Seasonal Clothing Swap: The Perfectly Organized Seasonal Clothing Swap

Our top tips to organize your closet for a seasonal clothing swap!

As professional organizers, we often seasonally rotate clothing for clients and create storage solutions for overflow clothing. This is great for those who don’t have large closets, or who have a large volume of items that don’t fit in the spaces they do have. We prefer to leave some breathing room for clothing and accessories so it is easier to find what is needed and things don’t get all scrunched together. Read on to find our top tips for a perfectly organized seasonal clothing swap so your closet will be organized and stress free come fall (or spring!).

A seasonal swap can look different depending on where you live. Here in Nashville, our seasons aren’t as distinct as they may be up north so our seasonal swaps typically fall into the category I like to call “heavy winter’ or ‘heavy summer’. Meaning parkas, wool sweaters, etc. being packed up for warmer weather and swimsuits, shorts, etc. being packed up for winter. Many of the items we have here are transitional like cardigans, light jackets, t-shirts, etc. For climates that have more defined seasons, there may end up being 4 seasonal swaps but here in the south, it’s usually just twice a year.

We like to keep things somewhat accessible for travel needs, and to make it easy to do the swap so we typically store these out of season items in a guest room closet, under a bed, a storage room, basement, or in a walk in attic. Someplace that is accessible but not cluttering up a main living space.

Step 1: Pull out all of the seasonal items in your closet & drawers

Note if any have staining, is looking tired or worn, or if any repairs are needed. Nothing is worse than pulling out things you want to wear for a new season and finding out that it isn’t actually wearable!

Step 2: Group them in like categories and take a few minutes to edit out items that you know in your heart you really won’t wear next year.

Step 3: Neatly fold each item and keep them in their groups or hang on a garment rack.

Step 4: Store your seasonal items (our best tips!):

• Always clean (launder at home or dry clean) prior to storing as stains and odors can appear over time that may not have been noticeable at the time
• We like to store hanging clothes either using Z racks (large garment racks with a Z design on the bottom for stability) or regular garment racks with a cover to keep dust off of the garments.  
• For non-hanging clothes we typically use weathertight totes (from Container Store) that have a gasket seal and fold or roll clothes inside. We add desiccant packs to the totes to absorb any moisture. Depending on the volume of each category, we suggest separate bins for groups of items (sweaters, pants, etc.)
• If clothing will hang for a long period of time, it is best to use a hanger that has a wider shoulder piece to prevent dents from forming over time. For a seasonal rotation, standard hangers are generally fine.
• We recommend wiping out bins each time you swap and making sure it is completely dry.
• If you like scent, you can add sachets or essential oils to a bin to keep things smelling fresh. Be sure that the essential oils are added in a way that won’t impact the clothing like on a wool ball or a diffuser designed for proximity.

Step 5: Label bins by more generic terms like “out of season” or “seasonal” so you don’t have to relabel for each season or have empty bins. We love our Brother PTouch label maker for this!

Pack in spring:

• parkas
• winter boots
• wool/cashmere sweaters
• turtlenecks
• winter workout
• bulky sweatshirts
• hats, gloves & heavy scarves
• flannels
• heavy shawls

Pack in fall:

• swimwear (but keep a resort collection accessible)
• beach cover ups
• tank tops
• shorts
• flip flops & sandals
• light pajamas
• summer dresses
• light sweaters/cardigans

We love the seasonal clothing swap because it gives you a chance to edit your closet on a regular basis plus frees up space each season for the things you actually need to find. 

Closet organizing

Seasonal clothing swap

Home organizing

Storage solutions

Closet storage

Closet labeling

ROYGBIV