Decluttered your wardrobe? Make sure you do these four things before putting clothes back in

9honey Living's The Wash Up: Your 30-day spring cleaning guide is a month-long series aimed at making your annual house clean easier with hacks and expert advice.

Decluttering and reorganising a wardrobe is a massive job so the last thing you want is any problem that means you have to clean it out again sooner.

So after you've taken out and sorted through all your clothes and cleaned all the surfaces inside the wardrobe, consider doing these few things to prevent a bigger problem down the track.

And if you want to make the decluttering process quicker and easier next time there is a simple hack that will make a huge difference.

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Prevent mould and mildew

When the doors are closed wardrobes can become a dark enclosed space with little to no air flow making it the perfect breeding ground for mould and mildew to grow.

To prevent the fungi from ruining your favourite clothes and shoes, consider adding moisture absorbers (even chalk or an open box of baking soda can help).

Dehumidifiers in or near the wardrobe (depending on the model) will also prevent mould from growing.

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When you return clothes and shoes to the wardrobe, make sure to not overfill and cramp the space to help with ventilation – this shouldn't be too hard since you've just decluttered.

Once the items are back in, get in the habit of opening the wardrobe doors, the bedroom door and the window to encourage air flow. Ventilation is key to preventing mould so this is important.

Opening the blinds and curtains to let the sunshine flow in also works wonders.

But if mould persists call in the professionals as it could potentially be caused by a leak somewhere and won't go away until the root of the problem is addressed.

Prevent bad odours

Cleaning the wardrobe by dusting and wiping shelves and vacuuming the floor will give you a fresh smelling space to add some prevention hacks to.

You'll go a long way to stopping icky smells in your closet by preventing mould and mildew and ensuring good ventilation following the steps above.

Some of the same moisture absorbers that help stop mould also absorb bad odours (even baking soda and chalk) so they're a good investment – you can even find ones that hang on the rail with your clothes.

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With that sorted, if you want a particular fragrance in your wardrobe, you can spray your favourite perfume or essential oil on a jumbo chalk stick, adhesive felt pad or wool dryer balls and place them throughout.

Consider boxing up shoes or placing odour absorbers in them to stop feet smells spreading throughout your wardrobe. The cheapest odour absorber option is making your own by adding a tablespoon or two inside coffee filter paper and sealing that with string or a bendable tie.

Prevent closet moths

As if mould, mildew and odours aren't bad enough, having moths make holes in your clothes is just as bad, if not worse.

Moths invade closets because they're attracted to the keratin in garments made from natural fibres like wool, so sealing those in airtight bags or containers is important.

Cedar or camphor hangers and balls will help deter moths, while moth pheromone traps will catch the critters before they can do too much damage – just don't place traps and deterrents near one another otherwise they'll cancel each other out.

Moths also don't like the scent of lavender, thyme and cloves so you could use those essential oils for the previously mentioned odour hack (with chalk sticks or wool dryer balls) to kill two moths with one stone.

Like preventing mould and odours, to prevent moth infestations keep the wardrobe ventilated and clean regularly with a vacuum to remove any eggs or larvae as they appear.

Prevent a huge wardrobe declutter job

If you're diligent with the above, the next time you clean your wardrobe will be much less of a pain.

But you'll also need to keep on top of your clothes situation or you'll be faced with sorting through everything in a few months time again.

The best hack to prevent this is to declutter as you go by keeping a box in your wardrobe where you can add clothes as soon as you realise you want to give it away.

Then when you next need to clean the wardrobe, theoretically everything you plan to get rid of will be in that box.

Another handy trick is to face all your coat hangers the same way as you return the items to the wardrobe. Then as you wear them over the next six months each time you put them back in the wardrobe turn the coat hanger the opposite direction.

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By the end of the season you'll know what clothes you actually wear by the direction the coat hanger they're on faces.

Do all of that before you put all your clothes back into your wardrobe and you'll have a beautifully organised, fresh space with minimal cleaning problems.

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