Cleaning out your closet

[Milada]

^ I hear you, it's a big problem. Btw, it's possible to do minimalism with antique or vintage stuff.

IMO there is likely to be clutter in a huge closet

Although it's not an urgent concern because there's nothing I can do about it now, I'd love to see some examples of that for inspiration.

 

[JadorePeace]

CLOSET CLEAN OUT. How would you go about it?

I decided I have WAY too much stuff. I have began to pull out things to take to goodwill, but I still have no space in my closet. How do you go about cleaning out your closet, what sort of things do you look to get rid of or what are your rules for keeping clothes you haven't worn for a while?

 

[fashionista-ta]

I get rid of things that are worn out, that aren't worth repairing, or that I don't feel good in. I don't worry about how long it is since I've worn something if I genuinely feel it can serve a useful purpose in the future. I also get rid of things that are no longer me.

 

[superbeautiful]

When I clean my closet, I blast on some music, throw everything I haven't worn in the past year or months depending on how often I clean, and literally try everything on. If something dosen't fit or can't go with anything else in my closet I donate it or throw it away. I used to just take things out and place them in the back of my closet but come next year and they'd be in the exact same spot untouched. I've found that actually taking the effort to try it on or pair it with other items helps the cleaning out process. It can get lengthy but it's worth it.

 

[cole1019]

i am going to HAVE to do this. i dont know how, but it has to be done. i should post a pic onhere so all you peoplewill feel great about your closets haha

 

[sundaymorning]

i cleared out my closet not long ago, it felt so much better after it had been cleared out!

 

[Velocitii]

i did this once 2 years ago, after i cleaned everything out, i LITERALLY had only 2 t-shirts, a pair of jeans, and a jacket left, but by the time i realized it, all my clothes were already donated or in the dump, i just thought to myself "ohhhh f********"
i ended up spending the following month filling up my wardrobe, but trying not to splurge on too many items at once

 

[couturecouture]

I really need to do this. I keep buying more dressers. . . in the past year I've bought 2 additional dressers and had my dad build me another closet (pathetic of me I know, my room doesn't even look like a normal room anymore ). . . I just have such a hard time parting with clothing and accessories because it's like what if I get rid of a dress that I never wore and then find an occasion a month from now when I NEED it? I am so bad at closet/dresser cleaning! It makes me feel so guilty with the way the economy is having so many clothes that I don't wear so I really want to motivate myself to donate as much as I can. Does anyone have a time frame rule where they get rid of something if it hasn't been worn within a certain period of time?

i LITERALLY had only 2 t-shirts, a pair of jeans, and a jacket left, but by the time i realized it, all my clothes were already donated or in the dump, i just thought to myself "ohhhh f********"

Oh wow. I would have a major panic attack if this happened!!

 

[StellaMare]

I cleaned out my closet a few days ago. First time I did it properly, without keeping things I'm not going to wear 'just because' or 'if'.. I threw out four full bags of clothes and now I feel much better.

 

[from: sophia]

I got rid of three trash bags full of clothes (gave them to my friends) but I still dont have any room in my closet. I still want to get rid of all my printed tshirts and anything that I have left over from highschool but I would have like 10 dresses and 3 pairs of pants left so I am trying to build my wardrobe on the cheap and then I will get rid of more things.

 

[gb_32]

just last saturday i spent all day cleaning it. i dont know.. i just woke up, had breakfast and had this huge need of organizing it at its best and getting rid of clothes i dont wear anymore.
that was short tshirts, also with hello kitty on them and childish stuff like that, washed fabrics, out of fashion sweaters(horrible mixes of colours haha), and scruffy pants. now i have to buy me new clothes yay!

 

[stellachiara]

I clean my closet every season. I feel so relieved after that. When cleaning I follow this rule: If I haven't worn it for 2 years, I give it away. I pass my clothes on to those in need.

 

[Guessgirl96]

I cleaned out my closet a little and even though it was just a few items it feels surprisingly good since I'm a little closer a wardrobe that I 100% love. A good chunk of my clothes goes unworn since I dont have enough occasions to wear it. The problem with the rest of the stuff I dont really wear is I that think maybe eventually I'll have a use for it. Like a pair of capezio cowboy boots, I've never actually worn them but I'll eventually have a ho down or someplace to wear them right? Or a couple pairs of marc by MJ shoes, I dont love them but I could only get about $25 for them on ebay so I keep them just in case.

 

[quimby]

^ Good for you, GG. It sounds like you're honing in on your style.

I do this about once every season or so, and I'm due to go through another round soon.

