Right, who's up for a wear everything you own challenge??

[carlywurly]

It occurred to me as I battled to shut my wardrobe door this morning that I only wear about 5-10% of the clothes I own, and am probably sitting on a small fortune in potential ebay sales. Plus I long to own a wardrobe so organised that you can swish hangers about rather than wedge them in vertically.

So I've decided to start at one end and actually wear everything I own (obviously not all at one in Joey from Friends style ), being really ruthless at getting shot of the things that don't suit me, don't go with anything else or have other incarnations I just prefer.

Anyone want to join me? Today I am in an exciting grey ensemble of Next sweatshirt top dug out from under a pile of stuff on a shelf (surprisingly flattering), Gap cropped grey cargo trousers and some new charcoal converse fresh out of their box. Underneath is an unflattering Dotty P striped cami top which is doing me no favours and will be duly charity shopped. So that's victim no 1 of the great wardrobe cull...!

[Karbea]

I love this, I'm sure somewhere there is an optimum list of what you actually need clothes wise.

Years ago I had an article that listed all the lingerie you need (I've just listed it in another post) and I'd love something similar for the rest of my wardrobe. I'd love to do a big cull and only have what I need. That way I could over time maybe buy lovely things rather than a lot of okish things iykwim...

[overmydeadbody]

oooh this is what I need to do.

Right, I'm in, but will have to start tomorrow. And if sometyhing isn't doing me any favours I won't keep it on for the rest of the day, I will put it in the charity bag and put something else on.

[daimbardiva]

What a great idea!! Will be interested to hear what % of your wardrobe you end up getting rid of. I'll try and do the same thing once I@m not pregnant anymore!!!

[Tortoise]

I sorted mine out this weekend. 3 carrier bags for charity shop. Down side is that I have hardly anything left to wear and no money to buy anything!

[Colourhelp]

What a fab idea! I want to do this, but only once I can actually fit into the majority of my clothes (midway through baby weigh loss)

[JuicyOlive]

What - all in one go?

[Fimbo]

I thought that too JuicyOlive!

We are getting a new shop in town shortly where you can take all your disasters and they will sell them on your behalf (for a small fee obviously) the only drawback is that it has to be current trends (so that will rule out all the tat that has been lying in the back of my wardrobe for the last 10 years). Will be great for my dd though as I am sick to death of her buying stuff and then never wearing it as she is too self concious.

[IAmRubyLennox]

yay, I like this idea!

I have the most confused, befuddled wardrobe of all time. Also, I'm not great at laundry and ironing so often convince myself I need more t-shirts / jeans / cardigans, when what I really need to do is iron the ones I've got!!

[carlywurly]

Hooray! Let's start properly tomorrow, I'm aiming to flog enough on ebay by the end of this to partially fund a holiday (optimistic!) And the charity shops should do pretty well out of it too.

I am ashamed to admit quite how much stuff I've accumulated. I might take a before and after wardrobe pic to spur me on..

[carlywurly]

Ruby, I'm with you on the ironing. Back in the deep, shameful, frivolous past I have actually bought new linen trousers rather than just ironed the ones I own...

[Miaowww]

Ok, I'm in. I also suffer an ironing phobia - have loads of dresses and tops that I have worn approximately once each now hanging crumpled at the back of my wardrobe. Bugger, that means I'll have to do it now doesn't it...

[Adair]

Yes, i'm in. Especially as my sisters just gave me loads of new stuff and it'd be nice to actually remember to wear it. Am also 3mth post-preg (but realistically, this is the size I'll be for a while).
Today wearing:
fab Sainburys jeans - keep
cheap orange rib vest top - keep
Was wearing Kate Moss topshop heart shirt dress/top thing but was too hot, and, you know, I always feel funny in it, so think that's one for ebay/charity pile.
Now wearing khaki maternity top - keep! you'd never know, honest!

I usually give ironing to dh when he is ironing shirts...

[Maybeitsbecause]

I'll join in.

I wear about a quarter of the stuff in my wardrobe and this pattern of buying new things all the time but wearing only a fraction of what I buy has t stop!

