If you’re planning a residential move, one of the things that you’ll want to do before you begin packing is to sort through your things. We’re happy to lug whatever you’ve got, but you might have items you don’t feel like bringing into your new space.

Moving to a new place presents a great opportunity to purge your closet and to get rid of some of the things you no longer wear or want. There’s no point in spending effort, time, and even money on packing clothing that you’re just going to store in your new home. The following are a few tips that will help you with cleaning out your closet:

• Barely worn clothes: Pick out clothes you’ve worn maybe once or not at all. Odds are you’re not about to start wearing them now, so sell, donate or give them away.
• Outdated clothes: There may be a few favorite pieces in your wardrobe that you no longer wear because they are stylistically outdated. You could eschew fashion advice and wear them anyway, hold onto them until the wheel of style turns in your favor, or purge you closet and let them go because maybe they’re not your style anymore, either.
• Comfort clothing: Everybody has a few pieces of clothes that they enjoy wearing around the house, but that they would never wear outside for one reason or another. Unless you work from home, you probably don’t wear sweats every day, so you can limit the number of these items you keep.
• Clothing that no longer fits: If you have clothes from years ago, taunting you to fit into them again, consider purging your closet of them. Be careful in this area. We don’t want to get into the time suck of trying every marginal piece of clothing on. Again, if it the combination of you’ve not worn it in a while (because it doesn’t fit) then stop talking about finally getting that new fitness center membership and purge it. Besides, most people’s body shape changes over the years, whether they’ve gained weight or lost weight. It’s the circle of life.
• Worn-out clothes – These are great to wear when you’re doing yard work or chores, but how many work outfits do you really need? Toss anything that’s damaged and can’t be repaired.

The Closet Purge

The time and level of difficulty for purging your closet is going to depend greatly on how long its been since the last ruthless closet purge. And since your purging your closet to literally lighten your load, let’s not talk about just a few things that you haven’t worn for a couple of full seasons.

When it comes to purging your closet and packing for a move, a “less is more” strategy is the best mindset to go into this with. This will make your work and time spent accomplishing this much more efficient and you’ll ultimately end up keeping what you really want ultimately wear.

Most everyone’s closet at some point in time is comprised of the following purgeable general categories:

• Clothes (including shoes) that you can’t comfortably fit into anymore
• Must have purchases that you barely wear (or have ever worn)
• Stuff that just isn’t your style (or anyone else’s) anymore
• Duplicated or semi-duplicate items. Maybe they were on sale at such a good price you bought two
• Damaged or just seen their better days
• Is an upkeep headache. Do you have to wash and dry it by and or even its dry clean only?

Make sure you set aside plenty of time for your closet purge. You don’t want to get backed up against your moving timeline and have to rush. If this happens, you’ll most likely end up keeping most everything thinking… I can do this later at my new place. Not a good idea. Plus, when you give yourself enough time, you’ll be able to take breaks along the way.

Since we are purging the closet and packing for a move the first step is get it all out in the open… everything. Don’t forget drawers, bins, and any other corners of your closet. And while you’re at it… accessories too!

We all have some type of attachment to our favorite clothes, but the first big cut is simple. If you can’t remember that last time you wore it… you’re not attached to it. Gone.

Remember, stay focused on just the facts: Does it still comfortably fit? Is it still a style you enjoy wearing? Is the piece still in good enough shape to wear? It’s difficult to look at clothes that you really enjoy wearing but they just don’t (and aren’t) going fit you comfortably. Remember we want to pack and move only our “A” team clothes that we actually are quite comfortable wearing and purge the closet of all else.

Use these tips to purge your closet when preparing for a move. If you need a trustworthy and reliable moving service, then be sure to contact us at Muscular Moving Men for a free quote today.