I’ve been on a purge-the-house kick over the past month.
It started by looking for yard sale items and then went far beyond. As I looked through my clothes I realized I had around 20 pairs of jeans but only wore about 5. And if I’m going to be honest I have about three outfits that I wear over and over and over.
On top of that I had seven pairs of boots even though I only wore two of them. Not to mention a box full of flip flops that hadn’t seen the light of day in years.
Heck, I even had dress pants and a few shirts that still had the tags on them. And jackets seemed to be my real weakness because I had one to go with every type of outfit.
I soon realized that there was no point in me holding on to a hundred outfits when I maybe wore ten of them.
So I decided to pare down to a minimalist wardrobe. I left myself with a few pairs of jeans, only the shoes that actually got worn, and a handful of shirts.
I also kept a couple of outfits for when I needed to dress up and three pairs of shorts. (I hardly ever wear shorts. Even when it’s like 90 degrees. I’m way too modest when it comes to clothing but I can’t help it. I feel naked in shorts.)
Getting rid of useless clothes actually felt fun! Here are five tips that can help you pare down your clothing.
Keep a Good Selection of the Basics
What I did keep a lot of are camisoles.
I wear a cami under everything. I can’t go without one. So I have a wide assortment of colors and probably fifteen to twenty in total, but for me these are a must have.
My other basics are jeans. When I find a pair of good fitting jeans I can live in them. I have three pair that fit me perfectly and since they’re all high quality they’ll last for a while.
After that I’ll be on the search for some more good fitting jeans.
Get Rid of Everything that Doesn’t Fit You
One thing that kills me is when people hoard clothes that don’t fit them. Why?
Let’s be real. Unless you’re actively working out and eating right (or unless you’ve just had a baby) you’re not going to magically fit into those jeans that are two sizes too small. Sell them. Donate them. Trash them. Just don’t keep them.
Dress your body for the size it is now.
Get Rid of the Things You Wouldn’t Wear in Public
If you have clothing that has holes in it or stains just throw it away. You’re never going to wear it and it’s just hogging precious closet real estate.
Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up to a clean, organized closet full of stuff you’d actually put on your body? Yep, it’s pretty nice.
Keep One or Two of the Things You Don’t Consistently Wear
What I’m trying to say here is that if you don’t have to dress up very often you don’t need ten pairs of dress pants and dresses.
You probably need 1-3. (You can probably get by on one outfit but I like to have my options.)
I’ll admit this was kind of hard for me.
My last job was in insurance so I had accumulated quite the wardrobe of dressy clothes. But I never plan on having a job like that again and I haven’t wore any of that stuff (except to one funeral) since October of last year when I quit.
I kept the stuff I absolutely loved and got rid of the rest. The truth is I’ll probably never wear what I kept.
Re-Evaluate Every Few Months
At first it’s kind of hard to get rid of all your clothes.
But once you come back a second time you start asking yourself why you’re keeping all of this stuff. So if you aren’t happy with your closet after your first purge revisit in about a month.
Then you can come back every six months or so. If you haven’t wore the clothes you kept then get rid of them.
And don’t forget to sell your old clothes. I just landed $350 in yard sale money by cleaning out my closet.
How many clothes do you have? Any tips for parting with your stuff?
Photo Credit: Franky242
Alexa Mason is a freelance writer and wanna be internet entrepreneur. She is also a newly single mom to two beautiful little girls. She chronicles her journey as a single mom trying to make it big at www.singlemomsincome.com.