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“Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.” – Epictetus
Have you ever asked yourself, “How many clothes do I need?” or “How many shirts should I own?”
If you’ve asked either of those questions before, consider just for a moment how your life would look if you owned a minimalist wardrobe of fewer clothes:
- You would have more disposable income.
- You would have more time to live your life.
- Mornings would feature less stress.
- Your closets would be well-organized and uncluttered.
- Packing for trips/vacations would take less time.
- Laundry days would be easier (not necessarily less, but definitely easier).
Unfortunately, instead of enjoying the benefits of a minimalist wardrobe, most of us buy into the lie that more is better. And because we do, we accumulate more and more clothing each season. We are convinced that new clothes will make us more joyful, more fashionable, and more popular. Unfortunately, they just end up getting in the way.
Consider going a different route with your life. Try owning fewer clothes and creating a capsule wardrobe. You may be surprised at how much you enjoy the freedom that a minimalist closet brings.
Whether you are hoping to minimize your wardrobe to the absolute minimum or just trying to pare down some of the excesses in your closet, you will find these 10 steps practical and applicable. They are the same steps that we have used in our home to create our own minimalist wardrobes.
How to Create a Minimalist Wardrobe and Closet
1. Admit that you own too much clothing. That’s all you really need to get started.
2. Wear fewer colors. Most of us already have a few favorite colors that we wear most often anyway – usually because we like the way we look in them. Choosing to intentionally wear fewer colors means fewer accessories (shoes, belts, jewelry, handbags, etc.). It also makes too much sense not to try.
3. Embrace the idea of one. When one can be enough, embrace it – one black dress, one swimsuit, one winter coat, one black belt, one pair of black shoes, one pair of sneakers, one handbag… insert your own based on your occupation, lifestyle, or climate.
4. Donate, sell, recycle, discard. Depending on the size of one’s existing wardrobe, an initial paring down won’t take long. Make a few piles – donate, sell, or recycle. Start with the clothes that you no longer wear. You’ll be surprised how much you can remove and just how close you are to owning a minimalist closet once you build momentum.
5. Donate, sell, discard some more. Removing the clothes you no longer wear is easy. Removing the clothes that you don’t really need can be a tougher choice. Turn around all the hangers in your closet. After wearing an item, return the hanger facing the normal direction. After the season, remove every article of clothing that wasn’t worn. That should help get you started on a second round of paring down. See this article for more creative tips on decluttering.
6. Impose an arbitrary moratorium on shopping. For many, clothes shopping is just a habit – and habit always takes over for inattention. To begin breaking the cycle of purchasing and discarding (the average American throws away 68 lbs. of textiles each year), set a self-imposed buying freeze. I recommend 90 days. If given enough time, this simple exercise in self-discipline will change your view of your clothing and the stores that produce, market, and sell them.
7. Set a monthly spending limit. Pick a low number and stick to it.
8. Purchase quality over quantity. Only buy minimalist clothing that you truly love – even if it costs more. If you stock your closet full of things you love, you will have less desire to add to it, which will make maintaining a minimalist closet a lot easier.
9. Avoid the sale racks. Sales can (and should) be used to help you get a better price on something you need. Unfortunately, most sale racks are designed to convince us to purchase something we don’t.
10. Impress with your character, not your clothes. Lee Mildon once said, “People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile.”
With those tips above, you should have no problem creating a more minimalist wardrobe and answering “How many clothes do I need?”
To see how owning less in other areas of life can bring even more life-giving benefits, check out my book: The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own
Deb says
I just got rid of more than half my clothes, after about 4 rounds of paring down further. I know there’s more I can donate or give away if I go through it yet again. It was almost a sense of relief seeing how much extra space I now have in my closet.
I like the ideas of wearing fewer colors and the notion of less stress in the mornings. I know that if we are presented with too many choices, the decision becomes more difficult (and stressful), but I hadn’t thought of it in terms of choosing what to wear. Awesome.
