As Mark Twain said, “Clothes make a man. Naked people have very little influence in society, if not none at all.” You can’t argue with this – they are greeted by clothes, we find “ours” by clothes, we express ourselves with clothes and, of course, clothes protect us in any weather.
For summer, autumn, spring, winter, hiking, vacation, holiday, jogging, date – every person has plenty of reasons to change their outfit. Well, unless you’re Mark Zuckerberg, of course. However, a regular wardrobe often cannot accommodate the amount of clothes that is accumulated in a couple of years. Sooner or later you have to audit.
Nevertheless, in order for the choice of a suit or the search for a basic set not to turn into a half-hour quest around the apartment, clothes must be properly stored. Even the coolest outfits may never see the light of day, simply because you didn’t notice them on your shelves. Clutter is the No. 1 enemy of any dressing room, it should be feared even more than shopaholism, and together it is a killer cocktail.
Keep calm: in this article we will tell you how to properly store clothes, care for them, audit them and make choosing an outfit silky easy!
Out of sight, out of mind!
First of all, you need to audit your wardrobe. But how do you know what to keep, what to give, what to give, what to sell, and what to deposit? We act boldly and decisively. To organize a new clothing storage system, it is necessary to demolish the old one. Pull all clothes out of all closets on the floor of the room. Made? Now go to the pantry, onto the balcony, climb onto the mezzanine and don’t forget about the dryer – you need to find absolutely all the clothes in the house.
Preparing boxes for storing clothes
What to do next? Divide all clothes into 4 groups:
1. Broken, too heavily soiled, torn and worn out clothes that cannot be repaired and washed – all this should be thrown into the trash.
2. Clothing in good condition, but which is either not your size, or you no longer like it (remember that clothing should be fun), or you have already bought a more fashionable and new item of the same style to replace it. Items in this group can be donated to a thrift store, given to friends or family, or sold online.
3. Seasonal clothes – separately for summer clothes and separately for all winter clothes. Everything that is irrelevant for the current season should be put in storage, but in no case should you clog the shelves of closets with temporarily extra clothes – they will come in handy for you under something else!
Clothes storage
4. The fourth group is all other items of clothing. Test yourself with a simple list of questions:
I like this item?
Do I wear it at least once every one to two weeks?
Does it suit my current style and is it easy to pair with other pieces?
Is this item seasonal?
If your answer is “yes” to all questions, then these clothes must be entered into the new storage system.
Audit of the existing wardrobe
An important step is sorting
From the remaining heap of all the most beloved, relevant, fashionable and clean, it is necessary to create a clear hierarchy.
1. Sort by type. First, we set aside outerwear separately, then all underwear, then trousers, jeans and trousers, then upper combinations, etc.
2. Sort by season. We create spring-summer, pure summer, autumn, autumn-winter and spring sets.
3. Next, sort by purpose. We divide clothes into casual, work, smart, sports, etc.
Everything on the shelves
Depending on the sorting carried out, we distribute the clothes according to the places of storage: something in the hallway, something in the closet, and something in the dressing room or other room in the apartment where you can store clothes. We store something in closed storage systems, and something in open ones.
An open storage system is suitable for everyday things. Thus, dust does not have time to settle on them. Open storage of clothes is convenient when you often change outfits and like to experiment with combinations: on an open, for example, hanging hanger, you can immediately see what colors and materials you have in your wardrobe, what can be combined with what.
Sorting clothes
Clothing storage options
1. Closets are the most convenient everyday way to store clothes.
2. Chests of drawers are the oldest furniture for storing clothes. They are convenient for vertical storage according to the Marie Kondo method.
3. Floor hangers. They allow you to store your wardrobe so that you can visually see things at any time and choose an outfit.
4. Hooks/hangers on the wall. On them you can hang not only jackets or sweaters, but also trousers (by the strap). Hooks will help organize the storage of clothes in the hallway.
5. Shelves. Storage of clothes on the shelves will be more ergonomic if you use dividers.
6. Boxes and boxes. Boxes help protect clothing from dust. Store small items, such as underwear, in boxes. And drawers allow you to store clothes in a closed way even in a small apartment, especially if storage without a closet is important to you.
7. Suitcases. They are very cool and stylish to use for storing clothes in the bedroom, placing them at the foot of the bed.
8. Cases are special hard packs. Trunks are suitable for hats, very fragile fabrics and embellished outfits.
9. Organizers for storing clothes will allow you to carry out compact storage of clothes. They can be hung on a wall or cabinet door. The organizer will allow you to sort socks, accessories and underwear.
