How to Switch Seasonal Clothing in Your Closet…in Less Than 2 Hours

Organized Closet

It’s mid-November and the cold weather has moved in for most of the country. Some places have already had their first snow of the season…in October! So unless you’re in a part of the country where the temperature is warm most of the year (Florida, Texas, Southern California), you’re probably struggling to get your winter clothes out of storage and into your closet.

Before tackling your closet, make sure you have the following on hand:

  • A mechanical kitchen timer (not the digital kind) – the ticking keeps you on task.
  • Some quality and “pretty” storage containers that work for your Organizational Personality. Something like these clear storage bags could work for someone who has an Everything Out (Vicki the Visualist) Personality; these fabric storage boxes will work well for all other organizational personalities.
  • Labels and a marker. Again, this is a personal choice, as you may be someone that likes neatly typed labels. Know what works best for you.

Process

  1. Set your timer for 30 minutes. Go through all the clothes in your closet, and remove all summer gear. Move quickly and make sure you proceed in an orderly fashion right through your closet. Start at one end and move from left to right, or right to left. Do not skip anything.
  2. Set your timer for 30 minutes and unpack and hang your winter clothes.
  3. Set your timer for another 30 minutes and fold and store your summer clothes in your storage containers. If you don’t already have your containers labeled, be sure to do that now.

See if you can store your off-season clothing in your closet. Don’t store them in your basement or garage because that only increases the resistance you will have in switching the clothes back when it’s time to change.

If you have to go somewhere to get your winter clothes, you’re more than likely going to delay the entire process. This is also why it’s a good idea to have some quality and pretty storage containers on hand. Since these will be stored in your closet, you want them to look nice. Who wants to look at some ugly or beat up containers? And since you’ll probably be stacking, your containers need to be of better quality. You want to prevent an avalanche in your closet, right? If you already have containers that work well, there’s no need to waste money (although clutter does like to make us do that).

The containers I suggested are just options. Go with what you like.

You may be wondering why I didn’t title this article “How to Switch Your Seasonal Clothing in Your Closet in Less than 1.5 Hours,” since that is the amount of time allotted to the process here. Simple answer. Take the final 30 minutes to admire your organized closet and feel good about yourself.