De cluttering your wardrobe
De-cluttering Your Wardrobe
From http://www.spendingwisely.com/?p=59
Have you ever looked in your closet and despaired? “I have nothing to wear?!?” I have… and it’s not because the hangers were empty. Quite the contrary: it was because the closet was too full… of stuff I didn’t want to wear. I wasted time rummaging through clothes, I wasted money buying something new when it turns out I had what I wanted but couldn’t find it, and I wasted valuable storage space with clutter. I recently moved into a smaller place (925 square feet) with limited closet space, so that was a good opportunity for me to apply my principles of de-cluttering to my wardrobe.
My whole plan is based on the idea that your wardrobe should contain clothing that you will, in fact, wear: if you’re never going to wear it, there’s no point in keeping it, as it just takes up excess space and creates an unattractive and overwhelming jumble.
We’re going to walk through a series of questions to help you de-clutter your wardrobe.
First things first. Where do you have your clothes? Your bedroom closet, of course; probably also a dresser. Don’t forget about jackets that may be hanging in an entryway somewhere, or seasonal items that are pushed to the back of a closet. What about any clothes that are packed away, maybe in boxes in another closet, or a garage or attic? Hunt them down so they can all be included in the process. Then pick just one place to start, like your bedroom closet.
Next, look through the clothes, one by one. Actually take each piece out and look at it individually: don’t just glance through things. For each piece of clothing, you should make a decision to put it in one of three piles: clothes to get rid of, clothes to keep, and clothes to fix. DO NOT have a “maybe” pile. Make a decision!
It can be very helpful to have a sympathetic friend help out… sympathetic, yet ruthless. This is the friend who will say, “Holly, I know you like that paisley dress, but you never wear dresses. Out with it.” Or who can say “Yeah, hot pink looks great on some people, but it’s just not your look.”
OK, so let’s look at how to sort the clothes into one of those three categories.
Clothes to get rid of
Repeat after me: If I never wear it, it doesn’t belong in my closet! Got it? OK, that’s the principle. So how do you decide if this blouse, or that pair of jeans, should go into the “out with it” category? We’ll ask the following questions.
Does it fit well?
If the answer is “no,” then out with it! Notice that it has to fit well, not just fit at all. If you can squeeze yourself into a pair of pants but you have to hold your breath to do so, or if your shirt is OK except that it constricts you across the shoulders… those pants and that shirt don’t really fit well, and don’t belong in your wardrobe. Every piece of clothing that you own should be something that fits well and is comfortable. Sometimes you can judge a piece of clothing right away; other times you’ll need to try it on to find out. If you’re in doubt, go ahead and try it on, so that you can make a decision right away.
Watch out for wishful thinking! Trust me, no matter how much I wished it to happen, the clothes in question never miraculously re-tailor themselves while hanging in the closet so that they’ll actually fit the next time I tried them on. Just bite the bullet and toss those ill-fitting fashions on the “get rid of” pile.
Also keep an eye out for items that have been affected by shrinkage. Sure, that sweater fit great once… before the little oopsie with the dryer on “high heat.” What’s really annoying about shrinkage is that it’s hardly ever uniform, because fabric fibers shrink along their length, not their width. If laundry incidents have made some of your clothes funny-shaped, grit your teeth and get rid of the victims.
The one possible exception to the rule of “if it doesn’t fit, don’t keep it” is clothing that is slightly too small, if you are currently trying to lose weight. In that case, it makes sense to anticipate your future sizing needs. (I’ll take a moment to recommend that if you want to lose weight, you do it sustainably, by changing your diet and exercising more, not through any extreme “fad” diets, which usually lead to bouncing back… you don’t want to yo-yo your weight.) However, don’t keep every single thing in the smaller size. Only keep the pieces that you liked the most and that you remember as fitting well.
Is it in good condition?
Depending on your lifestyle, this may or may not be a useful question for you. But keep it in mind as you go through your wardrobe. Does it have holes? Stains? Fading?
For me, it’s fine for my t-shirts to get ratty, because I wear them to work out and don’t care if they’re stained or torn. I’m also happy to wear comfortable clothes around the house until they literally fall to pieces. On the other hand, since I’m a teacher I need to wear “respectable” clothes to work. When my dressier work clothes get too worn or suffer an accident, I need to retire them, because they’re not serving their purpose any more.
