How to Simplify Your Closet
When it comes to clothing, I feel like we’re always trying to find an ideal. Some women are always shopping, trying to find the perfect outfit. Others are always decluttering, trying to get to a more minimal wardrobe and then falling prey to trends that don’t suit us.
If you are someone trying to become more minimal in your clothing, keep reading! I have brought my best tips to simplifying your closet and having a more minimal approach to clothing.
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Only Keep What Fits in Your Closet
Now this can be read two ways. Either only have enough clothing as space you have, which is one way to look at it. And only keep clothing that fits your body. Both are things you should consider, but I want to go deeper into only keeping items that fit your current body.
It is super tempting to keep something that you’ll hope to fit into. A dress you loved but doesn’t fit you anymore. Those jeans that don’t fit right but are super stylish.
I would say get rid of them, but I know sometimes that is hard. At a minimum, these clothes need to get out of your closet. Looking at clothing every day that doesn’t fit you is not a good idea. You want all the clothing in your closet to be clothes that you are able to wear each day.
That clothing that doesn’t fit needs to leave your closet.
If it is something that you will wear again (like if you’re pregnant or postpartum), create a bin and pack everything away. Put it at the top of your closet or in another storage space. Give yourself a time frame. Personally, I like to give myself 6 months from when I finish breastfeeding (my body composition stays different while I’m breastfeeding) and if something still doesn’t fit right by that time, I get rid of it.
If they are clothing that you might fit into in the future, give yourself a time frame as well. If you don’t fit into the clothes by that time, then get rid of them. If you get to that size later, you can always get new clothing. Styles change and what you enjoyed before may not be your style now.
2. Keep Only What You Love
After you get rid of the items that don’t fit, look at your closet again. I love the idea of taking every item out, but sometimes there isn’t time for that. You can always pull each item out one at a time. That way, you don’t end up with a pile of clothes on your bed when you get pulled away to something else.
As you look at each item, decide if you love it. If you do, put it back in your closet. If you don’t, get rid of it. We all only have a finite amount of closet space. The last thing you want to fill your closet with are items you don’t love. I make sure each item in my closet is something I love to wear. And if you know me in real life, I am quite the outfit repeater! I do not care. I have items that I love to wear and look good on my body so I wear them often.
“Now imagine yourself living in a space that contains only things that spark joy. Isn’t this the lifestyle you dream of?”
Marie Kondo
Wouldn’t you love to have a closet with only items that bring you joy and you love?
3. Get Your Clothing Down to a Number that Works for You
There are lots of theories about how many items of clothing you should have in your closet. Some people swear 33 is the perfect number. Others say 25-50 items. Some people think 50 is not enough clothing and need more.
I think there isn’t one perfect number, but there is a right number for you. For my three year old, that is 7 pairs of shorts and 7 shirts. I do a big load of laundry once a week and a smaller load during the week. My 5 year old wears a uniform. He has 4 shorts and 4 shirts for his uniform and about the same number of “play clothes.”
Daily Uniform
For myself, I don’t have a set number. I currently have about 5 bottoms and 17 tops. I recently did a big declutter and moved towards a daily uniform type of closet.
A daily uniform is wearing, in general, the same thing everyday. Currently, I wear workout shorts or skirts and plain colored t-shirts. I have about 6 of each and change the combinations around each week. It makes it really easy to get dressed in the morning. I have reduced my decision fatigue tremendously and plan to continue this for every day wear.
When I have an event or a day where I’m not organizing in homes or playing with my kids, I wear jean shorts and t-shirt. Still easy, but I feel a little more put together. Again, it is easy to get dressed in the morning because I know exactly what to wear.
I plan to evolve my uniform as the weather changes to leggings and long sleeves or sweatshirts. Still easy to get dressed each morning, even as the weather changes.
I am still experimenting with my daily uniform but really like the ease of getting dressed each morning!
4. Get Realistic About Accessories
I used to buy jewelry a lot. I would always see cute earrings or necklaces and think about how they would look cute with different outfits. And then never wear them. So, I stopped buying them.
I am someone who rarely wears jewelry. I have my rings and one necklace that I like to wear and that’s it. I don’t even wear earrings that often.
I also used to buy accessories a lot and different shoes. I don’t anymore.
I never wear accessories. Especially in my current life and style, the last thing I have energy for is “completing an outfit” and I’m okay with that. Maybe this will change in the future, but this is where I am right now.
So, think about your own life situation. Do you enjoy accessorizing an outfit and thinking about the jewelry that goes with it? Or are you someone who wears the same few things each day? Do you like to have a headband or belt that matches your outfit? Or do you use the same bag every day?
Answer these questions for yourself. If you like to accessorize and add to your outfit, buy jewelry and accessories with intention and you can add to what you have. But, if that’s just not where you are in life right now, stop buying those things.
In your closet, clutter are items that you don’t use and just add to the visual abundance in your closet. If you don’t use an item, don’t buy it.
5. Buy Quality Clothing
And as you simplify your wardrobe, you don’t need to quit buying clothing forever. I do challenge you to take some time and pause on buying new items so you can see how you wear the items you do have. Then, intentionally buy a new item that will fit in your wardrobe and style.
But when you do buy, think about what you’re buying. Fast fashion are those items that you buy, don’t spend a lot of money, but they also don’t last very long. If you think about price per wear, it actually makes more financial sense to spend more money on your clothing, take care of them and keep them for a longer period of time. This is also better for our environment as well!
When you buy quality items, they are more expensive on the front end, but you get way better wear out of them. I like to think about my items in price per wear.
Price Per Wear
I am a former math teacher, so stay with me here. I promise this makes sense! Price per wear is taking the cost of the item and dividing it by the number of times you wear it. So an item that costs $10, but you can only wear 50 times is $10/50 = .20 per wear. But an item that costs $100, but you can wear 1000 times (think like a good pair of shoes) only costs $100/1000 = .10 per wear
I have a nice pair of Tory Burch wedges that I love (of course they don’t make them anymore). I have gotten them resoled three times and I’m sure they are pennies per wear at this point. I have had them since college and wear them all the time still (at least all the time when I wear heels).
Get your colors done
About 6 months ago, I was looking at my closet and realized I only wear neutral colors. I very much enjoy the ease of getting dressed that way but wanted to add some color. While I am great at organizing closets, knowing what looks good on me is not my strong suit. So, I got my colors done.
I went to Your Color Guru and they told me that I’m a Calm Summer. I look best in more muted colors. This has made clothing shopping so much easier. I wear a lot of t-shirts but would rather spend a bit more on t-shirts that will last longer. While I love white shirts, my current life (a mom of a baby, toddler and kindergartener) does not lend itself to white clothing very often. So, I now know what colors look best of me. When I go to buy t-shirts, I just pull out my color card and pick the colors that work best for me!
So how about it? Are you ready to simplify your closet? Go through the steps above and see if you can declutter your closet and get down to just the clothing you love! And if you need some help, reach out! We are always happy to help people declutter. After working in many closets and with many clients, we can help you figure out which clothing you love and what needs to go!
Just click below and let us know what you need help with!
