Help With Organization

jag923

How many of each item is sufficient? I am a working mom who has accumulated way too many pieces of clothing through the years, but I am the type who has trouble ridding myself of the extras. I thought if I had guidelines of how many casual T's, blouses, etc is normal and necessary, it would really motivate me to purge my closet. I would love some input and assistance! Oh, I am about to share a closet with DH, so this is also part of the motivation.

14 years ago

General

8 replies

Latest reply was from Lisa

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Hi Jag! The amount differs per person, and there are no real guidelines in this regard. Some people need 20 pairs of jeans, while others are fine with just one pair - that's how much difference I see between the needs of my clients.

What you really need to do is start by passing on items that you do not wear. Think that you can do that?

14 years ago

Deborah

Veteran

Great advice from Angie:) I think that's a great way to start. I found getting rid of items in my wardrobe that I wasn't wearing was a great way to see clearly what I WAS wearing and where the holes in my wardrobe were. Good luck

14 years ago

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

I also wanted to add that it's important for you to sort out which pieces are classic/basics and which are trendy. Too many trendy items can make it hard to dress!

14 years ago

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

This is one of the reasons I started my blog, actually. I found it helpful to see how many times I actually wore different items. I'll bet you'll find that you're really just wearing a handful of stuff over and over again. So, the goal is to make sure that you ONLY have really fab stuff that fits the function of the stuff you wear all the time just by necessity.

For example, if you find that you're usually wearing a tee and jeans and sneakers, then make sure you're wearing the most flattering denim you can find, the cutest sneakers or comfy booties, and find some nice, flattering knit tops to take the place of the tees.

If you work in an office and find yourself wearing a button-down, trousers and pumps over and over, then get some beautifully fitting trousers, branch out to printed blouses and try ankle booties or boots with your trousers.

(those are just examples...)

14 years ago

(website)

Veteran

I agree that it's hard to set a certain number for various reasons, but I'll share my amounts. I still have too much, but most categories I have about 15 of, some less some more. That's broken down into skirts, pants/jeans, coats/jackets, dresses etc. Shirts I have about 15 of each kind - short sleeve, tank, long sleeve. I keep moving back and forth between two opposing climates (the beach and snowy mtns) and so I have more than most - about 150 items including all layer tops. Many members here have about half that and wonderful effective wardrobes!

14 years ago

celia

Veteran

Only you can find out how many are enough.You already have great advice and I can only add my experience on this.
the reason why I had too many things in my wardrobe and not so many options was that once I saw a sillouette that I liked I tended to repeat it too many times.For me it was a tunic and jeans. I had several pairs of tunics and several pairs of jeans , someimes they would not differ that much from each other and not one decent dress to wear in winter.

14 years ago

Anonymous

I think the first step will be to sort into 3 categories: 1) Get rid of anything you are 100% certain you never wear. 2) Absolute keepers. 3) Things that you just don't know for sure.

Immediately get the discards out of your house. Right away. Then put all your 100% keepers back in the closet. Put all the uncertains in another closet and put them on trial. If you find yourself wearing an item, it can graduate back your closet. If, after a certain amount of time, something is never worn and you just don't miss it...out it goes.

Just getting all the extra stuff out of the way will help you focus on what you really and truely have to work with. Then you can see what wardrobe holes you need to fill and if you still need more or less of any piece. It really depends on your own needs and lifestyle.

14 years ago

Lisa

Veteran

Some great advice here. I do think the number of items you need in each cateogry will depend on how many seasons you have to dress for, what your tolerance level for repeating outfits is, and how often you do laundry. Someone with 4 seasons will need less items within each category and will have more categories than someone with one or two longer seasons.

For myself, I currently have about 15 items in each category and I live in a 4 season climate. I also do laundry once a week. I hanger flipped my clothes and noticed I only wear about half of these amounts in a season. I am ok with a two week outfit rotation, so I really only need about 15 outfits per season. This brings me down to roughly 5 items per category which is far less than I currently have at the moment.

Good luck!

14 years ago

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