Even if you’re a fashion plate, it’s a very good idea to have at least some “beater” items in your wardrobe, for doing messy tasks or working outside, so some of these worn clothes may find their way back into your closet after all. Just remember to limit the number of nearly-worn-out clothes to a reasonable number based on how often you use them.
The basic question is whether you actually wear the worn-out item (I have a flannel shirt with bleach stains that I wear all the time) or whether you consistently pass it over because of its stains or damage. If it’s the latter, get rid of it.
Do I like it?
If you don’t care for it, you’re not going to wear it. If you’re not going to wear it, why on earth is it taking up space in your closet?
Here’s your chance to be honest with yourself. It’s OK to admit that your tastes have changed, or that you have no idea what possessed you to get that neon pink Hawaiian shirts. You’re only accountable to yourself here, so don’t feel compelled to keep something that you don’t care for just because it was a gift, either. Appreciate that it’s the thought that counts, and put it on the “don’t keep” pile.
Am I ever going to wear it?
This is a useful question to ask if you have duplicate items, which happens more often than you might realize. When I overhauled my wardrobe, I discovered that I’d ended up with four red turtlenecks. Now, I do like turtlenecks, and I wear them often in the winter, but four red ones? Especially since I have turtlenecks in other colors as well, the likelihood of ever wearing red turtlenecks enough days in a row to require four of them was slim to none.
I’ve found that scarves, hats, and gloves tend to multiply: if you live in an area with cold winters, double-check that you don’t have unnecessary duplicates of these. Having fewer of these small items makes it easier to keep track of them. (My favorite way to store my winter gloves is in the pockets of my winter coat: that way, they’re always right where I need them.)
“Specialized” clothing is also worth evaluating. Do you have certain outfits or accessories that you got for a specific purpose? If so, consider whether you still need them. Are you ever going to wear that fancy bridesmaid’s dress again? I didn’t think so. If you used to work in an office with a strict dress code, but you now work in a more laid-back environment or have retired, you probably don’t need those suits any more… or maybe just one. Remember, no matter how nice it is, if you’re never going to wear it, you don’t need it.
Clothes to fix
A loose button. A seam that’s coming apart. A stain. There could be many reasons why an otherwise perfectly good piece of clothing isn’t fit to wear as-is. The first important question is “Can this be fixed?” The second is “Am I actually going to fix it?” If the answer is “Yes” to both, then set that piece of clothing aside into a separate category: clothes to fix.
If you leave a shirt with a loose button just hanging up alongside its fellows, you’ll never remember to fix that button… trust me. But it will be a source of frustration, either from choosing it and then having to put it back, or through accidentally wearing it and having that button pop off and get lost (possibly at a very inconvenient moment). That’s why it’s important to pull these clothes out and set them aside so they don’t go back into the regular wardrobe until they’re fit to wear.
Be realistic about your “fix-it” ability. For me, that includes sewing on buttons, repairing small holes, and fixing seams. If it would take something more complicated than that to make the piece of clothing fit to wear, then I’ll gracefully admit that I can’t do it, and put it on the “get rid of” pile. When it comes time to actually start tackling the repairs, don’t stress over trying to get them all done at once: just start by fixing one thing and returning it to the closet.
Clothes to keep
If it fits, it’s in good condition, you like it, and you’re reasonably likely to actually wear it… then it goes on the “clothes to keep” pile.
The proportion of clothes that go into the “keep” pile as opposed to the “get rid of” pile mostly depends on your clothes-buying habits in your pre-spending-wisely days. You may only need to cull a few odds and ends, or you may need to weed out a whole lot. If your closet and your drawers were of the “crammed full and overflowing” type, then keep in mind that you’ll probably need to get rid of quite a bit to get things back in line.
Don’t worry too much if your ” keep” pile is of a modest size compared to the “get rid of” pile. You can actually get by on a lot smaller wardrobe – happily – than you might think! On the other hand, if you find yourself unable to put anything at all, except the very worst of horrible things, in the “get rid of” pile, then steel yourself for a second go-round. Your “keep” pile should consist of clothes that you definitely like and would wear. When you open your closet or dresser, every single thing that you see should be a good candidate to be worn, allowing you to make your choice of what to wear based on things like your mood, or how dressed-up you want to be, or what the weather’s like.
