Spending 20 mins in the wardrobe pays off huge dividends for a family who need to get moving quickly in the morning. There’s nothing worse than not being able to find anything you need in a hurry.
By the end of school term the children’s wardrobes get messy and cluttered. Also, young children grow out of things at the rate of knots. I like to schedule a wardrobe de-clutter in once a quarter. Then it doesn’t have to be a big deal.
Last weekend I had literally 20 minutes to spare. So I did a quick de-clutter in my 3 year old son’s wardrobe. I literally put the timer on, grabbed a drink, turned on the music and got to work. The time flew. An entire bag of clothes left the house and went to happy recipients.
A few tips to speed up the exercise: 
- make sure you’ve finished doing the laundry and put it away first. That way you have the total number of clothes all in front of you.
- Before you toss, make sure you’ve grouped like with like. All short sleeved t-shirts together, all long pants, shorts, etc. That way you can see what you’ve got.
- Set some rules. Mine were that it all had to fit neatly in his wardrobe. If it was stained or torn, it had to go, if it didn’t fit it had to go and if it was too big (hand me downs) it had to go on the bottom shelf at the back. I also decided no more than 21 t-shirts.
- I kept a notebook next to me to write down anything he needed for the winter season.
- Involve them in the process. This is obvious: You wouldn’t want anyone getting rid of your clothes without talking to you first. I nearly threw away a hilarious old romper that I didn’t think he needed any more, but he threw himself down on the floor and cuddled it, so I knew we had to keep it.
If you’re keen on getting into the de-cluttering mode and save precious space, time, energy and money, then come and join the Biggest Tosser Challenge. We hosted our first competition over the Easter weekend, but due to popular demand, we have now made it an ongoing challenge. Sign up here and get your free tips for de-cluttering your life: http://www.didyourememberthemilk.com.au/the-biggest-tosser