Thus began my journey towards less. Less clothing, less stuff, less busyness, less stress. As I’ve released these things, I’ve begun to experience more. More time, more peace, more being present in my life.
There was once a time I was proud of the fact that I could wear a different top each day for more than 3 months if I wanted. In January, I reduced my winter clothing to a capsule wardrobe of less than 40 items and I absolutely love it! I find minimizing usually happens in stages. As you start to remove items from your closet, home, and schedule, you uncover another layer you realize you no longer need.
I hope that by sharing the process I went through to minimize my wardrobe you will be inspired and have some tools to help you on your journey. You don’t need to end up with a capsule wardrobe, but hopefully with a bit of purging you can discover a wardrobe that looks awesome on you, feels great and that you love to wear!
How I Minimized My Wardrobe:
Step 1. The first step is to look through your closet and/or dressers and take out anything that you never wear, don’t like, doesn’t fit or is garbage (ripped or stained beyond fixing). When we’re not intentional about what we’re keeping, it’s shocking how these items get stuck in our wardrobe. Throw out the garbage and box up the other clothes to donate.
As you go through this wardrobe minimizing process, it’s important that you dress for the body and life you have now. If you are keeping clothes from 5 years ago when you were 30 pounds lighter, let them go! If your wardrobe is full of clothes for nights out with the girls, but now your evenings are full of nighttime stories and early bedtimes, let them go! You may feel like getting rid of those clothes means you’re giving up on losing weight or ever having a social life again, but more often than not they cause stress when you see them, not inspiration. Fashion and your preferences change over time; when you lose the weight or when the kids are old enough to leave with a sitter for the night, go out and buy a nice new top that you love!
* The exception to this would be if you are in the midst of having children and your body is ever changing or if you are working on losing weight and are currently shedding pounds. I didn’t feel I could really jump into this process until I was done having kids and my body returned to what felt normal for me.
Step 2. Here’s where things get real. Most articles and books suggest that at this point you take out EVERYTHING from your closet and dressers and put it all in a big heap on your bed so that you keep up your momentum and get the job done! If you feel you can tackle this before bedtime, then go for it! If you’re staring at a wardrobe still containing 400-500 items like I was, then I would suggest the route that I took and tackle one category at a time (tops, pants, skirts, dresses, lounge wear, athletic wear, sleepwear, footwear, outerwear, accessories, hats, swimwear, etc).
Here’s the criteria to use for each pile:
LOVE: This pile is for clothes you know well and wear often. These clothes should fit you and look awesome on you. Here are some questions to consider as you decide whether or not to put clothing into this pile:
– Would I buy this again today?
– Do I actually wear this or just wish I did?
– Does this piece of clothing work in an outfit I currently own?
MAYBE: This is the pile for items you’re not quite sure about yet. Maybe it looks great, but for some reason you just don’t wear it anymore. Maybe, for sentimental reasons, you’re not ready to get rid of it, but it’s just taking up space in your dresser. Maybe it’s a beautiful dressy top, but you never know what to wear it with. Maybe you look great in it, but it’s really uncomfortable. Anything that is more of a ‘like’ than a love should go in this pile. We’ll do more work with this pile in a bit.
DONATE: The sooner you’re able to let go of a piece of clothing, the more likely that it will still be in style and someone else will be able to get joy from it. It might be hard to put some clothing in this pile, but remember, the clothes don’t have feelings. If you’re feeling sentimental, try to re-associate your memories with the people and places you shared them with rather than the clothes you were wearing at the time. This pile is for clothes have that have fulfilled their purpose in your life; it’s time to pass them on.
GARBAGE: If it’s ripped or broken beyond repair, stained or greatly misshapen, then this is the pile it belongs in. Hopefully you won’t have many items that fall into this category after your initial sweep through your wardrobe, but don’t be afraid to use this pile when needed. Remember, no one wants your ruined clothes.
Step 3. Here’s where we revisit that MAYBE pile. Try on everything in this pile and move it to either the LOVE or DONATE pile. Now that you have the clothing on you, how does it feel? How do you look? Can you see yourself actually wearing this? Sometimes clothing that has fallen to the back of your closet may become some of your favorites again at this stage. Most of the clothes, however, are no longer serving you well and can make their way into the DONATE pile. Remember, if it looks great, but doesn’t feel comfortable, you probably won’t ever choose to wear it. If it feels great, but looks stretched and worn out, you won’t want to wear it. Don’t be afraid to make the hard choices, you’ve got this!
Step 4. Now it’s time to deal with the rest of your piles. Put everything in your LOVE pile back in your dresser or closet (hang clothes in your closet with the hangers facing backwards; turn them around when you wear an item, allowing you to see what items you have actually been wearing over a period of time). Throw out your GARBAGE pile or find somewhere near you that recycles used textiles. Box up your DONATE pile and bring it to a local thrift store. If you have an extensive amount of clothes that are in great condition and are currently fashionable, you could bring them to a consignment store or try to sell them online, otherwise just donate them!
Some of you may be feeling anxious just reading about getting rid of your clothes. “But what if I might need it someday?” you’re thinking. If this is you, then I would suggest trying what I did. I put two bins worth of clothing out of the way in my garage. After a few months, I realized that I hadn’t missed anything in my bins and couldn’t even remember what was there. This, along with the amazing new space in my closet, allowed me to get rid of those clothes without any hesitation. Don’t let your worries prevent you from removing items from your closet; oftentimes a trial run will show you that you’re not missing anything.
This might be a good stopping place for you for now. With all the extra space in your closet, you will be able to see the clothes you love and pick out outfits easily without all the extra clothing distracting you. As I mentioned earlier, I find minimizing happens in stages and for me this was only the beginning of my purging.
BONUS Step 5. You can take things to the next level by getting a second opinion. After purging my closet on my own, I felt pretty great. I had gotten rid of over 150 pieces of clothing and was feeling so light. A couple weeks later, two of my dear friends were over and we were talking about how I had minimized my wardrobe. They offered to help me if I ever wanted a second opinion and before I knew it we were upstairs going through the process again. I was amazed by how much I could still get rid of. Somehow having a set of fresh eyes and someone to justify my choices to made me much more critical of my decisions. Some items I pulled out of my closet went directly into my new donate pile; the rationalizations I had made to myself seemed ridiculous when I considered saying them out loud.
If you are going to bring a friend into the process, make sure it is someone you trust and are ok being vulnerable with. Having someone help us evaluate our fashion choices and how we look in our clothes can be very emotional. You need someone who respects you, but isn’t afraid of being honest with you. As I pulled clothing out of my closet, my friends made some comments which were very helpful in my endeavor. Some comments helped solidify my decision to keep something: “You look amazing in that shirt”, “That’s one of my favorites”, “I love that color on you”. Other comments helped me easily slip something into my donate pile: “I have literally never seen that dress on you. Ever.”, “You have lots of other shirts that are even more flattering on you”, “You tried on a shirt just like this earlier that I liked better”. I had no problem overriding their opinions on some things that I just loved even though they didn’t. Only once did my friend take something I said I was keeping and put it in the donate pile (I was concerned that I might need a turtleneck someday even though it had been over 5 years since I’d worn it); I laughed and realized she was very right.
Once you’ve purged your clothes, it’s important to make sure you take the time to maintain your simplified wardrobe. A few habits that might help with this are to buy less clothes, regularly purge your clothing, put away clothes that are not in season and maybe even create a capsule wardrobe.
So, what’s holding you back? If you’ve been thinking of decluttering your closet, start with Step 1 today. The decision making gets easier as you go and the freedom you’ll experience is well worth the effort!