At this point, your closet (or dresser, if that’s where you started) should be empty. Now take every piece of good clothing, one by one, and put it away neatly. Clothes that go in the closet should be on hangers: if you have bent and saggy clothes hangers, now’s the time to toss them in the trash and get good new ones. I prefer thick plastic clothes hangers for shirts, and wooden hangers for jackets, so the hanger won’t sag. Sweaters can be folded and stacked on a closet shelf or in a shelving unit. Clothes that go in a dresser should be folded neatly. If certain items are part of a set (matching blouse and pants, for instance) hang them up together.
Now, when you look for something to wear, what will you see? A neatly organized and attractive wardrobe. Without working any magic, you’ve just revitalized the clothes that you already have! No longer will your good clothes choices be obscured by a clutter of clothes that you don’t like or can’t wear. And by having the closet and dresser less crammed full, your clothes will stay in better condition.
Now what?
Once you’ve completed your weeding-out, please take the time to do something useful with the clothes you’re not keeping.
The worst offenders can be recycled for household cleaning. Socks with holes are great for dusting, and t-shirts can be cut up for rags.
You might have friends who would appreciate some of the items. I had some nice wool sweaters that I never wear any more, now that I live in Southern California; when a friend from Boston came to visit, she took them back with her, and we were both happy.
Consider a yard sale (tag sale, garage sale, whatever it’s called in your neck of the woods) if you have a lot of other items to get rid of, from de-cluttering the rest of your house. Remember to keep prices low so you can actually sell things. This way, someone else can get a bargain and you get a little bit of money back. Do make sure to plan and execute your yard sale promptly, though, so you don’t end up with piles of “yard sale stuff” cluttering up your garage and closet. Remember, we want to get it out of the house!
Last but definitely not least, I suggest donating good-quality clothes to a good cause. Goodwill and the Salvation Army take donations. Local churches often have clothing drives to help out people in the community. Ask and find out where your clothes can do some good, now that you don’t need them any more!
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 11:18 am and is filed under Simple living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
From http://www.spendingwisely.com/?p=59
Have you ever looked in your closet and despaired? “I have nothing to wear?!?” I have… and it’s not because the hangers were empty. Quite the contrary: it was because the closet was too full… of stuff I didn’t want to wear. I wasted time rummaging through clothes, I wasted money buying something new when it turns out I had what I wanted but couldn’t find it, and I wasted valuable storage space with clutter. I recently moved into a smaller place (925 square feet) with limited closet space, so that was a good opportunity for me to apply my principles of de-cluttering to my wardrobe.
My whole plan is based on the idea that your wardrobe should contain clothing that you will, in fact, wear: if you’re never going to wear it, there’s no point in keeping it, as it just takes up excess space and creates an unattractive and overwhelming jumble.
We’re going to walk through a series of questions to help you de-clutter your wardrobe.
First things first. Where do you have your clothes? Your bedroom closet, of course; probably also a dresser. Don’t forget about jackets that may be hanging in an entryway somewhere, or seasonal items that are pushed to the back of a closet. What about any clothes that are packed away, maybe in boxes in another closet, or a garage or attic? Hunt them down so they can all be included in the process. Then pick just one place to start, like your bedroom closet.
Next, look through the clothes, one by one. Actually take each piece out and look at it individually: don’t just glance through things. For each piece of clothing, you should make a decision to put it in one of three piles: clothes to get rid of, clothes to keep, and clothes to fix. DO NOT have a “maybe” pile. Make a decision!
It can be very helpful to have a sympathetic friend help out… sympathetic, yet ruthless. This is the friend who will say, “Holly, I know you like that paisley dress, but you never wear dresses. Out with it.” Or who can say “Yeah, hot pink looks great on some people, but it’s just not your look.”
OK, so let’s look at how to sort the clothes into one of those three categories.
Clothes to get rid of
Repeat after me: If I never wear it, it doesn’t belong in my closet! Got it? OK, that’s the principle. So how do you decide if this blouse, or that pair of jeans, should go into the “out with it” category? We’ll ask the following questions.
Does it fit well?
