Spring has finally arrived here in Calgary, and with it the urge to clean out every corner of my home.  I thought I would provide you with my own personal Spring Closet Clean Out Checklist.  My motto is basically this…help future Mikki in every way possible.

1. Before unpacking a stitch of spring or summer clothing I sort through my winter clothing.  Go through your sweaters, shirts, pants, blouses and dresses.  Determine what is absolutely winter wear only and make a pile.
2. While going through the winter-only pile look for items that need to be washed, mended or tailored and put them to the side.
3. Now is an excellent time to see what you’ve gotten use out of and what sat the entire winter without wear.  If you kept it around at the beginning of winter to ‘give it one last chance’, now is the time to donate, sell or store the item.
4. On items that need to be washed, determine whether you are able to do it yourself or need to take it to a drycleaner.
5. Neatly fold all items in a way to minimize creases.  If there’s an item that tends to badly crease you can fold it with a piece of tissue on the inside to help ward off unwanted wrinkles.
6. Purchase or pull out mothballs and/or cedars balls to store in the sealed Tupperware where your clothing will be stored.  Make sure the smell of cedar is evident, as this is what repels moths from clothing.
7. For winter coats and parkas, I personally like to invest in getting my outerwear dry-cleaned.  When you bring coats home from the cleaners, store in a cotton garment bag and hang.  (You have no idea how fulfilling this step is come winter.  Pulling out my garment bags filled with fresh wool coats and perfectly pressed parkas is the most amazing feeling ever.  It’s like shopping without spending any money).  Taking care of your garments also increases their longevity.
8. Lastly before pulling out and organizing the spring goods I like to go through my boots in the same manner.  In Calgary we deal with salt everywhere, so for any boots that haven’t been hit too hard I make sure they don’t have any salt sitting on them from the winter.  If there is salt residue I take a damp rag and wipe it off.  For footwear like my motorcycle boots that bore the brunt of the winter weather, I take them to the professionals.  At a shoe cobbler you can have soles replace, leather buffed up and protectant spray added to reinforce them for another long winter.   This again has increased the longevity of my footwear, and come fall I feel like I’m shopping in a department store, not like I need a new pair of boots because the winter destroyed my last pair.

While this seems like a lot of work, the extra years and life you will get out of your wardrobe is well worth the hassle of visiting the dry cleaner and shoe cobbler.  You don’t understand how satisfying it is come fall to open your closet to a fresh, clean wardrobe.  Your future self thanks you in advance.