hi, Heather, just discovered your podcast and I'm loving all of your tips. This is just what the doctor ordered. Quick question. Owing to the size of my closet, I can only have either spring and summer or fall and winter in my closet at one time, which means I'm only seeing half of my wardrobe at any given time. So. So the question is, do you recommend decluttering at the start or the end of the season? Nick, thank you so much for reaching out with this great question because I've thought to cover things like how I organize my closet and tips to make your audit a little bit more fun and effective. But I never thought about covering the big question of when should we take this on? And first, I wanna say that this is why personalization is so important. Because my advice to you in this case might be a little bit different than what I do personally. So I generally keep all of my pieces out year round. I like to transition things between the seasons and thankfully I have enough storage space that the only thing I need to put away is my excessive dress collection. Because yes, I have talked about my addiction to pretty dresses before. I've gotten it more under control over the years. But I do have quite a few dresses and those are the pieces that I find tend to be either geared more towards spring, summer or fall winter. So. So I will usually switch out my dress collection. Other than that, I really keep everything fairly accessible. So for me, I tend to audit what I'm going to be wearing at the start of each season as I'm looking ahead to spring and summer. Already starting to dream about that right now. I will be trying on those pieces, seeing what still resonates for me with my personal style, with the activities that I have on my calendar, and what still fits, what needs a little bit of adjusting, things like that at the beginning of the season. Because going through this process will really help me to pimp pinpoint any gaps in my wardrobe, finalize my shopping list for the spring and summer, and get a really good strategic plan in place. And then I will just rinse and repeat that for the next season when fall comes up. I will do the same thing for my fall and winter wardrobe. But for you, since you're moving things back and forth, I actually would suggest something different. My best advice is that you declutter at both the start and and the end before you think I'm making a whole lot more work for you. Hear me out as you are packing up your fall winter items soon, because I'm imagining you are starting to think ahead to spring as well. I want you to put your pieces into the following categories. This isn't really extra work. You're already going to be packing up and putting things away while you're doing that. I think it's really smart to start with your essentials and your favorites. The things that you wore the most obviously. Go ahead and launder anything that needs a little bit of cleanup at the end of the season. Make sure that you're getting stains out right away before it sits for months on end. And then pack up all of those pieces that you've worn on repeat. I recommend as you're going through that, you also think about which items you might want to replace next season. These are not things that you're going to want to get rid of necessarily, but things that you're starting to notice showing a little bit of wear and tear, or things that are maybe feeling more outdated to you. What I recommend as you're packing them up is just jot them down. Start a list of pieces that you might want to consider replacing when you come back around to fall and spring next year. And then if you notice that you're packing up items that you did not wear at all over the last six months or so during the fall and winter, I would recommend that you set those things to the side. This is gonna be the one step that maybe does require a little bit of extra time and consideration. But before you just pack it up and then unpack it again season after season, I think it will serve you in such a big way to slow down and evaluate why you didn't wear it. Not from a judgmental place, but just from a rational consideration standpoint. Is it an item that you're ready to let go of? Is it no longer serving you in your wardrobe? Whether it doesn't reflect your personal tastes, if it's not really aligning with the activities that you have going on, maybe it's a special occasion piece that just didn't happen to get into the rotation this fall and winter. That's fine. I'm going to give you a little assignment in the next phase of this strategy. But for now, think about whether it's something that you are ready to part with, in which case you could consider reselling it, passing it along to a friend or family member, donating it, whatever the case might be, rather than just packing it up and unpacking it again next fall winter, if you are no longer actually using that item, it might be time to give it a second life and let it go. So that's the thing that I would recommend doing now. Again, just really quick pack up your essentials and your favorites. Make sure everything's fresh and laundered and ready to go for next year. If you have replacement items, things that you might want to consider buying new new next year, go ahead and do yourself a favor. Start that shopping list now so you can quickly pull it up when the fall comes back around. And if you have items that you didn't wear at all this past fall and winter, set those to the side, evaluate why you didn't wear them, and ask yourself if you are willing to let them go at this point. I think this is going to be a really smart strategy for you to do at the end of each season so you're not packing up clothes that you're no longer wearing or loving. Now, here's what I want you to do as you start unpacking for the upcoming season. So if you're beginning to get things out out for the spring and summer, I think it's helpful to also take your time and evaluate each piece of clothing as you are unpacking it. So if you Have a few minutes, try it on, make sure that everything is still fitting you properly. See if you need to make any alterations or do any repairs to those items. Depending on how you're storing your pieces, you might find that some of the items need a quick iron or steam as you go so that everything is really prepped and ready. And you will thank yourself in the morning when you're trying to quickly get dressed for your day and all of your pieces are really just fresh and ready to go. Now, optionally, I