There is something uniquely attractive about open space in a closet.
When was the last time you saw a staged photo of a closet stuffed to overflowing with clothes? Rarely, if ever. Instead, clothes hang neatly and are organized tidily–with room for air and energy and open spaces. This is attractive to most of us but many of us don’t bother with learning how to get rid of clothes for a minimalist closet.
Instead, our closets are stuffed full of shirts and pants and shoes and belts and jackets. We run out of hangers or shelf space, and then we shop for storage solutions so we can store even more clothes. Our closets become cluttered all too quickly.
Still, we are drawn to the idea of a thinned-out, minimalist closet.
Of course, they offer more benefits than simple beauty. It saves time in the morning (and sometimes, the evening). It reduces stress and frustration. It saves money. There is a special pleasure reserved for those who look in their closet and love everything they see.
If you are looking for help on how to get rid of clothes and form a more minimalist closet, here are nine simple tips to get you started:
1. Start easy. Begin by removing the clothes that are stained, ripped, or faded beyond recognition. Items that are no longer in wearable condition can still be donated.
2. Remove seasonal items. Remove off-season clothing from your closet to free up some needed space. If you didn’t wear an item at all last year, get rid of it. Then, store the remaining pieces in a separate closet where they will not be in your way cluttering up your closet.
3. Get rid of clothes that don’t fit once and for all. If you’re in-between sizes, certainly keep some clothing from both. But if you haven’t cleaned out your closet for quite some time, there are likely a number of ill-fitting items that can be removed entirely—whether you changed sizes, the item shrunk or stretched, or it never did fit quite right. Those ill-fitting items are weighing you down physically, mentally, and emotionally. Pass them on to someone who can use them.
4. Reduce your need for additional accessories. If you’re holding on to something until you find the “perfect accessory,” let it go. Clothes often multiply in our closets because of the Diderot effect (one purchase leads to another, which leads to another). In the future, look for pieces that compliment your existing accessory pile. After all, if you’re constantly adding things to your closet, you’ll never get ahead (not in your closet and not in your checkbook).
5. Consider the idea of one. If one can be enough, embrace it. Rather than owning an entire assortment, try owning just your favorite black dress, belt, handbag, or jacket (just to name a few ideas). A closet filled with only things you love and use will be a closet that you love to use.
6. Reassess current trend purchases. The fashion industry gets rich on one principle: constantly changing fashion trends. You see, the fashion industry cannot survive on people buying only the clothes they need. So the industry invents false need by boldly declaring new fashion trends and colors for every changing season. But you don’t to have fall for their tricks. Find your favorite timeless fashion and start playing by your own rules.
7. Physically handle every item. If you want to make significant progress thinning out your closet, remove every item entirely from the closet. Return only the pieces you truly love. If that task seems too overwhelming, complete the process in sections (i.e. shoes today, shirts tomorrow). However you seek to accomplish this project, it is important that you physically handle each item at some point. The physical touch forces decisions.
8. If all else fails, pick a number. To start, choose 10. Thumb through the clothes in your closet and remove 10 items—any 10 you want. Put them in a bag and drop off at your nearest donation center. Likely, you will find the task was not that difficult. In fact, once you get started, you may find 15 or 20 things to remove without even breaking a sweat.
9. Experiment with less. Test your assumptions about the optimal amount of clothing with a few, simple experiments. Try placing half of your clothing in a different room for two weeks. You will be surprised how much easier is to function and get ready with fewer clothes in your closet. Most of us wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time and would live much happier with fewer wardrobe choices than we have now. But you’ll never realize that until you test it out.
There are many reasons the capsule wardrobe movement is growing so rapidly. A thinned out minimalist wardrobe is less stressful, less time-consuming, and more convenient. You’ll love it once you experience it yourself.
And there’s no time like the present to get started.
Kathy Fisher says
I acquired a 3-pc luggage set that I absolutely love and travel with often – that is the 21 and 24-inch pieces. I have only used the 28-inch one time and vowed never to travel with it again SO I repurposed it to hold all my ‘off season’ clothes and some other pieces with sentimental value. When I am ready to do the seasonal change out, I roll it out, exchange items and roll it back away.
Sally W says
Great idea!
Angela says
Am I on the wrong site? I got rid of a coat recently that I had had for over 30 years! Yes that’s right 30 + years.
I would have kept it if it hadn’t got ripped quite badly.
I do get rid of things much earlier though, when I no longer have use for them.
I hardly need or desire to buy much.
Having less than most people stops me getting stressed.
Also, my spare time isn’t running round stores for more things to bring home.
