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How to keep my closet under control

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I find I still have too many clothes and yet I still want to buy more. This drives me crazy. Either I need to let go of what isn't working and move on or I need to put more effort into putting what I do have together in new ways. I found in the past I would get on a kick and buy like 5 of a similar item before I realized it - say casual blazers. This time around I'm finding 2 or 3 is sufficient - skinny pants, ballet flats. If I can get up the courage to finally ditch the so so things and limit the new silhouettes and styles to 2 or 3 versions, I hope I can have that magical closet. You know the one where everything fits and goes together? I've heard of it but it's sort of like the leprechaun at the end of the rainbow - I've never actually seen it lol!
Realistically, how many versions of an item do you each feel is sufficient? By item I mean pencil skirt, cropped jacket, pullover sweater, etc. Or do you pick 4 or 5 types of clothing that suit you and then go wild with just those few silhouettes? Like for instance, you found a-line skirts, straight leg jeans, boyfriend blazers, tunics and wrap shirts to be your look and concentrated most of your shopping on versions of those items? I tend to have a LOT of silhouettes in each category. Like for skirts I have all but bubble skirts I think - pencil, mini, maxi, tulip, a-line. Am I a clothes hoarder or do many of you have lots of varied options like this as well? It might help me to figure out how to pare down my closet a bit

General

27 replies

Latest reply was from catgirl

rae

(website)

Veteran

I think I fit into the "find what works and stick with it" category. I mean, I have a LOT of clothes, but not that many types of clothes (a whole section of bootcut jeans, maybe 2 straight legs, 90s dresses for casual days, sheath dresses for work, pencil and A-line skirts, blazers, v-neck tees, and tailored casual jackets. The only limit is set by my closet space; it's full now, so something must come out if I bring something in (painful at times).

I'm having a problem now where I want to go out dancing more, but I have no dancewear. I'll have to start a capsule for this, but that means another capsule has to get smaller...

Ljubica

I have the same problem - I adore shopping and I end up with multiple versions of the same thing.
Some of those things are poor quality, some are ill-fitting and some are just duplicates.
For example, I'm into dresses now, and I have already made a huge collection.
I have 3 grey, 2 black, 2 purple, 2 tweed and 6 patterned. And I'm always on the lookout for some new ones.
The same was in my jeans phase - I collected all possible shades and fits, but many of them were almost identical and some of them were so uncomfortable or inferior in quality and fit that they never got worn.
I wish I could downsize my closet and be able to pick only the best in each category, the items which can make me stand out and feel fab for a long time.

Aida

Veteran

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing when your closet is large, if you fill it with pieces you love and that fit (and you're not overspending your limits). For people who don't wear limited silhouettes having the variety among pieces is kind of essential, though larger wardrobes are certainly harder to manage and coordinate. But if you know you'll mainly wear, say, a-line skirts then having the greatest variety of that style would be your goal, and then you'd have a few others in shapes you wear less often.

I know that many people aim for the wardrobe where every piece goes together, but this isn't quite what my goal is. I've been gathering pieces that go with parts of my wardrobe then working at crossing them over into others. For me, the fun I have in getting dressed is coming up with an outfit I haven't yet (that still looks good), pairing items cleverly, and just plain being creative. However, that said, I do need to have unifying elements to the clothing I buy and that is the part I'm working on improving.

I guess what I would like to say is that you shouldn't purge JUST SO the closet is small UNLESS your goal is to have a small closet (not a goal of mine). However, from my (ongoing) experiences in finding my style I've found that having more items to be creative with while learning has really helped me find what I truly like and don't like, and THEN I get rid of pieces. Unless they fit badly, then they should go sooner rather than later

catgirl

Veteran

Mo, I am in the same bind.

Evie

I feel like I used to buy several new items on a binge, like 3 pairs of dark jeans in one stop to the mall (because I needed to fill 1 gap).

Now, I tend to buy one new piece I want or think I need, i e. cardigan or cigarette pants. If I keep wearing the same piece over and over again and have a withdrawal while the item is awaiting its laundry day, I'll go ahead and think about purchasing a second piece of the same type (and different color, or design, or level of classiness).
I feel this way I only buy what I will truly wear, and am more likely to buy less but good quality items, as opposed to many average ones.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I think I have to find that balance between wanting every option at my fingertips and having a better working wardrobe that compliments itself. I don't feel the need to toss stuff just to do it - I really do have plenty of room, but I don't want it to be unmanageable either.

I've managed to toss poorer qualtiy stuff, ill fits, and tons of florals I'd somehow accumulated that just don't suit me. I'm more a geometric print kind of gal. Also, ratty shoes hit the pile in droves. Now I'm more concerned with whether to keep things that literally get worn once or twice a year. My fear is that if I do consolidate I'll feel shortchanged or that I'm stuck wearing the same things over and over, even if in different combinations. Sigh. I guess the right place to start is with being sparing with what comes in. I am already doing better with that as I mentioned - only 2 or 3 versions rather than the half a dozen I'd grab in the past. And as Evie pointed out, this way I'm more likely to have quality than quantity. I just need to somehow stop the "I want to have one (or 4 or 5) of everything" mentality. And for now, I am going to start a holding place for questionable clothes.

catgirl

Veteran

Mo, I have a couple of items I ADORE that I only wear once or twice a year, just because they are only suitable for certain occasions. Those I would keep. Other than that, I have the same problem!

