Wardrobe detox help!

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About 3 years ago I was a size 8. I 'let myself go' a bit when TTC, and subsequently put on a lot of weight during twin pregnancy. They are now 7 mo and I am a size 10/12 top and 12/14 bottom. I just cannot ever see a day when I will get back into my previous clothing and even if I could not sure if it will be dated by then.

To make matters worse I have a terrible high street shopping habit. I buy lots and lots of clothes mostly from places like oasis, gap, banana republic, next, Dorothy Perkins and I have a completely bulging wardrobe and 3 vac pacs of clothes in the loft, ranging from size 8 to 12.

I just feel overwhelmed by all the clothes and don't know where to start. I like most of the clothes I have but I just don't wear them, either because they don't fit, or I forgot I even had them.

I have just roughly counted and I have about 40 work dresses (am on mat leave till November), 20 'occasion' dresses and the same in day dresses. I have about 15 pairs of trousers none of which fit, about 10 pairs of jeans but wear the same 2 pairs on rotation. About 30 jumpers. Probably around 100 'tops'. 20 coats. 50 pairs of shoes.

(incidentally I gave all my maternity clothes away, they filled a large laundry bag, I bought about 100 items!!)

I just don't know where to start but would like to end with a streamlined wardrobe. I need to be gokked! Does anyone have any hints of how to do this, and what to do with old clothes (none of them are really expensive enough to eBay)

Sorry for long post!

Anyone? Pleeease help me, I am drowning in tat!

Think of a charity you like and give the clothes away. With the labels you mentioned they will not have a great resale value on Ebay so not worth the effort IMO.

The most important thing for now is to :

STOP BUYING!

Wear the clothes you have and see what suits you.

So you can go down the route of figuring your body type (hourglass; pear; apple, etc) and there are tons of posts on the internet on what suits each body shape.

Or you could go down the colour route and wear colours that suit you.

I actually have all my clothes out of the wardrobe at the moment and I'm only putting clothes I actually wear back into the wardrobe so I can toss what I don't wear.

But I'm not the best person to ask as I have loads of the vacuumed packed clothes in my loft. (My excuse is that I'm not throwing away all my summer clothes because I don't wear them in summer (as it is too cold) as I wear them on holidays twice a year so I can get them out of storage then. For you you might want to keep some of the work dresses if good quality for when you go back to work).

Just read :

I have about 15 pairs of trousers none of which fit,

toss them -- give them to a charity shop. They are just taking up room and are of no use to you.

Today I gave a duffelbag worth of clothes to a charity and now I want to fill another one because it feels so good to have those clothes I don't wear and have been storing for years out of my life.

Thanks. I was holding on in the vain hope that I would someday get back in them. It just seems so wasteful to give clothes away, each item might be cheap but probably spent £1000s overall! Do you think it's worth selling bundles of clothes eg 10 dresses in size 10 etc?

And I keep getting emails about sales starting, it's not my fault honest.

I think I want to just bin the lot and buy a capsule wardrobe.

I agree, stop shopping and get rid of as much as you can as they are filling your house and your head. Take some time to sort into piles and then give them to a good charity shop, do a car boot sale, try ebay for some of the dresses/better quality stuff, bin all the stuff that is worn out and only keep what you actually wear/have worn/and fits in the last year. It is hugely satisfying to have an efficent wardobe. And I was, like you, a clothes junkie! Do a drawer at a time, try stuff on and be ruthless - you can only wear one dress at a time, so you really don't need 60!
I had my colours done 18 months ago and it has saved me so much money and made me streamline my wardrobe. I no longer buy things on impulse or 'cos they are a good deal, I buy stuff that I know will suit and I will wear and I no longer have a rainbow of colours in my wardrobe - all the ones I have match/co-ordinate. I have a wish list on Amazon and I save clothes I like the look of to it, then if I still like them when the sales start/ or I have money I buy them.
I enjoy the capsule wardrobe threads in S&B; lots of good tips. And remember when you are back to your old fighting weight you will want new clothes anyway.

Finally, I also was endlessly distracted by emails. When a sales email jumps into your inbox, click on it and create a rule that sends it (and all subsequent emails form the company) straight to your junk folder. Do it everytime an email appears, it clears your inbox and really has stopped me impulse buying online.

I was in the same position just before Christmas last year. I was completely swamped with clothes. So I forced myself to have a clear out. These were my rules:

1. Get rid of anything that doesn't fit (too big, too small, too tight in places).

1. Get rid of anything that doesn't make you feel good about yourself. Get opinion of supportive friend if you're not sure. I asked my husband, who's blunt but honest.

1. Get rid of anything that needs repairing, because you'll never actually get round to it.

1. Get rid of anything that you haven't worn in two years or is really out of fashion.

1. Get rid of anything that isn't the right colour for you. Getting your colours done is brilliant and you'll save loads of money in the long run as you won't buy more clothes that don't suit you. It'll also help you to work our what colours go with what.

1. Put winter clothes in storage during the summer and vice versa.

1. Make a trip to the charity shop/recycling.

Once you start letting go of stuff, it won't seem so difficult. You really won't miss anything.

I do sometimes ebay off my old stuff - the decent brands make good prices. Recently I have started sending stuff to our local hospice shop. Being entirely selfish I was simply thinking about geting rid of them from my wardrobe but I was quite astonished when they sent me emails telling me how much they hd sold them for - over the last 12 months £180 in all for what was, frankly, the second grade stuff. I've not bundled up some stuff I would normaly have put on ebay because I realised it was a real help to them, and as I'm a bit sad I got a nice warm feeling and an emptier wardrobe too.

I would car boot or charity shop 75% of your wardrobe if I were you. You don't need this many clothes, and you know it!

