There is no one wardrobe size to rule them all. The right size is large enough to service your needs and small enough to organize, manage and afford. A wardrobe is too large when it’s overwhelming, hard to manage, and items are difficult to store. You can’t see the wood for the trees. If this is your situation, here’s what you can do to bring back closet calm.

1. Edit

Wardrobe editing effectively reduces the size of your wardrobe. Take a fast or slow approach and go through everything. Ask for help when things feel challenging. It’s an enormously satisfying and productive process that helps you control and make sense of your wardrobe. The more frequently you edit, the easier and faster the process.

2. Organize

Improve the way you store wardrobe items. When your closet is tidy, you can pack more efficiently in limited spaces. Items are visible and easy to retrieve, so you see exactly what your options are, and can grab what tickles your fancy.

3. Display Relevant Seasons

Store what’s seasonally relevant for the next six months in your available storage spaces and pack up the rest. Repeat the process when the seasons change. This is especially effective when you live in a four season climate. Choosing daily outfits is simplified when you limit what is at your disposal to wear.

4. Limit Additions and Make Thoughtful Decisions

When you’ve edited, tidied up, and organized, limit wardrobe additions by being extra thoughtful about what earns a future place in your wardrobe. If you want to add to what you have, you’ll need to edit more frequently in order to stick to an optimally sized wardrobe. If you don’t do this, you’ll be back to feeling overwhelmed when the additions come rolling in.

5. Digital Representation of Your Wardrobe

It’s handy to keep an up to date digital representation of your wardrobe through a phone app, or with YLF Finds. That way you see your entire wardrobe at the press of a button so that you always know what you have. This is easier and faster than looking at your wardrobe stored throughout your home. Seeing the items more easily will allow you to make sense of what you have, helping you to control and manage any size of wardrobe.

Sometimes clients hire my services precisely because they need help paring down their too-large wardrobes. We always complete steps #1, #2, and sometimes step #3. Step #4 is the responsibility of the client, and step #5 is something I encourage clients to do if they haven’t done so already.

These steps are not exhaustive. Feel free to share how you’ve managed a too large wardrobe in the comments section.