Why hello spring!

Last week, my part of the world turned on a beautiful day for the first of September. Inspired by the gorgeous weather (and maybe influenced by nesting: #29weekspregnant) I’m tackling my wardrobe this month.

Now, I’m a bit of a storage junkie. I mean, Ikea’s home organisation section is my happy place. I never met a box/container/magazine holder I didn’t like. I’m always on the quest for the perfect storage solution. Mr M even reckons my wardrobe contains more items to organise clothes/shoes than it does actual items to organise (but then, he doesn’t really know the full extent of my clothes buying habits does he? Silly Mr M.)

I’m currently at that tricky stage where some of my pre-baby clothes no longer fit but my bump doesn’t quite fill the maternity clothes I bought in a fit of excitement about having a legitimate reason to buy new clothes.

(Here’s a tip new-mums-to-be, hold your horses! I assumed I’d be getting plenty of wear out of the maternity clothes I bought at the start but here I am, seven months down, and still fitting into a lot of my non-maternity clothes. I’ve got away with wearing leggings, longer shirts/jumpers, stretchy dresses and low-waisted jeans this winter, although I do have a couple pairs of maternity jeans on high rotation. Anyway, that’s a post for another day).

Where was I…oh yes, it’s time to give my wardrobe a good audit so it is only full of pieces that will see me through the next few months.

I want to:

• Draft out winter clothes to store for next year
• Cull any items I no longer want/wear and either sell, give to friends or donate to charity
• Sort items that need dry-cleaning, repairs or alternations
• Identify what might be missing, especially in anticipation of my new role as a mama. Hello breast-feeding friendly tops!

If you want to play along and spring-clean your wardrobe too, I’ll be sharing my favourite closet organising tips each week.

First up, the coat hanger.

Now, I never thought I would rave about a coat hanger but these babies have revolutionised my wardrobe.

I mean, look at this:

See what I did there? Ten of these streamlined hangers (on the right) take up the less space than five mismatched ones. And you know what that means? More room for shopping, yayayay!

My favourite features:

• The coating: The flocked/velvety covering stops clothes from slipping off, especially tops/dresses with thin straps. (However, I still use nice padded hangers for silks and knits, to prevent misshapen shoulders.)
• The hook: If you have a dress with a belt, hang the belt to this little hook to keep the items together. I also use the hooks to ‘connect’ similar items. For example, I ‘hook’ all my white shirts together. That way, if I want to wear a white shirt, they are all chillin’ together in the same spot for easy access.
• The price: you can pick these coat hangers up at Kmart, Target and discount stores for around $8/10 – or keep your eye out for cheaper bulk packs. From memory I got a pack of 50 for around $20 from Cheap as Chips.

The only downside? What to do with all those old plastic hangers. Any ideas?

Love, Mrs M xx