I’m guilty of this as well! But as I was doing laundry last week, I realized a quick way to determine if it’s time to trash or donate clothes you no longer need.

Read on to see the laundry hack I use to help me clean out my closet and I’m sure it will help you too.

As I was gathering my three loads of laundry, I realized I wash the same clothes over and over and over again. Which isn’t surprising, since most people only wear 20 percent of their wardrobe.

After I finished with the laundry, but before I put the clean clothes back in my closet, I got real for a minute.

If there was a garment hanging in my closet that I hadn’t washed all season, I packed it away to be donated or sold. The reasoning? If I couldn’t remember the last time I washed it, that meant I most likely haven’t worn it and it’s just took up space in my closet all season but didn’t get any wear.

Obviously this didn’t apply to out of season clothes like jackets, coats, sweaters, etc. that I haven’t worn in a few months. But if there was a pair of shorts, tank, sleeveless dress or crop top that was ignored this summer, it got the boot.

This is really great to do anytime but especially after you’ve just done laundry. Part of the pain of cleaning out your closet is determining which clothes you no longer wear, need or love. But the clothes that you just washed are clearly still a part of your regular wardrobe {you washed them because you wore them!}. So what’s left in your closet is all you really have to deal with.

So ditch those pieces that are just hanging around. It’ll make more room for the threads you really adore.

Photos: 1, 2, 3