10. Bags/cases. They are useful for storing things that you don’t wear very often. And in vacuum bags, clothes take up several times less space. Cases are convenient to use for storing outerwear.
Tidying clothes before storing
How to fold clothes
How clothes are stored is highly dependent on how the clothes are folded. After all, if it does not hang, then it must be folded correctly. Shirts should be folded, focusing on the sleeves, trousers are usually easily folded first in half, and then in half again. To see how to store clothes vertically, or how to fold clothes the Marie Kondo method, check out this tutorial video. Try it right now and you will see that storing clothes at home can be easy and very convenient.
Useful tips and life hacks for storing clothes
1. Do not store fur and leather products in airtight packaging. Natural materials must breathe and ventilate. But just observe the temperature regime: exclude storage on the balcony in winter at -20 degrees or on the summer loggia, with a greenhouse temperature of +25 and scorching sun, otherwise “Goodbye, color!”
2. Fur coats and sheepskin coats are best stored in a voluminous cover made of breathable material. The system for storing outerwear is different from storing ordinary sweatshirts, sweaters and knitwear in general. The cover allows clothes not to gather dust, and the volume is necessary so that the air inside circulates freely and ventilates the fabrics.
3. Jeans are best stored folded and not on a hanger – this way they will be preserved without classic kinks and will not stretch under their own weight.
4. Woolen and fur items should be carefully protected from insects with the help of special repellents. As a remedy for moths, sachets with lavender flowers are perfect – this is not only a protection against pests, but also a great scent for your things.
5. Outerwear and men’s suits should be stored on hangers with extended shoulders to avoid deformation. That is why storing clothes in the dressing room is most convenient – in a separate room it is possible to place as many roof rails as you need.
6. Hangers should be selected according to the size of the clothes. If you choose too large hangers, then there is a risk of stretching the clothes in the shoulders so that it does not return to its original shape. If you take too small hangers, then the clothes, firstly, will not hold well on the hanger, and secondly, unpleasant bumps will appear in the shoulders, which will no longer be corrected on a knitted or woolen product.
7. If you use clothes storage services, then only clean and dry clothes should be sent there for storage. The dirt that remains on the fabrics can, over time, eat in so much that it will no longer be washed off. As well as stains, crumbs and dirt make the fabric less wear-resistant and durable.
8. Silk blouses and light dresses are best placed on hangers with an anti-slip coating or covered with a fabric, such as satin. Thus, the silk will remain as soft, voluminous and without fraying. An important condition for storing airy light dresses made of natural and synthetic materials is the preservation of the volume of the fabric in the shoulders, which is exactly what soft hangers will provide.
9. It is best to store underwear in special organizers. Use modern clothing storage accessories that are easy to find on the Internet – containers, dividers, organizers, trunks, boxes, baskets.
10. Bulk items – blankets, blankets, pillows – are best stored in soft trunks, which are pliable and can partially take the form of a folded textile object.
The secret that will make cleaning and storing home clothes easier
Remember the well-known wisdom that it is clean not where they clean, but where they do not litter. Take this principle into service: do not buy clothes that you do not need, do not store excess. And be sure to repeat the revision and sorting of clothes every six months or at least once a year. A fresh look at the wardrobe, the change of seasons and fashion trends will help you understand what is too stale in your closet. And things that are no longer needed can always be attached to charity shops, where they will find new owners and delight them.
Jeans are one of the most common items in the modern wardrobe.
When can an Smartroom be useful?
We are only for the conscious organization of home space. Whether it’s a balcony, a hallway or a wardrobe – order and cleanliness should be everywhere. What clutters the space around us the most? Things that we temporarily do not need are irrelevant clothes, namely, seasonal things.
In summer, there is no need to store huge winter down jackets and fur coats, especially since storage places often do not meet the necessary requirements. If you send clothes to the balcony, then under the sun’s rays and high temperatures, the fabrics and materials will fade and become less durable. In addition, how much free space will appear in the closet if you hand over not only winter clothes, but also winter shoes!
What then in winter? You can return a box with all summer clothes, clothes, accessories and shoes to a warm self-storage. In the Smartroom, things will be kept warm and dry and will be fresh and clean by the new summer season, while at home, out-of-season clothes simply gather dust for half a year.
Packing clothes in special wardrobe boxes
Advantages of the Smartroom
The Smartroom is a modern warm self-storage, which, among other things, stores clothes. It can store clothes from various fabrics and materials. Its undeniable advantages:
stable temperature +20 degrees Celsius at any time of the year, even in winter;
the right level of humidity due to ventilation;
constant cleaning and airing – the self-storage is always clean;
reliable security system, video surveillance without blind spots, access control for movers;
comfortable service – you can hand over clothes