Conquering my Clothing Clutter

I've been slowly chipping away at making the switch from winter clothes to summer wear, so I was excited to be able to share it with you and participate in a linky party all at the same time! Aren't linky parties just so much fun?

Here in Nova Scotia, one can't ever completely make the switch from winter to summer clothes. Only the heaviest sweaters get put away, the rest has to stay out all. summer. long. Yup, its June and I'm still wearing knee socks, coats and sweaters! But I do make a point to go through all my clothes, purge, and re-organize in the spring and fall, anyway.

Here is my nicely organized closet space!

I get an end of this rod in a space tucked in the eaves of our house. Not an ideal closet, but it allows me to hang up the most pertinent things. Our house is over 200 years old, so it doesn't have any original built-in closets. I'm thankful for the space I do have!

I try to organize things by type and then by color. Coats and jackets are first, followed by dresses. Denim and khaki skirts come next....

Just in the last year, I started hanging my heaviest skirts this way, instead of on traditional skirt hangers. They easily hang over a hanger just like pants would, and I haven't had any trouble with crease lines. I just found that these heavier skirts fell out of skirt hangers, and I never have enough of those, anyway. :)

Next are my lighter skirts. I hang them 2 on a hanger, and use these hangers that can tier to maximize the space. (At the end of the rod there are Christmas costumes hanging...don't mind those!)

This method really allows me to keep the amount of space I use to a minimum, which works well for everyone. During the winter months, my bulky winter coats take up more room, but for the summer things are pretty stream-lined!

I went through all of my clothes, the hanging ones and the ones in my dresser, and purged out anything I didn't want any more or anything I didn't wear during this last season. If I never wore it all winter, out it goes! No sense keeping things I'm clearly not going to wear! I also purged out a few things that....sigh....didn't fit any more. I can't believe I just typed that, but its true! There were a few things that will only fit if I go through 4 stressful years of college again, which I'm not planning to do. :)

Of course, it always seems to be my favorite items that don't fit or get worn out. {sad face}

I ended up with half a garbage bag to donate...not bad!

As for how I store my off-season clothes, I keep it pretty simple. I like to put heavy socks, gloves, hats and such in ziplock bags to keep them contained together. I just press out as much air as I can, and they become space saver bags! (almost!)

Everything gets packed in a tote, which I labeled with these (free!) labels:

For my winter boots, I rolled up a catalog to put inside each one to help them hold their shape. Then I just slipped them in a plastic bag for protection, and stored them in the attic along side the tote. The boots would not fit in the tote, in case you were wondering...I have waaaay too many clothes for that. :)

So there you have it, a run-down of my clothing storage and how I handle clothing clutter.  Do you have a simple, streamlined method? Or are you one of those lucky people that live in a summertime climate all year round?? I envy you....