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There’s been a lot of talk over on our Facebook page lately about clothing. Big kudos to our Facebook Fans that have been decluttering clothes and have significantly downsized in their wardrobe! Connect with them and others on our Facebook page. If you are ready to start your minimalist wardrobeyou may enjoy our essay: How To Start Your Minimalist Wardrobe
Ready to downsize your wardrobe? Start here.
This got me pumped up to finally tackle mine, and that’s exactly what I did yesterday. 5 bags of clothing later, I can finally say I’m under 75 clothing items! The ultimate number I want to hit is around 40 clothing items. This may be too low of a number for you; keep the amount you’re comfortable with.
If you’re looking for some starters on how to tackle the amount of clothing you keep, here’s what I did yesterday that helped me breeze through it. Also, be sure to check out our post on Decluttering Your Closet for inspiration on tackling that space.
I started with my dirty laundry. I know this seems like a silly place to start, but for me it made sense. A lot of times when doing laundry I’ll brush over the clothing that I know I’m not likely to wear, and I’ll wash the clothing I wear regularly first. For this reason, I’ll occasionally have clothing that will sit in the dirty hamper for long periods of time before I ever wash them (gross!). I pulled all those clothing items out, and went ahead and threw them in the wash. I then took them from the dryer and put them all immediately into a donate box.
The next area I started on was my dresser and closet. All clothing that has gone unused for more than six months was donated or recycled.
As a side note: Living in Florida, I don’t really have seasonal clothing. I have a few thicker jackets but that’s about it. Thus, I didn’t need to separate my seasonal wear. If you do need to separate seasonal wear: determine what still fits, what is still useful, and what you’ll realistically wear next time that season rolls around.
I went through the remaining clothing items and figured out what was worth holding onto. For each item I asked the following questions:
- Is this item still wearable? Is the condition in good shape?
- Does the item fit me well?
- Do I feel good in it, confident?
- When is the last time I wore this piece? Was it less than two months ago?
If I answered “No” to any of these questions, I donated or recycled the item. If the item was still up for debate, I then asked:
- If I kept this item, do I have a place in mind I could wear it?
- Is this the only one of this item? No duplicates?
- Do I need it?
If I answered “No” to any of these questions, I donated or recycled the item.
By the time I was done, I had managed to trim everything down to the essentials:
- 12 Pairs of Pants (6 Jeans, 3 Slacks, 3 Sweats)
- 3 PJ Pants, 2 PJ Tops
- 2 Skirts
- 3 Dresses (2 Casual, 1 Formal)
- 16 Tops (6 T-Shirts, 5 Work Shirts, 5 Tanks)
- 6 Jackets (3 Hoodies, 1 Outdoor, 2 Sweaters)
- 12 Pairs of Socks (10 Regular, 2 Thermal)
- 14 Undergarments (10 Bottoms, 4 Bras)
I plan on trimming this list down a little bit more over time. What about you? What has worked for you when decluttering your clothing? Let us know on Facebook, or by emailing us info@minimalismissimple.com.
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For tips on how to begin your decluttering journey, you can Start Here, or snag a copy of the 30 Day Challenge (our Minimalism and Decluttering eBook).
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