Wardrobes and Cupboards

You can close a wardrobe door, but you can't hide from what's behind it. If you have a cluttered and chaotic bedroom the chances are you don't dare to look inside your wardrobe too closely. Now is the time to take your courage in both hands. Organize your wardrobe and the rest of the bedroom will soon fall into place.

REORGANIZING YOUR WARDROBE

Face it - you have more clothes than your wardrobe can possibly accommodate. Devote three hours (no more or you will probably abandon the job halfway through) to reorganizing. Equip yourself with a mirror and three bin bags.

Empty everything out onto the bed, and that means everything - even those mysterious plastic hags you just don't want to deal with.

Sort everything into three piles - Keepers (because it fits, it suits you and you like it), Fixers (because it suits you, you like it, but it needs cleaning, repairing or altering), or Binners (because life is just too short to await the return of the gilt-buttoned box jacket).

Sort your Keepers into seasons. Out-of-season clothes can be washed, dry-cleaned, pressed and stored, preferably in a vacuum-packed bag. Don't store anything that hasn't been cleaned - dirty linen can attract permanent mildew stains in storage and moths will ruin your wool and cashmere.

Clean that wardrobe. Dust and sponge down shelves, vacuum the floor and lift the carpet if possible to get underneath. Moth larvae love dark, undisturbed corners and are more likely to settle in natural than synthetic fibres. If you discover any visitors, ask your chemist about insecticide strips which you can hang in your wardrobe, then inspect and vacuum again in a week's time.

CUPBOARDS & DRAWERS

• GO THROUGH the same routine as you did for the wardrobe with your drawers, binning anything worn-out or embarrassing.
• VACUUM and sponge down each drawer or shelf individually. Move the chest of drawers and vacuum behind and underneath it.
• PACK away any out-of-season items and decant some of the bulkier, wrinklier items to your new roomy wardrobe.

WARDROBE WISDOM

Dig out those pot pourri-scented clothes hangers and lavender bags that have been stuffed away since Christmas. Cedar wood helps keep moths ,il bay but don't bang silk or linen on cedar as the natural wood resin may stain them. Rehang your clothes (seasonal Keepers only) in order of colour and type - i.e. all seven pairs of black trousers together.