Case in point: I bought a hideous peachy coloured 'blush' pussybow blouse a few months ago, thinking I could rock a sexy secretary look to work (um...am a teacher...but anyway... ). It has sat in my wardrobe until tonight, when I experiemnted with half my wardrobe to see if I could find anything to make it look less hideous rock with it. Have cobbled together an outfit (black skinny jeans, ankle boots, some nice accessories) and if i still feel horrid in it by end of play tomorrow, it will be yours on Ebay for a fiver

Next on my 'do or die' list: camel coloured skinny jeans. What was I thinking? If anyone has any ideas as to how one would make these look anything other than vile, please do tell or they will also be winging their way second class standard to one of you poor cows

[Maybeitsbecause]

I also cannot bear to iron. I thought it was just me

I bought some fab non-iron floaty tunics from H&M when it was boiling last week but it is now too bloody cold to wear them

[DuplicitousBitch]

at the same time? like heidi going up the mountain?

[DunderMifflin]

Really like this idea - I have loads of jumpers that I keep just because you never know but they're going!

Am also a member of the hate to iron collective.

[MittzyTheMinx]

What a brilliant idea....... I could keep going for about a year .....

i might start tomorrow . This has cheered me up!

[carlywurly]

Morning! Woke up in ruthless clearing mode, decided to go for a run and tackled (one of) my overflowing sports kit drawers for something to wear. Tried on some unworn Nike crops which made me look like my thighs were a foot wide each, and also got rid of a Fat Face hoodie which is lovely, but a really odd royal blue colour and doesn't work with jeans or anything else. So two items down and it's only early. And my drawer shuts again

Now I'm wearing Gap jeans (bit baggy, jury's out) and a bow-front Great Plains top which I really quite like. Plus more Converse in a slightly lighter shade of grey than yesterday!

I reckon I can get rid of an item per day if I carry on like this. Then at the end of the month I'll ebay/charity shop the lot.

Come and join in!!

[SpangledPandemonium]

What a brilliant idea.

I'm still a bit bigger than I was (baby) but going to give it a go anyway.

[tulpe]

I did this a couple of months ago with my winter clothes. Works brilliantly. You know within an hour of something being on that you just don't like it and that is why you don't wear it.

Sounds obvious but I bet you all have loads of stuff in your wardrobe that you "think" you want to wear but never do. If it doesn't make you feel good then chances are you don't look good either so get rid.

Sometimes its because although you love it, you don't have anything to wear with/need different bra/layering piece etc. So start making a shopping list and make sure the next thing you do buy is off of that list! I can honestly say that since doing this I don't waste money on clothing: whatever I buy will go with existing items or, if I am splashing out, buy an outfit at a time.

This exercise gave me such clarity with regard to my own personal style that when I unpacked my spring/summer clothes a month ago I was able to instantly bag up half of it to give away/ebay.

Good luck!!

[Quodlibet]

Right I'm up for this too.

If any of you need any motivation to downscale, you can have some of our moths, which are right this moment necessitating us to wash on hot or freeze every single fucking item of clothing in the house which is natural fibres eg all the ones that need ironing. Downscaling the wardrobe has never been more appealing.

[BranchingOut]

I began going through this process a while back and my wardrobe has been drastically slimmed down. I could now probably do with getting some new things...:)

However, my method did not involve wearing everything - no ladies! It was much faster.

I went through my rails from one end to another and anything that gave me the 'itchy/scratchy/guilty/not right' feeling was immediately removed and put on the bed. I kept leafing through the rail until none of those 'not right' feelings remained.

An item only went back in the wardrobe if there were very strong reasons why it might be useful. Everything else then went in a bag for the charity shop or to be ebayed/passed on to someone else.

[LaDolceRyvita]

What a good idea!!

I KNOW why I don't wear everything in my wardrobe.....possibly because nothing suits/fits well and so, I stick to the same stuff on a daily basis.

This thread has made me realise, I need to sort it all out and get me to the charity shop!!

[sweetheart]

I had a huge wardrobe cull recently - I threw out / gave away / ebayed 50% of my stuff, 25% is stuff I'm going to try harder to wear and 25% is stuff I wear to death.

I started about 6 months ago - I turned all my hangers to face the wrong way and when I wore something I put it back in the wardrobe with the hanger facing the correct way. It made it so much easier when I came to the cull stage because anything that was on a backwards hanger went immediatly!

[Miaowww]

Ok, I have found my first item for the cull. Today I wore a grey Next shift dress. It has been languishing at the back of my wardrobe since I had DC1 six years ago. Classic, business like, a little bit 'Mad Men'. Until I caught my reflection from the back and realised the split in the back of the skirt is cut so high you could practically see what I had for breakfast Spent the rest of the day until I could get home yanking it down and trying to walk behind everyone else. I did consider trying to sew it to make it more decent, but can't actually be arsed so into the ebay pile it goes. And I must remember to check my reflection from all angles before leaving the house - getting up at 5am after being up with the baby does not excuse flashing my colleagues.