If the answer is “no,” then out with it! Notice that it has to fit well, not just fit at all. If you can squeeze yourself into a pair of pants but you have to hold your breath to do so, or if your shirt is OK except that it constricts you across the shoulders… those pants and that shirt don’t really fit well, and don’t belong in your wardrobe. Every piece of clothing that you own should be something that fits well and is comfortable. Sometimes you can judge a piece of clothing right away; other times you’ll need to try it on to find out. If you’re in doubt, go ahead and try it on, so that you can make a decision right away.
Watch out for wishful thinking! Trust me, no matter how much I wished it to happen, the clothes in question never miraculously re-tailor themselves while hanging in the closet so that they’ll actually fit the next time I tried them on. Just bite the bullet and toss those ill-fitting fashions on the “get rid of” pile.
Also keep an eye out for items that have been affected by shrinkage. Sure, that sweater fit great once… before the little oopsie with the dryer on “high heat.” What’s really annoying about shrinkage is that it’s hardly ever uniform, because fabric fibers shrink along their length, not their width. If laundry incidents have made some of your clothes funny-shaped, grit your teeth and get rid of the victims.
The one possible exception to the rule of “if it doesn’t fit, don’t keep it” is clothing that is slightly too small, if you are currently trying to lose weight. In that case, it makes sense to anticipate your future sizing needs. (I’ll take a moment to recommend that if you want to lose weight, you do it sustainably, by changing your diet and exercising more, not through any extreme “fad” diets, which usually lead to bouncing back… you don’t want to yo-yo your weight.) However, don’t keep every single thing in the smaller size. Only keep the pieces that you liked the most and that you remember as fitting well.
Is it in good condition?
Depending on your lifestyle, this may or may not be a useful question for you. But keep it in mind as you go through your wardrobe. Does it have holes? Stains? Fading?
For me, it’s fine for my t-shirts to get ratty, because I wear them to work out and don’t care if they’re stained or torn. I’m also happy to wear comfortable clothes around the house until they literally fall to pieces. On the other hand, since I’m a teacher I need to wear “respectable” clothes to work. When my dressier work clothes get too worn or suffer an accident, I need to retire them, because they’re not serving their purpose any more.
Even if you’re a fashion plate, it’s a very good idea to have at least some “beater” items in your wardrobe, for doing messy tasks or working outside, so some of these worn clothes may find their way back into your closet after all. Just remember to limit the number of nearly-worn-out clothes to a reasonable number based on how often you use them.
The basic question is whether you actually wear the worn-out item (I have a flannel shirt with bleach stains that I wear all the time) or whether you consistently pass it over because of its stains or damage. If it’s the latter, get rid of it.
Do I like it?
If you don’t care for it, you’re not going to wear it. If you’re not going to wear it, why on earth is it taking up space in your closet?
Here’s your chance to be honest with yourself. It’s OK to admit that your tastes have changed, or that you have no idea what possessed you to get that neon pink Hawaiian shirts. You’re only accountable to yourself here, so don’t feel compelled to keep something that you don’t care for just because it was a gift, either. Appreciate that it’s the thought that counts, and put it on the “don’t keep” pile.
Am I ever going to wear it?
This is a useful question to ask if you have duplicate items, which happens more often than you might realize. When I overhauled my wardrobe, I discovered that I’d ended up with four red turtlenecks. Now, I do like turtlenecks, and I wear them often in the winter, but four red ones? Especially since I have turtlenecks in other colors as well, the likelihood of ever wearing red turtlenecks enough days in a row to require four of them was slim to none.
I’ve found that scarves, hats, and gloves tend to multiply: if you live in an area with cold winters, double-check that you don’t have unnecessary duplicates of these. Having fewer of these small items makes it easier to keep track of them. (My favorite way to store my winter gloves is in the pockets of my winter coat: that way, they’re always right where I need them.)
“Specialized” clothing is also worth evaluating. Do you have certain outfits or accessories that you got for a specific purpose? If so, consider whether you still need them. Are you ever going to wear that fancy bridesmaid’s dress again? I didn’t think so. If you used to work in an office with a strict dress code, but you now work in a more laid-back environment or have retired, you probably don’t need those suits any more… or maybe just one. Remember, no matter how nice it is, if you’re never going to wear it, you don’t need it.
