To ask what clothes you actually need?

[evergreen7]

I mean realistically?

Not counting dresses/suits for nights out or events etc

I'm talking tops, vests, jumpers, hoodies, jeans, shirts, leggings etc just basic things to put outfits together and to keep it simple and elegant without having to take ages to decide what goes with what and dig through a pile of barely worn stuff.

How many do you need of each?

I live in a small house and I want to try and make things more minimalistic to reduce the clutter. ATM most of our clothes end up in piles all over the place as fitting them in already full wardrobes is a chore and we don't wear most of it anyway ...

I’m afraid I can’t answer this as my wardrobe seems to be full of crap. None of which particularly goes together! So I’m hoping you’ll get some good replies! I definitely need a wardrobe revamp.

10 tops
2 blue jeans
1 black jeans
1 coat
1 light jacket
1 leather jacket
2 brown boots
1 Black boots
1 trainers
1 bra
5 pairs or knickers.

Basically, all I wear

My clothes are stored in plastic storage boxes. What I wear most often naturally gravitates to the top. When I can't shut the lid on a box anymore, I cull clothes. The ones which have settled to the bottom of the boxes are my prime targets. Obviously I don't like them very much!

I guess this system is a little trickier if you have clothes hanging in wardrobes - maybe every time you put something away, put it on the right-hand end, so you can see that the ones on the left side are not working for you and consider getting rid of them?

I think the easiest way to answer the question is to get rid of the stuff you don't wear first. Then prioritise the stuff you really like, and fit as much of this as fits well in the space you have available. I fold tops and put them in a drawer vertically so I can see what I've got and it stays tidier that way. And I make sure hanging clothes have space to hang. Anything else, store for the moment. If you've not used them in three months, get rid of them. Unless there's seasonal stuff that you want to put away and get out later.

I have work clothes, home clothes, jeans for winter and linen trousers for summer, loads of lovely scarves, quite a lot really, but it all fits in one double width wardrobe with space to share for other things I'm storing there.

Do you wear indoor and outdoor clothes?

I have 2 pairs of jeans, 5 pairs of leggings and about 6 dresses/tunics for outdoor wear. About 4 cardigans and 5 jumpers in coordinating colours/styles and a handful of nice tshirts.

Then I have loungewear for indoors: about 6 pairs of joggers/yoga pants, 5 t-shirts, 3 leggings with holes and a couple of tshirt dresses. And a few slouchy oversized jumpers.

For work I have: 2 pairs of black trousers, 1 pair grey trousers, 2 smart skirts, 3 smart dresses, a couple of jackets and 4 bright fitted tops. These live in a different wardrobe as I'm not working at the moment.

Winter clothes are stored in summer. I have 3 winter coats and lots of wool dresses and jumpers.

I have more than I need but like some variety.

I've weaned myself down to:

1 drawer tops
1 drawer bottoms
1 drawer underwear
1 drawer jumpers/cardigans/warm stuff

And, um, one half of a mahoosive clothes rail of dresses. Maybe 30?

Fairly moderate with shoes - about 14 pairs, but including five or six niche pairs for different purposes. Then coats on top.

I would have less of all of this stuff - big clear outs recently. I'm losing weight at the moment - about 20lb so far - so keeping things that I might fit into or still fit at the moment. I only threw out things that were both too small and were ugly anyway.