Start with the 'occasion' dresses. 20? Really? Will you ever wear them again? I tend to wear this sort of dress 3 times max, then Ebay (or car boot) it and use the money to put towards the next one I know. If

The work dresses. You dont need so many, giod God! Choose 5 you really like, get rid of the rest, and buy two or three nearer the time you go back to work.

Get rid of everything that doesnt fit, especially trousers.

Choose 10 tops of the 40 that you like. Undoubtedly you will want new, better fitting tops nearer the time you go back to work.

Dont worry about streamlinging / matching etc yet. You need to get rid o the bulk of ill fitting, old crap first. Then you can look at what you are left with and buy a few new bits to add to or compliment your wardrobe.

the next one I need re: occasion dresses, sorry

Thanks all. I never realised just how bad it had got, in fact I had forgotten about the clothes in the loft

I like the idea of a car boot sale as I won't have to photograph and pack things when in reality I'll be lucky to get more than a few quid per item. I'll do some googling and see whether there are any coming up

I think my strategy in the past has been to go through everything and only discard the things I really don't like, keeping things that are just ok as well as those that I really like. Whereas I think I need to pick out the few items I really like and ditch the rest. As if I was packing for a 4 week holiday maybe? and forget about trying to get into my lovely size 8 white trousers and slinky dresses for the foreseeable

I used to have loads of "party" frocks in my wardrobe and they hardly evergot worn as we tend to go out with the same people. I now have just 3, one long, one cocktail and one less formal. I ebay one or two every autumn and replace them. The three in my wardrobe at present are M&S limited collection, Boden and Jigsaw so I know I'll get back about a 1/3 full retail or 1/2 what I paid as they were all reduced. This makes me feel in control, when the wardrobe was full of stuff I just felt as if I had nothing to wear and anxious about getting dressed up t go out.

I feel your pain. DD is 14 weeks old and I have a wardrobe full of clothes I cannot fit into. I would probably not throw out as much stuff as other people but would sort it according to whether or not you are likely to fit into it / wear it over the next year or two. Things like jersey tops stretch and although they may be a size 8 they may fit you soon if you are a size 10 - 12 on top. Trousers though are another matter. If they are a size 8 and very fitted with no stretch I'd get rid.

Oh interesting? 1/3 retail for decent labels? So things from reiss, coast, Karen Millen, fenn wright mason probably worth ebaying? Also was thinking my leather jacket (oasis), suede skirt, leather skirt (phase 8) could probably raise a few bob?

Yes, the makes I usually ebay are Toast, Brora, Whistles and White Company which make good prices and then stuff from FAtface, Cath Kidston and similar makes less but is worth doing - you will do fine with the makes you mention. I always start mine at 99p

Thanks, I'll give it a go. Actually car boot sales are probably not worth it, does anyone go to car boot sales to buy clothes?? Think I'll eBay the good stuff and give cheaper stuff to charity. Or would anyone ever eBay a bundle of clothes say 5 pairs of size 8 trousers?

Every year or so I turn all the hangers around in my wardrobe. Anything that gets worn goes back in on a hanger facing the correct way. Then after a few months I go through my wardrobe and anything that is still hanging on a hanger facing the wrong way goes straight in the bin. If I haven't worn it in 3 months (unless it's out of season or an occasional piece of clothing) I'm unlikely to wear it al all.

Also there are personal shopper / style consultants that will come and do a wardrobe session with you. They will pick out what suits your style and piece bits together with other bits in your wardrobe. They can sometimes give you a list of key pieces you need to buy in order to tie your entire wardrobe together.

Wow... so many clothes - As others have said:

1. Try everything on again in front of a full length mirror
2. Bin bag things that are worn out, out of date, damaged etc... take to a clothing bank
3. Bin bag everything that no longer fits or that you no longer like... give to charity or ebay - I always manage to sell lots of high st stuff on ebay.
4. Sort what you are left with into dresses, trourses, jeans, tops, coats, jackets etc... I'm guilty of buying things that are very similar... so lots of blue jeans, lots of black dresses etc... so again you might be able to reduce further... how many LBDs does a girl really need?!!

Hopefully, once you've done this, you'll be able to see what you have and have better control over your wardrobe. Look through some magazines for ideas on how to put items together to create different looks. I definitely wouldn't buy anymore stuff for a while. Let your weight settle down.

Let us know how you get on!

If you look at the style guile blog, I am sure that the lady that writes it (Beth?) does wardrobe detox stuff. I think she's based in birmingham but may travel. It may be worth contacting her as she also seems to give good ideas about how to wear things in different ways.

Thanks again. Some great tips. I will start the sifting TONIGHT once the twins are asleep...!

With regards to Ebay be careful about the postage. There use to be a maximum postage you could charge for clothing which was 4 pounds it may have gone up. That is not enough to send a bundle of trousers to someone even before you factoring the cost of packaging and your time going to the post office.

I do individual items (of decent brands) and usually my postage comes in around 3 pounds per item for average weight women clothing.

Natalie I have reported your post- if you want to advertise there is a topic for you to do so
Thanks

Ooh thanks mirpuppet, that's useful to know

I love car boots for clothes,It's the only thing I buy when i go. You may only get a few pounds for each item but it sion adds up and you sound like you could make a fair bit. It's also very satisfying for a mornings work.

There is an Ebay talk section on mumsnet very useful.

Personally, I wait for free listing weekend and list my items for the minimum price I would be happy with. Most things sells; some won't. I've listed item up to 4 times with the item selling the fourth time.

I know some sellers get very good results starting at 99p; but without a Ebay history it is possible your item will go for 2 pounds which for me would be annoying.