AIBU to think we all have too many clothes?

I'm in my 60s but still the same size I've been most of my adult life. Clothes bring me a huge amount of joy. As a PP said, I grew up in a happy but poor family and didn't have many clothes. I don't buy expensive clothes - I mostly buy in sales or from charity shops. I have 3 or 4 shops I buy online from when they have sales on. I don't subscribe to the capsule wardrobe concept - I love colour and variety and mixing and matching. My clothes make me happy

When my children grew up and left home I converted one of our spare bedrooms into a dressing room. I have a double wardrobe full of day dresses and jumpers, a rail of evening wear, a rail of jackets, a rail of coats and a rail of trousers and skirts plus a drawer of tshirts. I don't have anything in my wardrobe that is worn out, doesn't fit, is uncomfortable or I don't like. I love all my clothes and I love opening my wardrobe and deciding on outfits.

Yes, some things I don't wear very often. I don't care. If I love it, I keep it. I will wear it occasionally. Because I haven't really changed shape I have items in my wardrobe that are 15+ years old.

I do feel sorry for my kids having to sort it all out when I die but in the meantime I will continue to enjoy my lovely clothes 😊

I’m saying I’d just see you in a black top again. Is that hard to understand? You might feel you are doing something very different and I would just see another black top

@OceanAvenue i found that one reason why I can end up with too much stuff is because I dint really LOVE the clothes I’ve bought.
Often theyre just the best I could find. Other times, I really needed to buy, let’s a couple more tops before going away.

Now I’m trying to buy only what works really well and I really enjoy.
So the T-shirts that are too short? Out they go.
The trousers that are too clingy, ditto etc….
Ive learnt some materials are a no-no. Etc…

It means I have clothes I WANT to wear and even though it might still be slightly over the top, it gets used and enjoyed.

Most of us wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time. Lockdown taught me that I really only needed two pairs of jeans and a couple of tops!

I did Marie Kondo and got rid of a lot of my clothes and I can honestly say that it made life much simpler. Everything in the wardrobe fits, feels comfortable and most of it goes with other stuff. Getting dressed became simple choices rather than a stressful experience of trying on loads of things.

For the last five years or more I’ve bought only second-hand clothes for ethical reasons. I don’t follow fashion, I wear mainly classic styles. I realised recently however that I have been buying stuff because it was cheap and had accumulated too much again; now I only buy something if I absolutely love it.
I’m saving up to buy something Community Clothing jeans, produced in the UK and sourced responsibly, and I think they’ll last me a long time.

Less really is more (and I grew up poor, wearing second hand clothes). My other rule is ‘3’ - three places you’d wear it (work can count as three) and three things in your wardrobe that it goes with. If it doesn’t pass those tests, it stays in the charity shop 😄

Are you saying you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between these 3 black tops, for example?

But most people will see “black top” the differences you see are mostly trivial and irrelevant

I read this article a few days ago, and it really made sense to me - you might find it helps you to see why you have too much OP. I'll certainly be trying to focus on it next time I go to the shops.

This is increasingly harder to do these days. Many places that used to sell good quality stuff have gone down the pan but are still charging as if they're higher level.

Buy quality over quantity

Top tip when you're considering uyi g a new item of clothing: think about where/when you would wear it. Now think about what you already have in your wardrobe that you would wear if you didn't buy this new thing.

This is how I talk myself out of buying anything new.

Yes they do, and the waiting lists are long for good ones. But frequently they do it so that they can get by with fewer clothes, that can be cleverly mixed and matched, and will all be worn. Having a bloated wardrobe full of stuff you don't wear is often what prompts it.

It's an art.

Do people really do this? You must have masses of clothes to make it worthwhile

I have a lot from the slow build-up over the years. I decided that I was happier to keep things I love even if their moment has passed, as increased space would tempt me to fill it with new things. Annoyingly my older clothes are better quality than most new clothing. Sometimes things loop round and I can dig old favourites out again, and I do have items in use from 25-30 years ago.

Generally by the time I drift out of wearing something, it's unlikely to have value either by looking worn or dated, so there's no great virtue in clearing it out and what matters more is being discerning about what I buy in.

When my body changed post-natally, I resolved to try clothes on in shops to avoid buying disappointing duds that don't sit right. I only buy online when the chance of it fitting is very high (e.g. sports wear and brands with a very reliable cut).

I'm quite a layers on/ off person. I get cold sitting around, but warm very quickly when I move. DH has more consistency of layers in a year than I manage in a day. I also have a lifestyle that needs different clothes for different purposes. In one day I can go from sports wear to work clothes, to volunteering uniform in a day, then want different casual clothes and smart clothes for another day (and oh how I wish there were more occasions for occasion wear going dusty)

Book a session with a stylist to do a wardrobe organizing session and start afresh. They’ll analyse everything for you as it sounds like you’re overwhelmed.

Me too it's awful really isn't it.
Often I get dressed out the tumble drier because I'm too damn lazy.

Suits and trousers were M&S from the 90s when they used to make quality, long lasting clothes. Shirts obviously don't last anywhere near as long, but he only needs 10 - (5 summer and 5 winter), one per day, which don't take up much wardrobe space - roughly six inches of rail. He's had the odd new pair of trousers from M&S, Next, over the past 20 years, but the quality is crap, they don't last as long, and all have been despatched to the bin!

If you have to vacuum pack summer clothes, you have too many. Vacuum packing winter coats is ok, though.

I'm a teacher and was preparing for a lesson on fast fashion. It's horrifying. One statistic that sums it up for me is that we already have enough clothes on the planet to clothe the next seven generations of humans. We all have far, far too many clothes and the ones we get rid of are thrown away. Either into landfill or shipped to the global South where they are dumped.

I've not stopped buying clothes but I have started asking myself "What will happen to this when I no longer want or need it?" Buying quality items means they'll last but it also means they have some value on the second-hand market.

I have a vast amount of black tops, all sort of tops, around 20 pairs of black trousers, does it not occur to you that they're all different, for different occasions, different looks, different styles, different purposes?

Surely if you dont have a lot of clothes, your clothes are more likely to get worn out, you're wearing the same things over and over?

I dont think I get your point?

I am a woman and my clothes get worn out. The secret is simply not to have too many clothes.

Yes I dont know what men do to their shirts, none of my clothes get 'worn out', but OH's work shirts seem to go frayed around the neck/collar, its quite weird.

These are good quality cotton/linen shirts as well

This is a personal judgement, but in what circumstances would you need more than seven black tops - that's one for each day for a week.

You could halve to ten, either quickly by donating or slowly by recycling once each one wears out until you get to a steady ten. Then one out, one in.

Fatface organic long sleeve tops
Curved hem
I have these as they are beautiful soft cotton and dont ride up, I bought a new one every year but Ive enough now

Stop buying stuff and gradually use up the clothes you already have.