Workout clothes can be bulky or slim, but either way, if you work out regularly, you are going to collect a lot of different workout clothes—and they’ll take up a lot of space. The cleanliness of your home is important to your physical and mental health, so we’ve got a few tips for keeping your workout wardrobe organized that can keep you from getting overwhelmed by clothing clutter.
The size of your body is constantly going to be changing if you're on a regular workout regimen, so the clothes that you bought at the beginning of your exercise journey may not fit anymore. And what’s the point of hanging on to clothes that don’t fit? Donate workout clothing that is in good condition so it doesn’t sit in your wardrobe wasting space. Even personal wardrobe items like sports bras are fine to donate if they’re still in very good condition. Whatever you do decide to donate, make sure to wash it very well before boxing it up for your chosen charity or resale shop. If your old workout clothes are not in good or even usable condition anymore, you may have to pitch them.
Try not to hold onto things for no reason. If you don’t wear something for whatever reason, find someone who will wear it. If you need help organizing, don’t hesitate to ask a friend to help you decide which things to keep or get rid of. A second pair of eyes can be invaluable when it comes down to reducing your collection.
It may sound simple, but it will help if you know what clothes fit best into different areas of your storage space before you start organizing. Know what articles of your wardrobe you want to hang and which things to put into drawers. Before you put anything into drawers or in cubbies, make sure to fold them neatly to avoid wrinkles. Jackets might belong in a closet, while your workout tops can go, neatly folded, into drawers with your normal clothes. Make a written list of workout clothes and where they belong if it helps you sort out your thoughts.
While you’re sifting through all your workout clothes, try to sort them by the season you wear them. Workout clothes with long sleeves can sit in the “fall” pile, while tank-tops will go into the “spring” or “summer” pile. Once you have everything sorted, you can use large plastic tubs to box the out-of-season clothes up until you need them, labeling each tub with the appropriate season. You may need a larger tub for items like winter coats, especially if you’re organizing clothes for others in addition to your own. Store the tubs somewhere out of the way but not completely inaccessible so that you can take them out if there is a weird weather day. If where you live is extremely unpredictable, even during winter or summer months, keep a few seasonal pieces of your wardrobe out even during their opposite season, but stow most of them away.
Where you live may not have seasons that differ from each other drastically, so you might not have the luxury of being able to stow things away for months at a time. You can, however, skip right to organizing by purpose. Outdoor fashion, like coats or jackets from Escape Outdoors, can all hang in a separate closet while you organize your indoor looks in your dresser. Store more situational clothes in the less accessible spots, and reserve the more accessible storage for the clothes you wear most often.
If you don’t have a lot of space in your house, you need to use all storage areas and closets as efficiently as possible. Adding new shelving units, drawers, or containers to your closets can add more space that you didn’t even know you had. Put cubbies in your coat closet for all your shoes. You can even label each cubby for which type of shoe goes where. Add extra wired shelves that you can store hangers from if you only have one closet for your clothes. Not only can you put things on top of these shelves, but the extra hanger space can be useful for either clothes or hanging closet organizers. Extra storage space in the form of shelves and containers doesn’t just help your wardrobe organization; it also helps with your overall organization.
If you have extra wall space, you can install shelves or hooks that will provide even more extra storage. This can add decoration to your house while giving you more space for your workout gear.
When storing your workout clothes in a drawer, the space can feel cluttered extremely quickly. Drawer dividers can separate your garments so that your clothes look organized instead of jumbled carelessly in the drawer. Dividers can be as simple as cardboard cutouts, making them an inexpensive project. It’s also easy to change dividers out when it’s time to rearrange clothes or reorganize. Since you can customize them however you want, you can make different sized nodes for each different kind of clothes you have. Smaller types of clothes, like sports bras and tank tops, can have smaller nodes, while chunkier clothes, like long-sleeved shirts and pants, can have more space.
Scheduling outfits works for typical daily outfits, making it an excellent tip for keeping your workout wardrobe organized. You don’t need to write your outfits down on a calendar or anything—just mark each outfit or hanger with something as simple as a sticky note. If you use hangers for each outfit, have a label on each one for every day. You can also have cubbies marked with each day to put the outfits in. At the beginning of each week, organize the outfits in whatever way you see fit. Doing this will speed up your morning routine as well. Schedules allow to you keep your life in order, too, so having certain workout outfits or no workout clothes for specific days can help you remember events on that day.
Staying organized can be a daunting task, especially with the different kinds of clothes you can collect over time. Different methods of organizing will work differently for you, so if something doesn’t work, make sure you try something new instead of giving up. In the end, organizing your workout wardrobe will make your day-to-day workout routine easier, so be sure to keep these tips in mind when you begin.
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