AIBU to think we all have too many clothes?

[OceanAvenue]

I’ve come back from my holiday and done the laundry and vacuumed packed my summer clothes. I wouldn’t say I buy clothes that often but I’ve brought out my winter stuff and I am OVERWHELMED by the amount of things I own and I don’t even like most of it!!

Any advice on how to streamline this?

I’m going to listen to the podcast suggested.
I also have a lot of clothes. I know a stylist who is going to come and help me organise. One of her suggestions is to hang things in outfits so I’m slowly piecing things together. I had my colours done so I’m also trying to stick to the shades that suit me.
I think it’s a long and difficult process, especially as we get older and body shapes change.

Also, buying quality rather than quantity

the whole world has too many clothes. there are enough clothes produced to last the next 6 generations of clothes.
reformed shopaholic here it hit me during covid of how much I actually have wardrobes heaving. tried to do a cull but mentally wasn't prepared then moved a few times and now finally in my forever home a year and a half then i was ready to do my cull. a big mindset change. for me it was accepting to buy clothes for my current life not for my wish life. it hasn't been easy have had to let go some fab stuff. selling on vinted and resellers has helped. started small a drawer of black tops tried on and halved. I also deleted all apps I don't go into zara primark avoid the clothes section in tescos. was only buying as cheap. not that I needed.highly recommend andrea chong why I have nothing to wear and watch her tik tok and Instagram. with holiday stuff I have a rule now what only fits on my suitcase. taken alot of time it's not easy need to be in the right frame of mind too. I also did the only buy 5 new items this year too. buying less but better

I have a double wardrobe with one shelf. It’s rubbish but DP won’t change them.

I go through my wardrobe every couple of weeks and get rid of a few items each time - I’m not brave enough to do all at once. I stick it all on Vinted.

Summer/holiday clothes stored in an Ikea box under my bed although the aim is to move at least some of these to a shelf inside my wardrobe. I’ve got some things in my summer clothes I do wear all year round - vests, skorts (with long sleeve tops) etc

I’ve set myself rules to get rid - if I wouldn’t buy it now, if i haven’t worn it in a year, if I can’t see myself wearing it in 12 months - it goes. Anything that’s starting to look tatty goes. If you don’t love it, just let it go

I also have a ‘one in one out’ policy - just ordered new bodysuits for work so my old ones will be coming out of my wardrobe as soon as they arrive. Very select with what I buy now.

I have more things that I am going to diet back into than anything else 😂

I'm carrying out a clothes experiment. I decided I have a ridiculous amount of tops and t shirts. I started on the 1st September of wearing a different top each day knowing it will take 3 months, I guess I can get to Christmas day and still have one for each day. I thought of starting a thread seeing if anyone wants to join me.

@OceanAvenue I turned all my coat hangers the other way at the start of the year and then when I wore something I turn it the right way. I now know what I've worn and what I haven't and plan to vinted everything I haven't worn. I seem to wear the same few tops over and over and was shocked at how many hangers have remained the wrong way. Think I'll be selling 90% of my wardrobe.

I definitely like having a choice and am trying to wear more from my wardrobe instead of sticking to the same few items.

I'm no too bad at getting rid which stops me feeling overwhelmed. I agree with having some sort of system in my wardrobe, but it's not a perfect one

I feel the kinds of people who make these sort of statements have never had to live in poverty. It’s one thing to choose to make do with half a dozen items of clothing. It’s different when you have to because you can’t afford anything more.

Years ago that was me (no vinted then). I got so sick of wearing the same stuff week in and out. I like clothes. I like having choices. I don’t buy stuff for the sake of it but if I see something I like, I buy it. Whether I wear it once or 100 times is my business.

If you feel you have too many clothes, fine get rid of some. But don’t include everyone else by saying “we all”.

