One about decluttering

[Navian]

I have the day off work today. I'm considering decluttering my wardrobe.

My question is how long do you keep hold of clothes/accessories for?

I have quite a few items that are 7 to 8 years old. Would you consider that these items are better off gone, are they too old? Things like jumpers, jackets, dresses.

What criteria do you use when decluttering?

Thanks x

I did a huge declutter a few months ago

• anything I haven't work for 3 years either went to the charity shop or ebay
• anything that doesn't fit as above
• anything I haven't worn in 2 years I try on. If I like it I keep it if not then as above

Ah thank you @roses2 that's a great criteria.....I need to be brutal!

Do you think you will ever wear it again? Yes - keep.
No - get rid

I have old items that are in good nick that I still love and fit me well, so I wouldn't throw them just because of age. If unsure, try on, work out if you would actually go out in it and if not get rid.

I don’t do it based on age, i do it based on:

• do I use/wear it?
• does it fit/suit me?
• do I actively like wearing it or is it just something I wear when everything else is in the wash?
• does it go with anything else I have?

If the answer is no to any of them I’ll probably get rid of it. I’ve got stuff that’s at least 10 years old that I still like and wear while newer stuff has been taken to the charity shop.

I think:

Do I like it?
Do I look good in it?
Does it fit?

I think that's all you need to consider, really.

I've got a "limbo" suitcase. I put things in there if I'm not sure about them, and have a look through it every year or so. Sometimes things turn out to be right again (which is nice - like being given new clothes), and sometimes it's become obvious that they need to go. I can recommend having a limbo suitcase.

I think a limbo suitcase is a good idea, although in all my time doing this (maybe five years) I’ve only started reusing one cardigan. I am either very good at choosing what to get rid of or most people don’t miss much, far less than they are worried about.

I’d also recommend, for the items that you’re unsure about and assuming they are seasonal appropriate, you wear them this week and next and see how you feel in them. It’s actually wearing the clothes, especially outside the house, that forces you to assess how they make you feel. Sometimes I try things on at home and think I look good but often the trousers are too tight to be practical or my neckline starts bagging over the day, so the outfit is only fine for sitting still and maybe a photo, not for real life. I guess that’s partly the Instagrammers secret. If you wear something and it isn’t right, get rid of it before you forget why,

How did it go op? I did this recently.

I was trying to slim my wardrobe to 40-50 items and chose 3 neutrals and 5 accessory colours and picked a couple of each type of item to keep. I also had an incubation rail of things that were more than I needed, but also worked.

I took everything else out. From what I took out I got rid of things that were undonateable to charity, and gave 3 bags to charity of items that I could not sell on ebay because it was not worth the time for the return.

Then I went back through the nicer items and probably kept half of them, along with moving the incubation stuff back.

It was a completely backwards way of doing it but my goal was to stop wearing synthetic clothes that don't 100% work for me (some synthetic clothes can work well). Some of the tops were 10 years old that I got rid of, but I have jackets that are 15 years + that I kept.

I colour coded everything else, then I moved it by type so I could see where the gaps are...e.g. neutral top, patterned shirt etc.

I'm going to move it back by colour as this is such an easy way to get dressed and means I actually wear much more of my wardrobe.

Watch Marie Kondo on Netflix