What I want to start doing, though, is also setting aside "time capsule" items--saving items that I think will come back in style at some point.

For example, I have a floral dress that I kept for one reason or another for about 15 years now, even though I didn't wear it every year, and I'm so glad I did because it's back in fashion. It's now vintage on eBay. Since I still fit into it, I think I'll haul it out this summer.

 

[minor keys]

So I decided that I was unhappy with over half my wardrobe, and needed to "declutter" and "purify". I packed up bags and bags of stuff. Some for the garbage, some for a consignment shop, and some for the Goodwill.

I got rid of ALOT. It was good, because it helped me find some great stuff I had forgot about, helped me figure out what to STOP buying (you know how you buy stuff, but really can't wear it, but you KEEP buying it because your convinced you will fit it into your wardrobe/lifestyle/bodyshape).

But, now my wardobe is pretty bare. REALLY bare. I'm getting kind of nervous! It has some awesome pieces, but there are such huge holes!

So now I get to rebuild the entire thing. I'm just going to pick up a few pieces for summer, since summer is super easy to dress for, and then start worrying about the rest of my wardrobe when the time comes.


But has anyone else done this? Did you have a nervous breakdown like I almost did? Or did it feel great? Did you start rebuying stuff right away, or are you still working on it?

And how do I make it work NOW, since I'm not going to go out tomorrow and buy a ton of stuff, it will be a more gradual rebuilding.

lovespell- interesting post. i did this once, a complete and honest appraisal of my closet. afterwards it was shockingly empty but it felt so cleansed. like a big sigh of relief. i think building a wardrobe should be a leisurely process. i'll wait for perfect pieces rather than getting rubbish to "tide me over" until the real thing, you know?

 

[luluposh]

I've spent the last seven years moving about every year for work/university between the UK (and within the UK!) and Germany...so I never really got around to sorting through my clothes. Last month was the first time I had all my things in one place and I realised how much stuff I actually had - so many things that still had tags on that I had convinced myself to keep because I would eventually wear them....

The bad thing is that being more or less the same size for all these years I have not felt the need to purge my closet, making excuses...it feels SO good now though to have seriously gutted my closets and made space. I have also been doing a lot of reading about the idea of only having a limited number of items in your wardrobe, and that really appeals to me.

I'm at the point where I have my basics covered, and the extras will come depending on the seasons ahead, but I do not feel like I need to rush out and fill my closets again, which is a relief since I thought I would!
I was also glad that I could sell so many of the pieces on again, as well as giving away bags of stuff to charity shops.

 

[DA3784]

i dont have that much in my closet. mostly basic pieces and ordinary shirts/ jeans. but i think i really will clean out my closet during this summer and throw away (or, donate) most of it, so i can go and finally buy some new stuff. maybe even something i would have never worn or tried on before. because somehow i am really in the mood of trying out something different now

 

[dumbfairy]

I'm in the process of moving house,from a flat that has what can only be described as a half sized wardrobe,to the new flat which has 3 large wardrobes The one that I have right now doesn't have enough room for over 2/3s of my clothes so coats are in large plastic tub and random clothes shoved at the top of the wardrobe in the drawer. But I've found it surprising that when I got all of my clothes out of my current wardrobe just how much I had that I had forgotten about because I couldn't see it,so I'm looking forward to my new wardrobe space cos I'm hoping that I won't accumulate so much stuff. The only good side is that I've 2 bags of clothes for charity shops

 

[quimby]

Now that the 80s and 90s are returning in fashion, I find myself approach a closet-cleanout with more caution. Since fashion goes in cycles, I don't want to throw out something that I might want to wear again. The problem is, how do you know what you'll love again and what you won't? I can think of some 80s grunge-era dresses that I wish I still had, but I'm sure there was also a mountain of crap that needed to be donated.

Anyway, I guess the answer is storage, but even that seems too cumbersome. It lacks the satisfaction of the cull.

 

[Guessgirl96]

Now that the 80s and 90s are returning in fashion, I find myself approach a closet-cleanout with more caution. Since fashion goes in cycles, I don't want to throw out something that I might want to wear again. The problem is, how do you know what you'll love again and what you won't? I can think of some 80s grunge-era dresses that I wish I still had, but I'm sure there was also a mountain of crap that needed to be donated.

Anyway, I guess the answer is storage, but even that seems too cumbersome. It lacks the satisfaction of the cull.

I think the key is to really find your own style so you know which trendy items you actually love and should keep, and which you have just because it's in at the time. Easier said than done, though!