Clothes to fix
A loose button. A seam that’s coming apart. A stain. There could be many reasons why an otherwise perfectly good piece of clothing isn’t fit to wear as-is. The first important question is “Can this be fixed?” The second is “Am I actually going to fix it?” If the answer is “Yes” to both, then set that piece of clothing aside into a separate category: clothes to fix.
If you leave a shirt with a loose button just hanging up alongside its fellows, you’ll never remember to fix that button… trust me. But it will be a source of frustration, either from choosing it and then having to put it back, or through accidentally wearing it and having that button pop off and get lost (possibly at a very inconvenient moment). That’s why it’s important to pull these clothes out and set them aside so they don’t go back into the regular wardrobe until they’re fit to wear.
Be realistic about your “fix-it” ability. For me, that includes sewing on buttons, repairing small holes, and fixing seams. If it would take something more complicated than that to make the piece of clothing fit to wear, then I’ll gracefully admit that I can’t do it, and put it on the “get rid of” pile. When it comes time to actually start tackling the repairs, don’t stress over trying to get them all done at once: just start by fixing one thing and returning it to the closet.
Clothes to keep
If it fits, it’s in good condition, you like it, and you’re reasonably likely to actually wear it… then it goes on the “clothes to keep” pile.
The proportion of clothes that go into the “keep” pile as opposed to the “get rid of” pile mostly depends on your clothes-buying habits in your pre-spending-wisely days. You may only need to cull a few odds and ends, or you may need to weed out a whole lot. If your closet and your drawers were of the “crammed full and overflowing” type, then keep in mind that you’ll probably need to get rid of quite a bit to get things back in line.
Don’t worry too much if your ” keep” pile is of a modest size compared to the “get rid of” pile. You can actually get by on a lot smaller wardrobe – happily – than you might think! On the other hand, if you find yourself unable to put anything at all, except the very worst of horrible things, in the “get rid of” pile, then steel yourself for a second go-round. Your “keep” pile should consist of clothes that you definitely like and would wear. When you open your closet or dresser, every single thing that you see should be a good candidate to be worn, allowing you to make your choice of what to wear based on things like your mood, or how dressed-up you want to be, or what the weather’s like.
At this point, your closet (or dresser, if that’s where you started) should be empty. Now take every piece of good clothing, one by one, and put it away neatly. Clothes that go in the closet should be on hangers: if you have bent and saggy clothes hangers, now’s the time to toss them in the trash and get good new ones. I prefer thick plastic clothes hangers for shirts, and wooden hangers for jackets, so the hanger won’t sag. Sweaters can be folded and stacked on a closet shelf or in a shelving unit. Clothes that go in a dresser should be folded neatly. If certain items are part of a set (matching blouse and pants, for instance) hang them up together.
Now, when you look for something to wear, what will you see? A neatly organized and attractive wardrobe. Without working any magic, you’ve just revitalized the clothes that you already have! No longer will your good clothes choices be obscured by a clutter of clothes that you don’t like or can’t wear. And by having the closet and dresser less crammed full, your clothes will stay in better condition.
Now what?
Once you’ve completed your weeding-out, please take the time to do something useful with the clothes you’re not keeping.
The worst offenders can be recycled for household cleaning. Socks with holes are great for dusting, and t-shirts can be cut up for rags.
You might have friends who would appreciate some of the items. I had some nice wool sweaters that I never wear any more, now that I live in Southern California; when a friend from Boston came to visit, she took them back with her, and we were both happy.
Consider a yard sale (tag sale, garage sale, whatever it’s called in your neck of the woods) if you have a lot of other items to get rid of, from de-cluttering the rest of your house. Remember to keep prices low so you can actually sell things. This way, someone else can get a bargain and you get a little bit of money back. Do make sure to plan and execute your yard sale promptly, though, so you don’t end up with piles of “yard sale stuff” cluttering up your garage and closet. Remember, we want to get it out of the house!
Last but definitely not least, I suggest donating good-quality clothes to a good cause. Goodwill and the Salvation Army take donations. Local churches often have clothing drives to help out people in the community. Ask and find out where your clothes can do some good, now that you don’t need them any more!
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 11:18 am and is filed under Simple living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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