Do you really need to get rid of clothes you don't wear? How far do you take the decluttering of the wardrobe?

[FindingMyMojo]

Inspired by the 'style tips your live my thread' I know so many style/clothes gurus say get rid of old clothes/clothes that don't fit etc.

I need help please! I can't do this. Is it really necessary? For example I have trousers that are too small but if I do lose weight then it seems wasteful to go and buy more when I can hold onto these & they are nice. And I have old fav's that don't fit but would if I lost a stone - which might happen.

I know this is in my head, inherited from my parents/grandparents & I really could do with the space rather than holding onto stuff for sentimental or 'what-if' reasons.

In a way these clothes are emotional baggage & I cling. I do chuck stuff out & I've had loads of clear outs in recent years - but still I have clothes stashed everywhere & it's more than having off season clothes put into storage bags. I have clothes/shoes I've been stashing for years - 6, 8 years, maybe more. Never worn - can't get rid.

On the other hand some stuff I keep as it does fit but I never wear it - but it might get worn again in a couple of years. Is that OK?

In my head is a sleek capsule wardrobe of lovely pieces that fit and work together. Some nice dresses. But without being the subject of a TV show, do people really do this?

Help me get my head around this please? I really do want to and need to make some changes here.

What I do is put stuff away in bags and if I haven't opened the bag for a year I take it to the charity shop without opening it. Pretty much pain free as you can't really remember what you put in the bag. But you have to use non-transparent bags!

if you haven't worn in it in a year, bin it.
You have to be ruthless.

I am pretty ruthless with my clothes. If they are not worn for 2 seasons they go- in good condition then sell on Ebay, otherwise charity shops.

I think the main question you need to ask is- how serious are you about losing weight? it would seem that if you lost weight then you could at least wear 50% of your clothes that you don't wear now!

Is your weight not enough incentive? As you say, you must be wasting a lot of money by having unworn clothes hanging there.

I haven't counted what I have but roughly it is something like this:

2 pairs smart trousers- 1 summer weight and 1 winter weight.

several pairs of casual trousers- jeans, boarders, linen, maybe 6 pairs in total.

couple of winter skirts- smart
couple of casual summer skirts

Couple of winter dresses- smart-

2-3 summer dreses- smart

5- 6 cardis in summer weight and winter ( cashmere)

4-5 jumpers/ tops for summer/winter

lots of T shirts and camis

and I still don't wear all of them all of the time!

You need to be ruthless- sort into a definitely going pile and a "might wear " pile for starters.

I have clothes in bags - stashed in a friends garage with other 'storage' items I can't chuck (books/cd's). We won't always live in a one bed flat so it's OK to store some stuff but the clothes can go straight from there I guess.

Breathing deeply!

I keep things which are too small, unless I hate them in which case I throw them out.

Things which are too big I chuck, although not at the moment because I'm pregnant and I don't want to have to buy more things after I've had the baby.

What I do do though, is go through and pack away the things I am not wearing. So I have several boxes in the top of my wardrobe and 3 under-bed draws full of stuff which is not currently being worn. At the beginning of every season before I do my shopping, I haul out the relevant stuff, look at it, try it on, get some out to wear, throw others and then the rest goes back.
Then what you have is your actual wardrobe full of things you are wearing, instead of looking in there and thinking 'oh I can't wear 60% of this'.

oh the weight has been with me longer than the clothes

so you buy things too small and never wear them?

I clear out periodically, it is hard but satisfying. I tend to put stuff in bags and then after a period of time get rid. I make 4 piles: Keep but vacuum pack in loft due to wrong season or whatever, Keep in wardrobe, Sell and Charity. At the moment this is slightly more complicated as I am due with DC1 any day and have no idea what size I will be and when. So I have got out all clothes that might possibly fit, and everything else goes back in the loft!

Look- if your clothes are at a friend's you are never going to wear them again. Chuck them and get yourself that capsule wardrobe. This seems t obe more about emotional attachment to things- you need to get your head round that.

I recently threw out everything I didn't feel great in, it felt good afterwards being able to go to my wardrobe and put anything on and feel good in it.

