By Joanna Delson

As you rearrange your closets and drawers and check all the pockets in your suitcases before putting them away for a while, read the following column. It offers good advice for how to clean and organize as summer vacation ends and the fall begins. Hold onto the column for the next time you pack and unpack for any vacation you take. Within each time you pack or unpack there is a hidden opportunity to purge,
reassess, and reorganize your space!

For those who are able to get away during the summer, it is a good time to take stock of your closet. The act of packing and unpacking can help you do that. Even if you travel with warm weather clothes during these summer months, packing can help you assess your wardrobe and offers a fine opportunity to clear out your closet and drawers as you search for the right clothing to bring on vacation. The same can be said for unpacking which offers another opportunity to go through drawers and closets while you put things away from your suitcase. What is really in those drawers and closets?

As you pack, go through any drawer or rack you take something from. Keep a shopping bag beside you to hold anything you might give away (be ruthless!) and another bag for the items you will throw away (too worn out to donate). Do you have too many t-shirts or pairs of black pants? Do you have jeans that don’t quite fit the right way? If you are pressed for time when you pack, do this job as you unpack. This way you clear out your wardrobe for the fall season.

Packing and unpacking for vacation also offers a good opportunity to cast a critical eye over your clothes. What haven’t you worn this year? Do you have items in your closet that still have the tags on them? Often living with less of a wardrobe while you are traveling, frees you to think about what you do (and don’t) need. Sometimes bringing a not-often-worn item on vacation with you will tell you whether you really can use it in your wardrobe or not. Did you make use of it while you were away or did it languish in your suitcase the same way it languishes in the closet at home?

So, perhaps the best time to clear those closets and drawers is after a long summer when you finally unpack for the last time. (Or, if you haven’t been away, just “pretend” the process as the summer ends and the new school year begins.) What, in those drawers, shouldn’t you wear any longer, haven’t you worn, or are you keeping “for the future” or out of guilt? Now, is the time to simplify your storage and your wardrobe (unpack it, so to speak) and open up some space to let the cool, autumn air in.

Joanna Delson is the founder of Space Management, a design resource that specializes in redesigning small spaces so that they live bigger. Joanna can be reached at joannadelson@gmail.com