Oh God I could have written this. I had a sale text from Monsoon this morning and for the first time EVER I've ignored it. I genuinely have way too many clothes but apart from a couple of cheap sundresses I love them all 😬

I had the same overwhelm.after my holiday. I took everything out of the wardrobes and drawers, and only put it back if I had worn it in the last year. I now have a fifth of what I started with.
I also arranged it into clothing type 😱 so work shirts, weekend jumpers, etc
I have swallowed the loss, donated it all.to charity, and find dressing every day so much easier

Things that have helped me in the past are putting clothes hangers in the 'wrong' way to see what I've worn and then back in the right way when I have.....moving house(bit drastic🙂)....realising that clothes I was keeping to fit into, wouldn't be what I would wear, when I could!......not washing my clothes every day.... realistically I have one body..... absolutely nothing is going on my body that is in anyway uncomfortable(fit, length, neckline, fabric)

So true.

Im hoping to replace emotional shopping with going to the gym and getting buff and swimming.

I've recently had a purge. Mostly of trousers, dresses and tunic-style tops. My philosophy was, if I haven't worn it in at least a year, or can't even remember when I last wore it, then it was gone.

I bagged it up and took it to the charity shop before I could change my mind.
I need to do the same with the two drawers of tops under my bed, but I haven't found the motivation for that yet!

I liked the idea that someone mentioned above of doing a drawer of short sleeve tops, and a drawer of long sleeve, so it's easier to find what you need/want. I know there's stuff shoved in the back corners of those that I haven't worn in years!

Jesus Christ that must be like living in a clothes shop.

I have an Ikea Pax wardrobe with 2 x 1 m rails, 6 drawers and two shelves that are full and that feels like far too much, especially given that I wear about a third of it, if that.

Having getting on for 10 x that amount

I did the trick at the beginning of year putting newly washed clothes on hangers at the end of the rail to see how many I do actually wear. Think it was about a third! The rest when I looked had uncomfortable scratchy material, were the wrong colour, not a flattering shape or just looked dated.

Not me, I live in jeans and black tshirts and have a strict one in one out policy for clothes. Also wear them to the death and only replace when they're worn out.

I think the sunken costs fallacy is strong here
Ive taken the line that hanging onto stuff is

Annoying as its cluttered and you cant see what you have
Bad for MH
Wasteful , someone else could be using it
Creates dead space in your wardrobe
Costly, you can sell and buy something you will wear

If its hanging there unworn and will never be worn its worthless, even a few pounds is better than that

I took 25 pairs of shoes to the charity shop and still don’t have room for the ones left!

Snap. I have three pairs of shorts that I only wear when it's warm and a dress or two but not enough to "put it away".

I’m trying to be a lot more mindful with my clothes shopping these days.

So only buying clothes when I actually need the new clothes, rather than wandering around a clothes shop and buying stuff on impulse because it looks nice or is a good bargain.

Getting rid of clothes that you don’t like / don’t wear / are worn out is a great start if you’re overwhelmed by the amount of clothes you have, but in that long run it isn’t all that effective if lots of new clothes keep entering the house.

So one shelf could fit only 2 jumpers on it?

I have a lot of clothes, there are a few things I need to send to charity, but ultimately I like them all, I have thngs in different colours for different outfits. I enjoy clothes and buying them and mixing up styles and bringing things back out from years ago.

We're waiting for new wardrobes to get better storage for it it. OH has even more clothes than me.

We spend 3 weeks every summer in Spain, so would really struggle with just 3 pairs of shorts and 2 dresses for hot weather. I’d really smell! People have different lives and have differing clothing requirements.

My daughter is the same and gets overwhelmed with how much she has to sort through and make decisions what to throw or keep so when she went back to uni last year she messaged me and told me to go in to her room open her wardrobe and be brutal. I got rid of anything I knew wouldn't fit, didn't suit her, she has never worn or only worn once and also anything that she had multiples of the same thing (nobody needs 6 black vest tops).

When she came back at Christmas she was more than happy with the results. She found she switched her outfits up more as she could see what she had easier, didn't notice really what had gone so wasn't missing anything and it has made her see she doesn't need so much "stuff" so has made less impulse buys and saved money.