think it would be amazing for you if you could start brainstorming some occasions and new ways to wear each of your items for the upcoming season as you're in the process of unpacking them. This is that extra step that I think will really help to follow up on any unworn items that you decided to hold onto from the year before. So again, as you're starting to implement this strategy, you'll be unpacking things for the next spring summer season. And this is a great opportunity again to ask yourself, am I going to be wearing this? When can I wear this piece? How can I wear this piece? And starting to put some really great outfits into place for the months ahead. So look at your calendar, see what you have coming up, what things you might be able to wear for some of those activities. And as you're planning your outfits, write down any items that could stand to be replaced or upgraded. If it's something that you didn't actually wear last year and you decided, I'm actually ready to let this go now, make a list of the things that you are ready to replace or upgrade. You can also start to brainstorm your shopping list. Do you notice that there's anything missing from your spring summer wardrobe that would make getting dressed a whole lot easier? Maybe you're noticing that you really don't have any belts in your collection and that would really help to up level and finish off some of the looks that you're trying to recreate for this season. Maybe you're missing some essential layering pieces like some great camisoles or tank tops or some lingerie that would make getting dressed easier. Maybe you need a new strapless bra for some of your tank tops or a few accessories to tie everything together. Whatever it is, I think it's really helpful to start planning out that shopping list as you're unpacking and evaluating your pieces. And of course I always recommend that you reference your seasonal mood board for this step so that you can notice if there are any recurring items in your style, mood board that you don't have or that are going to be really key in creating the looks that you want for the upcoming months. And of course, as you are unpacking your items for the new season, organize everything as you go. You will be really thankful when you have everything in a really neat and tidy place, when all of your pieces are clearly laid out, easy to find and to see. I have a few episodes on this how I organize my own closet, which I will link up for you in the show notes. So I definitely encourage you to not only be auditing your pieces as you're packing and unpacking, but of course, setting everything up really nicely as you go. Even if it takes a little bit more time, it will be so worthwhile at the end of the day. So this might sound like it's going to require a ton of time, and I won't lie to you, it might initially. But once you've done a full round of this system each season, you're just going to be maintaining it from here on out. So it should get quicker and easier every time you do it. And I think keeping up with a little light decluttering at the beginning and end of the season is going to help you keep everything very well organized and minimal if that's your goal. Because again, you're going to be eliminating things that you didn't wear in the previous season and as you're unpacking, eliminating things that you know you won't be wearing in the upcoming season. So you can keep everything really down to the pieces that you love and that are fitting and best serving you in this season of your life. It's also going to ensure that you have a steady pulse on your personal style and what's actually working for you. If you're doing that constant evaluation throughout the year, you're not going to find yourself ending up in a wardrobe rut or wearing the same things over and over on default. You're also going to be no longer storing items that you don't actually need, which is going to make packing up and finding places to put things a whole lot easier. And it's going to help you enter into each season with a lot more confidence and having better outfits at the ready if you take the extra step to do the optional task of brainstorming some occasions and new ways to wear each of the items for the upcoming season as you are unpacking and putting it away. So, Nick, I hope this was helpful and friend, I would love to know if you're gonna give this pre and post season decluttering strategy a try. I would love for you to send me a DM over on Instagram. Or better yet, if this episode has given you some good food for thought and made the idea of switching your closets a lot EAS and more impactful, please consider leaving a written review and rating for the show over on Apple Podcasts. This is my favorite way to hear that you're enjoying the show and it does help us to grow and better enable other women to find our community here. It also makes my day to see your positive reviews and it just means so much to me. If you have a topic or question that you'd love for me to cover in an upcoming Q and A Thursday episode, please let me know that as well. You can head to Herstyle LLC.com podcast to record a quick voice memo with your request or you're always welcome to email supportherstylellc.com and I will be so glad to feature your question in a future episode. Thanks again Nick for sending in this question. You inspired me to set a date for my own spring closet audit. I'm going to be getting everything ready to roll on Saturday, March 8th. That is the day I blocked off on my calendar to get my own closet audit done. I would challenge you to do the same and pencil in some time to either switch out your seasonal wardrobe or evaluate what's on your list of items to replace or invest in for the upcoming months. Friend, thanks so much for hanging out with me today. I will see you right back here on Monday for another episode.

[B]

Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you want to stop copying everyone else's style and start dialing in your own swoon worthy signature look, head over to take my free 5 minute personal style quiz which you can find at the link in the show notes. If you've enjoyed our time together, please be sure to rate, review and subscribe to her style podcast so you never miss an episode. Finally, I invite you to make this.

[A]

A two way conversation and send me.

[B]

A DM over on Instagram eatherigstyle to let me know how I can best support you on your style journey. I'm always here for you in style and service. Until next time.