Heather says
As a woman, over the years, I felt pressure to have a closet or 2 full of clothing…society pressure. Over the years, as I have fully accepted myself as I am, I found basics in a few great colors and styles get me farther and MORE compliments than closets full of clothing. I have to dress for work, no business casual for me. I wear a lot of black, white, red/pink, a little bit of khacki and purple, which all look nice against my skin. I can mix and match my little heart’s desire away. Funny thing is, people always say I dress nice, neat, professional and pretty.
Andrew Randazzo says
I really like what you said about embracing the idea of one. When I use to go into a thrift store and see all these sweet clothes for so cheap, it was hard to resist buying. Now, I have a different mindset that my style isn’t in all the different outfits I wear but the fact that I wear the same outfit all the time. Took a little bit for that switch to happen in my mind, though.
Nick says
I only have 10 items of clothing (not including shoes and underwear). I often have a shower with my clothes on instead of doing the laundry when they need washing.
Gip @ So Much More Life says
I must be terribly out of style, because I can never find anything I want. So I’m a clothing minimalist by default.
I like Jay Leno’s idea of wearing denim shirts and jeans every day. After a year or two, donate them all and buy a new set.
Of course, I haven’t been able to find any denim shirts I like…
Gip
joshua becker says
I haven’t found any denim shirts that I like either.
Katie says
Great ideas Joshua. I have a very small wardrobe and sometimes think that people must get sick of seeing me in the same things, but then I realize, people are likely not paying any attention to what I’m wearing. I’ve never been into fashion, but I think your tips could make for a great wardrobe — flexible, quality and enough. People who need new clothes every season have bought into a big sales gimmick of “new colours” and the “latest styles”. It’s all part of a larger issue — an addiction to shopping as entertainment.
Rana says
I so needed to read this today. Our family is on a no spending money this month and the idea of keeping everything simple and getting rid of things we don’t need or use has me looking at my closet and dressers. I’m so ready to just keep my favorites and donate the rest. I like the idea of a 90 day clothes shopping freeze.
One nice thing I have going for me is that I have a couple of friends who hand down their kids clothes to me. But even that can get crazy with getting to many things. You just have to know when to say no more. Thanks for this post!
prufock says
I’ll take a devil’s advocate position on one point: laundry. To a certain extent, less clothes means less laundry to wash. However, there is a point at which less clothes can complicate your laundry cycles.
It is much simpler and less time-consuming to batch your laundry into large loads, for instance, than to do multiple smaller loads. You should have enough clothes so that when you need to do laundry, you have enough for a full large-cycle washer. There is a clothes “tipping point” where you go from one load a week to two loads a week.
Mary says
Sorting can help with this also – if the fabrics are of similar colours and need the same washing conditions, then it should be OK to put them in the same load. If you’re nervous, add a dye-catcher sheet into the wash in case anything does run.
Wendy says
This whole article is win.
Reason no. 8 probably stands out for me the most.
I shop at American Apparel and get a few disapproving opinions for it because it’s expensive for a store that mostly sells basics. But then again, AA makes clothes I like, plus the fact that the clothes aren’t made in sweatshop conditions. Knowing that I can select a few things from there which I enjoy wearing makes it so much easier keeping that wardrobe down.
Not sure why, but some people (aka my friends) just don’t get the whole quality over quantity thing.
John says
“Not sure why, but some people (aka my friends) just don’t get the whole quality over quantity thing.”
I call that ‘Wal-Mart thinking’. Many people think along the lines of “Why spend more when you can purchase the same thing twice at half the cost (never mind it only lasts 1/8 as long); even better, stock-pile items when they are on sale.”
My Grandmother suffers from ‘Wal-Mart thinking’.
rachel says
I love this post, what about kid clothes? I would like your ideas on how many kid clothes one child should have. Thanks:)
Jessica says
If my daughter had a say she would have her 4 dress up dresses and that’s it. I would do a similar thing as you do with your own clothes. Whatever they never choose to wear, just get rid of. My daughter is 3 and loves her dresses and skirts. I just got rid of all but a couple pairs of pants and shorts since she never wore them.