By VIVY YUSOF
alltherage@thestar.com.my

I am sitting on my bed, but only a tiny portion of it. What’s taking up the space? My clothes!

To welcome 2012, I wanted to de-clutter my room. With a neat and organised space around you, your mind becomes more at peace. Plus you don’t waste time having to search for things all the time.

I started with the hardest section of all for me – my wardrobe.

With utmost bravery, I took everything out of my closet and made several different piles on my bed. It was already late at night, so I thought I would just continue the next day.

It has now been three days and I still can’t see my bed.

My parents think I’m such a sweet daughter these days because I keep wanting to sleep in their room, but really, I just needed their bed to sleep on.

I once read a book that said a girl has to spring-clean her wardrobe every six months as trends change and your look needs to be updated. I try to do this myself, but not exactly for those reasons. Trends schmends! I do it only because I can’t seem to find what I want after every six months.

De-cluttering your wardrobe is tough

New things start filling up the closet and pretty soon, I would find myself simply rotating the 10 blouses that are on the top of the huge pile!

I am ashamed to say that like many girls, I have more clothes than I need. I’m wondering if God has a sense of humour and will understand that a girl just simply has no willpower when it comes to her wardrobe. No two white long-sleeved shirts are the same, I promise!

When it comes to my wardrobe, I take the time to make sure that I can see everything I have and I give them each equal chance to be paraded in the outside world.

Don’t freak out, but I photograph each and every single one of my clothes, and look at the pictures on my laptop when I want to get dressed every day. From basic tank tops to black pants, I have them in different iPhoto folders. I call it my “Oracle”.

Seriously, you’ll never know the satisfaction of this type of wardrobe organisation until you try it. When you see everything on screen, you’ll be amazed to find some items you didn’t know you had! For some, it might even spark a “Wow I should stop shopping for a while” moment.

I, unfortunately, have had no such voice in my head.

Dressing in the morning is also much easier with this system. It’s just like shopping online, but the best part is that you already have what you want.
Say goodbye to the “I have nothing to wear” excuse!

Once you have established your own Oracle, you just have to do two things after that. One is to always update your Oracle when you have new purchases.
Secondly, you must make sure nothing happens to your laptop. I spilled water on mine, and had to start the Oracle from scratch!

However, virtual organisation is not enough. Sure, you’ve got the clothes carefully categorised on your laptop, but your messy room is still why your mother screams at you every day.

If you have a huge closet space, it would be nice to have your clothes on hangers. That way, you can see everything and you never have to fold or iron. Of course, if you don’t have much space, then you are in the same boat as I am.

Here are some simple steps in arranging your clutter:

Hanger vs folding

You will need a rack or something to hang your clothes. If you don’t have one in your cupboard, you can always buy those single/double-rod laundry racks they sell in stores. Always get a sturdy one to accommodate the weight of your clothes. The items that go on these racks are blazers, dresses, shirts, delicate blouses.For everything else, just fold them.Here’s a tip – knitwear and chiffon should always be folded to avoid them getting misshapen.

Colour code

It is actually quite fun to see your closet filled with clothes neatly arranged according to colour. As long as you can differentiate white and black, you should have no problem following this step.

Type of clothes

Sort your clothes according to type – work clothes, party, clubbing, sports, traditional, formal etc – so you know which section to go to for certain occasions.

Also, group your clothes with their own kind. Separate your tops from your cardigans, your dresses from your skirts, your jeans from your slacks. This is the most important categorisation, I would say.

Let’s start the year with a wardrobe that won’t give us migraines! One tip, though. When you start your own spring cleaning, always try to finish it off on the same day while you still have the momentum going.

It’s been days for me, and my clothes are taking over my bed. I have a feeling that when you read my next article, I would have learned the art of folding myself into a small compact ball on my bed.