But then I did some decorating and had nothing 'old' to wear

After I had dd I got rid of tons of lovely clothes just because I couldn't imagine wearing them again...now I am starting to get a life again and wish I'd kept some of them.

GET RID! If you don't love it, if you don't use it/need it, if it doesn't make you money, get rid.

Don't ever save clothes for 'if I lose weight'.

alibaba I do what you do. There are stashes everywhere. Very little is in 'currently wearing'.

MrsC oh how I wish I had a loft. I have 'under the bed' as my loft (car boot is our shed)

Purple/Freak/Expat you are all spot on about feeling good in clothes. Wearing stuff I love.

tea so that means you only ever have current clothes & off season clothes? Nothing else?

My 'current' jeans I brought in a rush one day not long after DD was born. I didn't buy them because they looked great - I brought them because they fitted (actually a little too big) and because they cost £12 & they were in the room with me!! I'm worth more - I deserve a great pair of dark blue bootcut jeans which I will look good in. That's my next mission to find some. But not until I've chucked stuff.

Everyone you're really helping!

I know exactly where youre coming from, our loft is heaving with clothes I have packed away, I am always buying new stuff - albeit cheap stuff that I wear once or twice and catch myself in the mirror in and then think I look awful and cant wear it again.

I recently had DD, she is 16 weeks, and I am still carrying maybe 7 pounds of excess weight, however, have decided that on my birthday in a few days, me and the girls are going to go through all my clothes,throw out anything that doesn't make me feel brilliant, and go out for the day to buy new stuff, with some money I have saved and birthday gifts from family and friends. I am trying to lose weight, but figure that if I tone up and slim down a little, really the clothes wont fit all that differently, and I need to feel good now, not in 3 months when I 'lose the weight'.

I am too thinking grown up capsule wardrobe -if it actually happens still remains to be seen!

But...my point is that actually having made the decision to throw out all that stuff has made me feel better, all on its own. having clothes looking at me from my wardrobe that I will never fit into again, because I am now a size 12 - 14, not a 10, is just bad for the soul!

However...I have kept a couple of lovely dresses, mainly the one I got engaged in, and a couple others that DH bought me, and am thinking I will look into having them made into something else, or altered in some way, to make them wearable - would that be an option for any of the things you really are attached to emotionally, or the clothes you love because of the fabirc or something? I often get the sewing machine out and make DD dresses out of old tops of mine that have nice patterns or something, and that can be liberating too. (and if my tops can be made into nice dresses for a 4 month old, this is the reason I need to have a clear out!)

I'm doing this as I'm moving house in a couple of weeks. I have taken everything out of the wardrobe and washed it, tried stuff on and rediscovered some old treasures. These I've decided to keep.

Anything too small, that realistically I'll never get in to again I'll chuck(I don't mind losing half a stone or so but I'll never be 9 1/2 stone again).

My wardrobe remains massive, I will never do capsule because I love clothes too much.

findingmymojo pretty much yes, I don't really have room to keep anything though.

holytoast you've hit the nail on the head. I do sew & when I look at chucking anything fabric, I think oh could I make something nice for DD with this? which is great . but that leads to another pile of unworn clothes IYSWIM and that is not so great

it's all the same hoarding behaviour. What it comes down to I guess, is there's nothing wrong with being a mild hoarder - if you have the space (an attic with a lighbulb - bliss)! But we don't have the space so it's not just about keeping a lot of crap clothes I don't wear, but about keeping stuff for a lifestyle I don't have & might not have for some time.

I've run out of room but lost a lot of weight (now pre-baby weight) this year so fit into all my old clothes, and most of the newer ones.

So I wish I hadn't got rid of a few things. I have decided to hoard everything from now on.

If it doesn't fit / suit me again then DD can have it one day.

[illusions of Kate Moss style vintage wardrobe}

Yes, some hoarding is good...however, if you are unable to move in your house without knocking over a pile of clothes etc and have no room for the new stuff...then bad! crazy cat lady only one more step away from that I think....
Oh well, off to google capsule wardrobe and work out if I'm an autumn or a spring.
There are things I wish I hadn't binned too..my reserve is wavering, must take pile of clothes to charity shop tomorrow. I'm pretty sure that Primark clothes will never be 'vintage'.