Angela
Kathy says
Many items among my clothes that I enjoy wearing are in the 20-30 year old range. My daughters (in their 20s) are currently wearing/using a down jacket and a Hawaiian mumu that were mine and are currently 34 and 40 years old. I say buy quality items you love and then take good care of them
Maureen @ A Debt Free Mess Free Life says
I spent the weekend doing this very task. I found I had clothes in my closet that were 10 years old! Ten years! Needless to say, I got rid of quite a bit. Ended up with over 6 bags full of clothes. My biggest problem is the idea of just one. If I like a t-shirt, I always buy 3 just in case I get a stain on it. Crazy thinking right?
Naomi says
It can be hard to give things away when you know that because the world is overflowing with textiles (3rd world countries getting ‘Dead White Man Clothes’ as they call them) and you’d really like your good stuff (even if you don’t wear it) to be re-used and wanted.
I just gave away a floor-length brocade coat (with fake-fur trim on the collar and cuffs) to a local Amateur Dramatics group. Sometimes you have to think of other ways to re-purpose your stuff rather than just automatically offloading it to the charity shop (where most of it will go to the rag man or 3rd world).
Karen T. says
This is absolutely a reason not to buy so many clothes in the first place. I’ve taken to buying fewer, higher quality, American-made clothes (quite hard to find). I wash gently in cold water and hang most things to dry, so they last quite a long time before I need to replace. Most things can be worn more than once before washing, as well (it amazes me how some people change their clothes more than once a day and put everything to be washed — they’re drowning in mounds of “dirty” clothes and need a huge wardrobe of clothing to support their laundry habit).
John P. Weiss says
My long haired Kleekai dog (mini-husky) inadvertently helped minimalize my wardrobe. His white hairs stuck to everything, but really stood out on dark clothing. So I got rid of my dark clothes. But, I can’t just rely on my dog’s help, so thanks for the tips in your post!
EmpressNG says
Ha, I deliberately chose a black dog from the rescue centre because my wardrobe at the time was mostly black! :) My brother has been trying to get me to take his jack russell terrier but I really can’t have a white dog.
Getting back to the original post, my problem is parting with shoes.
Margaret says
Great post, so hard to have just 1. I’d like to have just 1 coat for each season, but somehow I just keep buying hoodies =( haha
Sarah says
Re moving your items to another closet – this sounds like such an American solution! In many other countries, people only have one closet (we call it a wardrobe here) and it’s a lot smaller than those walk in things.
I find this point doubly interesting as it contradicts the advice of Marie Kondo who advocates putting all your items together so you can see everything you need at once. Perhaps the variations in seasons in the US are much more extreme than in Japan and so having your t shirts to hand mid winter doesn’t make much sense?
Anyway, interesting read overall – thanks Joshua.
Christina says
Yes! I did this years ago. I only wear clothes that I really love and that I am happy to wear. Pants too tight? Move on. Holding on to the idea of what size your waist should be will only cause you pain–literal and figurative!
And when you do find that comfortable, fitting, flattering pair of black dress pants, pay whatever they want for them, and then wait them four times a week!
Tiffany @ happythankfulhopeful says
I recently decluttered my closets and the experience was amazing. The practical benefits (less clothes to wade through) were great, but I also gained some insights at the same time. If you’d like to read more, my top 4 insights are outlined in a post titled “Decluttering My House & Soul”.
– Tiffany
https://happythankfulhopeful.wordpress.com
New Post: Warrior of One
Jeff Mc Clung says
Love this line, Joshua – “Most of us wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time and would live much happier with fewer wardrobe choices than we have now. But you’ll never realize that until you test it out.” Great post!
Denise Z says
At the beginning of each season, I turn all my hangers backward; when I wear an item, I reverse the hanger. Very helpful in seeing what you wear…and what you don’t! (I originally found that I DID wear 20% of my items about 80% of the time!)
Jonathan says
Here’s my strategy:
I hang all shirts that are not t-shirts, separated between long sleeve and short sleeve. I turn my hangers wrong way out as items are returned and I don’t wear those items again until I have worn everything on a right way hanger. My sweaters are folded in a drawer; they are returned to the bottom of the stack with the big fold to the back and I don’t weather them again until the the rest have been worn. Under wear is folded in a couple of stacks. Wear from the first stack till depleted, slide the second stack forward in the drawer, return the clean stack to the back of the drawer. T-shirts are weeded out regularly and especially if the single stack won’t fit in the drawer. I have 1 pair of chinos and 1 pair of dark jeans for work and a pair of weekend jeans (REALLY broken in). Workout clothes are handled similarly. I live in New England so I have 4 seasons and the seasonal irregularities to account for. At the end of the day I think about how I felt wearing an item, did it need constant adjustment, was it too tight or too loose, and does it look good at the end of the day. If it doesn’t pass this test it is donated. I have just about 2 weeks worth of clothes for winter or summer, but we are good about doing laundry weekly I never run out of clothes. Also I don’t tend to spill food or drink on me so I can get a lot of wearings with pants before they need a spin through the the washer.
Renae says
Wow! Lots of great advice! Thank you!