Cleaning Your Closet: What Makes Reverse Decluttering Such an Effective Method?

If you’re up to your neck in clutter and clothes, maybe it’s time to roll up your sleeves and clean out your closet. But you may be asking yourself questions like: Where should you start decluttering first, how do you know what to get rid of and what to keep, and how do you keep the clutter from coming back? The answer is simple – use the Reverse Decluttering method, also called Backward Decluttering. Find out what this is and how you can use it in this article!

What is Reverse Decluttering?

When you clean out your closet, you usually start by going through your clothes and considering what you should get rid of. Instead, try reversing this mindset. First, focus on what you want to KEEP – not what you should throw away.

Determine what is essential. An essential can be an absolute must-have or an absolute favorite. Something you wear daily or, if not daily, then regularly and often.

To narrow down to the essentials, ask yourself questions like:

• What are the most important items of clothing you want to take with you in the event of an evacuation?
• When you’re building your closet from scratch, what items do you absolutely want to have in it?
• What are the clothes you love to wear and feel most comfortable in?

The answers to these questions will help you create a capsule wardrobe that includes only the clothes you really enjoy wearing and that you actually need. Yes, we know this is easier said than done. That’s why we’re going to give you some tips on how to actually implement this method into practice.

Also read: What to Do About Too Much Dust in Your Home?

Clear Your Closet – How to Use the Backward Decluttering Method?

If you find it difficult to part with your clothes and keep piling up new clothes, some of which you have never even worn, then the Backward Decluttering method is for you and, believe us, it will change your life and bring a variety of benefits. A small, simplified wardrobe will help you get dressed faster and easier, identify your clothing needs, rediscover your true fashion sense, and save money by not buying things you obviously don’t like. So, if you want to improve your life immediately, then you should clean out your closet as soon as possible – here’s how!

Also read: How to save space in your closet? Marie Kondo’s brilliant solution!

Create a Capsule Wardrobe – Follow These Steps

1. Start by taking all of your clothes out of the closet and placing them on the floor or bed. Then only take out those that you really like to wear or that you need for work or sport, for example.
2. Take a look at the collection and think about what is missing from it. Maybe your capsule contains a lot of jeans and pants, but very few skirts or dresses or t-shirts and tops.
3. Once you have identified the deficiencies, complete your selection so that you can assemble a complete outfit that you like from different items of clothing.
4. At this point you might realize that you need more outerwear, for example. Note what “flaws” come up and think about why you don’t enjoy wearing the outerwear you own but didn’t make it into the capsule wardrobe.
5. Once you’ve finished your selection, think about whether there are any seasonal items (e.g. a swimsuit, a ski outfit, or a very formal dress) that you wear once a year but still like. If so, place them in the capsule wardrobe as well.
6. When you notice that you feel the urge to wear that black cardigan, you can go to the boxes and pull out the relevant piece. However, you should not take too much advantage of these recalls.
7. After 6 months you can make a clear judgment: what is left in the boxes after this period is something you will probably never wear again. So just donate these clothes – you don’t need them, but someone else will like them.

Cleaning Your Closet Is Not a Waste of Money

Many people are tormented by financial guilt and feel like they’re wasting money when they get rid of perfectly good, even unworn, clothes, so they keep them for years “just in case” or because they don’t want to “throw money away.”

However, it’s time to realize that it doesn’t matter how much you paid for a Prada dress if it’s sitting unworn in the closet two years after you bought it with the tags still on!

Typically, the money isn’t wasted when you get rid of things, but rather when you buy them in the first place. Let go of your guilt and focus on being more conscious about your purchases in the future.

Also read: Weekend Cleaning Tips: Keep Your Home Tidy With These 5 Simple Tasks