10 Tips For Downsizing Your Wardrobe
Almost every girl I know reaches that point in their life when they have way too many clothes, but don’t have anything to wear. On the verge of my adult life, I took it upon myself to let go of my old clothes to make room for new ones that are more reflective of who I am and who I plan to become.
Here are a few of my random realizations while downsizing my closet to half it’s size to prepare for a more frugal adult life (and a smaller living space):
1. Don’t keep clothes that don’t fit or don’t look good simply because you bought them on impulse or on sale.
They’ve already done their job by making you happy when you snatched them away from the hands of the less deserving person at the store. You can possibly give it to someone who it would look better on!
2. Separate them by functionality before deciding what to get rid of.
You have to be able to tell for what purposes certain clothes are for and match them against your needs before you decide if you have too much of them. You wouldn’t want to throw or give away most of your workout wear just to realize that you don’t have enough to get you through your next laundry session.
3. Take note of how fast and how many clothes you use on your normal week.
It’s either you realize that you have too many clothes or you have to do laundry more often. Personally, I do laundry for light colored clothes once a month and dark colored clothes twice a month. It was because I liked wearing dark colored clothes more. I decided to let go of a lot of more of my light colored clothes instead of adding another laundry cycle.
4. Sticking to certain palettes can dramatically decrease the stress of choosing what to wear.
Creating a go-to pile of basic colors are great for days you don’t feel like thinking about what to wear. For my beach wear, which I only frequently use for less than half the year during vacations, I keep a wide array of colors. But for my work clothes which I have to choose from almost every single day, I decided to only keep colors that were white, navy blue, black or gray.
5. Storing your clothes in gradients makes it easier to create a color palette to your outfits.
You’ll also see which colors you have too much of. If you have 5 white shirts hung next to each other and after a month you realize you only use 2 of them, get rid of the other 3. This is also a great technique if you want to maximize your laundry batching for dark and light colors.
5. If you wouldn’t buy even if they were on sale, get rid of them.
As we get older, our personal style changes. Sometimes we keep remnants of our old aesthetic, which is not entirely bad, except when they’re causing our closets to overflow.
6. If you haven’t worn something in 6 months (unless it’s designed specifically for special occasions), get rid of it.
Unless of course, you make an active decision to start wearing them. One technique I learned is that you put your newly washed clothes are the bottom of your clothes pile so the older, unused clothes will be on top. If you find yourself constantly reaching to the bottom, then the top, never used pile should be let go of.
7. If it’s a gift, wear it at least once and let the person who gave it see it, even if you don’t like it as a thank you.
A lot of us have experienced being gifted clothes that either don’t seem to fit us well or aren’t in tune with our aesthetic. As tempting as it is to give or throw them away immediately, the person who gave them to us probably still made an effort to buy them for us. As a general rule, always wear what people give you at least once out of gratitude. Send them a photo of you wearing it or wear it to a function where you know they will be present. You’re free to donate or sell afterwards, guilt free!
8. If you’re hesitant to let go of some of your clothes that you think you can still use, put them in one big box away from your closet.
If a month passes by and you don’t find the need to open that box, the clothes inside probably aren’t that important to you. This principle applies to more than just clothes.
9. Quality over quantity!
Choose to keep clothes that are made of fabrics that are more durable can lessen the need to keep buying new ones. If you have 5 black shirts who all the look the same, let go of the ones that probably wont make it through the year. Make it a habit to buy more durable brands, and let the thrill of fast fashion slip away. If retail therapy is a must, let go of an article of clothing every time you buy a new one.
10. Shop mindfully.
Don’t shop when you’re hungry, frustrated or sad. This is how impulse buying starts! Find other ways to relieve stress that are more positive than negative. Learn a new sport, go out with a friend, support local artists by watching their shows, and so on. The list is endless!
There you have it. If you have any more tips for downsizing your wardrobe, or if you found any of these tips helpful, leave something in the comments!
