How to keep your winter garments healthy and germ-free

New Delhi: Come winter, we are faced with huge piles of clothes that just refuse to fit into assigned spaces in our wardrobes. While we look forward to the season to wear amazing jackets, sweaters, denim etc this year we also have the additional consideration of keeping our winter wear disinfected.

Most of the heavy garments we use are not of the 'wash after every wear' variety. The continuous tension of cleaning and disinfecting our surrounding and clothes is a serious and tedious task, especially when stepping out of our homes has increased manifolds. Here are some easy hacks to manage and disinfect our winter garments:

Purge: While we all have out routines of transitioning our wardrobes from summer clothes to winter clothes, we often forget to sift out the clothes we are done with. It is hard yes. One often feels 'Maybe I'll wear it with something else', 'Maybe I'll use it at home' etc, but do we really? Purging always helps.

Separate fresh clothes from the ones: Having an assigned rack space or hanger space to hand jackets/sweaters that are used on the regular helps to separate them from the garments that are only used on occasion. Especially this year, creating this designated space frees up the mind from clothes and disinfection management worries. You know where each item belongs, and you don't need to mess up the section of clothes not used often.

Keep a clothes spray handy: Every time we come home from outside, the hand washing ritual has become sacrosanct. We usually go straight in to the shower and add the clothes we have been wearing to the 'to be washed' pile. This doesn't work for winter clothes though does it? In the area designated for 'already worn' garments, keep a clothes disinfectant spray like the one from Savlon handy. This products doesn't need any water for use, disinfects clothes in-between washes while also leaving a fresh smell behind. And it is completely safe for all a wide variety of materials (like shirts, pants, jackets, kurtas, etc). Instant rescue.

Here are a few more cool tricks:

» If you have garments in velvet, hang them in the bathroom inside out, after you have taken a hot shower. The steam in the bathroom helps remove creases from velvet, mildly disinfects and adds new life to the garment

» Allow 24 hours before wearing wool items you have already worn again to get rid of wrinkles and allow the elasticity of the knit to bounce back. This also gives enough time for your clothes spray to work its magic into the garment

» Triple fold cashmere items so there is no middle fold visible and put it back in the cupboard wrapped in a sheet of paper with some mild clothes fragrance pouch. This helps keep the garment fresh and last longer

» When throwing winter garments into the washing machine, remember to not mix wool with denim etc. Use a clothes disinfectant liquid for the final rinse cycle to ensure maximum germ protection.