Big wardrobe clear out - working out what to keep?

[Reluctantadult]

Tomorrow I am emptying all my clothes out onto the floor and going through everything. I can only keep what I can fit in half a small wardrobe, 2 drawers, and a suitcase under the bed.

Any suggestions for how many X to keep and criteria?! Or how to take up less space?!

Lifestyle wise I work from home, go to the office once a week, primary age dc and a dog to walk. I usually wear jeans, tees, jumpers, like a long skirt or summer dress for going out.

Have you looked at the Marie kondo way of sorting clothes? Thinking about whether it brings you joy?
Be brutal! If it doesn't fit or you've not worn it for the last year get rid!

I have heard of that v famous line but not looked into it at all! Will most definitely have to be brutal.

Only keep things that go with at least 2 (or more) other things. Choose a pallet of say 2 neutrals and 3 colours.

If it doesn’t fit, is past it best, needs extensive mending, is stained, shape/style/colour don’t suit you, or are massively fashionable of another time - get rid!

I'd say think about your current lifestyle and what places you go to to wear clothes.

Pre covid I did a fair amount of girls nights out but that's gone down to once a year now so I could clear out most of my more dressy clothes on that alone.

You can always buy again if you start going back to work etc more.

1. If it's not a definite yes, it's a no
2. Does it fit?
3. When did you last wear it? When will you next wear it?
4. What would you wear to insert activity if you didn't have this item of clothing?
5. If you saw it again in a shop today, would you buy it?
6. If a good friend of mine really liked this item of clothing, would I think twice about letting them have it?

I would also think about what to keep rather than what to donate. Have a figure in mind of how many t-shirts (etc) you need, then pick out that number, rather than look at all 30 t-shirts and work out which to remove. The number probably depends on how often you do laundry etc.

You can always 'quarantine' clothes - put your donate pile in a box somewhere for x amount of time. If you've clearly taken too much out (unlikely) you could always take some back out. It could give you the confidence to part permanently.

Try to do this when everything you own is clean or you end up keeping too much.

I also think the colour palette idea above is a very good one. I'm blues and navy here! Otherwise you have to have loads of bags, shoes etc.

Good luck!!!

Minimal mom wardrobe videos on you tube are great for this!

If I try to explain here it doesn't really translate!

I once put all my hangers one way and then when I wore it and put it back after washing, I switched it round. All the clothing that I didn't wear was then considered to be sold on Vinted, some I kept like occasion dresses etc.

I always get rid of -
If it doesn't fit
If I got it ages ago and it still has tags on
If I don't regularly wear it
If it doesn't go with other things I regularly wear
If I try it on on different days and then not wear it

Great tips!

Look up capsule wardrobes also - lots of guides on this.

obviously it’s going to partly depend on how often you put the washing machine on

I can only keep what I can fit in half a small wardrobe, 2 drawers, and a suitcase under the bed

Yikes OP, that's really brutal! Does it really have to be so extreme? It would kill me to have so few clothes.

Have you got room to do the "quarantine" idea above? Because that's a truly excellent technique - I've done that for years, and it works brilliantly. You just know for sure when you get the things out again ... well, I do, anyway.

Definitely use the Marie Kondo idea of whether or not something sparks joy.

My top tip to add to the other ideas is to try everything on, and pay attention to how things feel. Does the garment feel comfortable, and "right"? If it doesn't, out it goes.

If I haven’t worn it in a year it goes. If I decide I can’t let it go for sentimental reasons, I give it another year under the bed, take a photo of it and get rid of it.

Or that’s the gist of it, I have things like T-shirts from arena concerts and I just can’t let those go! I never wear them because I’m 3 dress sizes bigger now

Also only keep something if it is part of an outfit.

Try every item on
Do you look amazing?

If not then get rid. You can walk the dog looking amazing.

I have 100 hangers. Everything hangs except underwear, swim wear and sleep wear

1 in and 1 out.

,

Tis quite brutal. But a 3 door wardrobe with 4 drawers under and an ottoman bed is unfortunately all the storage space in our bedroom. At the moment dh uses Dd's wardrobe, but we need to change that now she's getting older. Goodness knows what we'll do with ds's room as it only fits a narrow toddler wardrobe. Storage is an issue here!

100 hangers!!!
I've just counted and there are 55 items hanging in my wardrobe right now... Which I need to reduce.

Is everything hanging- including t shirts and coats?
I have a tiny flat and have more than 55 items
Would a hanging rail fit in ?

I’ve emigrated twice and had to get rid of a lot of clothes on the way there and on the way back and there are some things I still mourn. Even though I only wore them once a year I really liked wearing them and I miss them just be careful of culling too much. Would your mum store some stuff for you ?

No, only my jumpers, jackets, work trousers and nice dresses are hanging. My trousers are folded underneath. Tees, sports stuff, underwear in drawers. Also got a suitcase full of things under bed, mainly off season so my summer clothes, and dresses.

I am just looking up storage ideas on Pinterest, wondering what I can get that goes right up to the ceiling. I could actually put my winter clothes in the loft too.

The Plastad and smastad systems from ikea are good for small spaces. There’s an interactive planner you can use to design the layout to use every inch.

Oh if you have a loft the world is your oyster.

At the very least I'd store:

• 1 box of out of season clothes
• 1 box of special purpose clothes eg holiday/hobby wear you don't need often but would be expensive to replace
• 1 box of things you should probably donate but aren't 100% sure about yet, so you can change your mind

For a capsule wardrobe I like things in pairs. 2 x jeans, 2 x cardigans, 2 x swimsuits etc etc... so there's always one ready to wear while the other is washing or drying.

Storage is an issue here too. What I do is use some of those storage bags you suck the air out of for holiday clothes and formal dresses. They go in the loft, so that's definitely something you could do.

I have room for a handy trunk at the end of the bed for jumpers, jeans and trousers and a small wardrobe for dresses and shirts that I also keep shoes and boots at the bottom of.
I share a chest of drawers with DH where everything is folded Kondo style.
I cull a lot and do the 1 in 1 out method.

My method is to look at every item and think, 'Is there always something else I'd choose to wear today before this?' Hand on heart, the answer most often than not is yes. We hang onto things because we remember how much we paid for them in the first place (but it's a sunk cost), or the fabric is good quality, nice colour blah blah. But essentially they're just hogging space if actually you would always leave them on the hanger and prance off in your other white shirt/black dress/navy joggers.

I just did an almighty prune of clothes and it's been great having some breathing space without loads of 'er, not you today,' clogging up the place.

Watching. I need to do this. The tricky bit for me is the office clothes that I used to wear and now don't know if I'm ever going to need them again. Will we ever get back to full time in the office work again, who knows?