Following these four steps will make switching out your winter clothing for your spring duds easy. Give yourself some time, get organized and be dazzled by your success.

Purge like you mean it.

The first step to freshening your closet is to purge. Take the time to go through all of your winter clothing and accessories to determine if you keep, donate or toss. Try on things you didn’t wear. As you discard, make a list of the things you’ll need for next season.

Store your winter possessions correctly.

Whether you box everything up and store away, or have another closet for out-of-season clothing make sure that you take the time to store your items correctly. Launder or dry clean clothing and then store it based on the type of fabric. Sweaters and heavy knit clothing will need to be folded. Woven fabric can stay on hangers.

Freshen up.

Take the time to vacuum and clean your closet before you add your clothes back in. Wipe down the walls and dust the rods. Add a bag of lavender to keep your closet smelling fresh. To eliminate the odor from smelly shoes is to pour a little baking soda into the shoe to absorb moisture and smell. If your shoes really smell, place the shoes in a sealed ziplock bag and freeze overnight. The freezing temperature will kill the odor causing bacteria. Shake out baking soda before wearing.

Try different organizational methods.

Organize your clothes to make putting outfits together easier: group by color and type of clothing. Use zones in your closet- you can organize by outfits for days of the week, group by type of clothing(tank tops, long-sleeve, blouses, etc, or whatever works best for you. Use matching hangers and turn your hangers the opposite way and as you wear the clothes, turn the hangers the right way. This will make editing your closet later a lot easier

Adapted from Organized Living