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Yep, Una, I unfortunately have tons of shirts that are basically average but each gets it's once a season appearance. That kind of thing - I just got so carried away with wanting every color option or length etc. for a while that I ended up with so much. I'm all for having lots of options but not when it gets so that I ignore half of what I have. I definitely have to think on this a bit. I also know I have so much because rather than restyling what I have, I just brought in more. That was what shopping meant for me - abundance. I didn't realize that more didn't necessarily translate into more outfits. Darn, that means I have to learn how to successfully put outfits together day after day lol!

catgirl

Veteran

I do that too. I feel like I recently had to stop myself from buying massive amounts of tunics after I got sold on the tunic and skinnies look. I think we all have certain shopping patterns and mine involves both hoarding and obsessing. It makes a huge difference to me to see how people on YLF remix things so creatively - I love Tanya's posts, as well as QM, Sarah and Greenglove and many others for showing how they repeat an item with a few changes.

Kate

Veteran

Mo, have you considered trying to focus the colors in your wardrobe? My goal in high school and college was to have several tops in every color, which was ok because I only wore them with jeans, or covered them with a sweatshirt. Now that I don't just wear jeans, t-shirts, and sweatshirts, I've had to think more about what colors go together. I've really limited my wardrobe color palette, and it's helped a lot! I don't need tops in every color, and every shade of every color, because I know that I look much better in mustard yellow than sunshine or pale yellow, and that pink just doesn't have a place in my wardrobe. It's limited my selection while shopping in a very productive way, and also helped me to remix the items I have.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

This is how silly it all is - just the thought of eliminating a color from my wardrobe is an uncomfortable thing. I don't want to have to choose brown over black or only saturated colors in leui of a few paler versions. But in reality, I already am gravitating towards the saturated ones subconsciously with neutrals playing backup nicely. So maybe mentally I am compartmentalizing already? One can hope! Thanks for the tip - it makes a lot of sense.

puffenstuff

(website)

Veteran

Mo it does sounds like you are already thinking on the right track. You are probably already having those thoughts about what colors suit you but you're heart is overwhelming your purchases. This was my internal dialogue when shopping "OMG I love the print on this top and it's on sale too so I must have it" never mind the fact that it might be the totally wrong color for me, go with almost nothing and something big and wooly that I can wear for maybe 2 months in the year. Now (mind you only recently) I keep a list of wants based on wardrobe holes that I discovered from being on here plus my inspiration photos. I go shopping for those things and take that list with me, if I come across another one of those OMG items, I keep in the back of my mind "now what can I wear this with" for me if I cant wear it with at least 2 things (skirt or skinnies) then it stays there - no matter how much I ooh and aah over it if it cant fill a purpose in my wardrobe it has to stay where it is.

What I also found helped was doing a closet purge and looking at the amount of things I threw out because I hardly wore them, I dont want to go down that track of wasting that much money again and that is a big motivating factor!

Refugee

Veteran

I'm still on the other side and building my wardrobe but have been looking at it from the perspective how many of what function it serves in my wardrobe. I've learned this perspective from The Lucky Shopping Manual. Take skirts for example. They say you are totally covered if you have 2 all-season work skirts, 1 day to night skirt, 2 summer work skirts, a denim skirt and 2 summer weekend skirts. If you're someone who never wears pants add a summer evening skirt, a winter evening skirt, and a leather or suede skirt.
Maybe looking at things from this perspective may help you? If your library has a copy of the book it is definitely worth a look.
If nothing else it would probably be interesting to see what your wardrobe would look like if you followed their guidelines. Pull out only items that fill each wardrobe category and select your daily outfits form those items.

Lisa

Veteran

I have this problem too, as my recent blazer purge showed, I started to go on a blazer purchasing binge and before I knew it I had over a dozen blazers! That's more than two weeks worth, of wearing ONLY blazers! Oh my! I purged down to 5-6 but in reality in a month, I probably only wear 3. I think one way to look at this is, there are only 7 days in a week. How many days do you want to wear item X (blazer, cardigan, jeans etc). This may help narrow it down if you think of your wardrobe in weekly amounts. I am still struggling with this but hey it's a start right? I don't think you should purge items only worn 1-2 times a year. Certain items, they are special occasion pieces and while not worn as often as long as the entire closet isn't full of one outfit wonders you should be fine.

Stephanie

Veteran

Hey everyone, thanks for this thread--I am finding it really helpful and I relate to what you all say. Like Mo, in the past I have had the tendency of buying things just to have options--black wide-leg wool trousers, straight-leg wool trousers, skinny wool trousers, cotton pants, etc. And that's just an example from pants, which I hardly even wear! Part of the problem is that I am an avid bargain shopper/thrifter--I used to find it hard to resist a bargain, even if it wasn't a bargain because I didn't need it. Anyway, I have been doing a huge closet purge to get try rid of the versions that don't really flatter me, as well as extra shoes and handbags (I've already made about $1200 on e-bay, which just goes to show you how much stuff I had).

Now that I have fewer clothes--though not as few as I'd like to have--I'd really like to experiment with trying them together in different ways. My tendency used to be to buy new items for every outfit, but I really admire what I see a lot of people here do with remixing the same item in lots of different ways (plus it cuts down on matchy-matchy). Maybe we could do a thread together? For instance, post pictures of the same item worn several ways, so we could help each other figure out what works and what doesn't? I have the sense from looking at others' photos that remixing is a skill--one that I don't really have.

Marley

Veteran

Wow! I have really enjoyed reading this thread! Mo - and others - I have the same problem. I made a commitment several months ago to go through my closet, purge, donate, etc. - and then not buy again until I figured out what I really needed! But, I am still stuck on the purge step! I just can't get rid of anything! It is part hoarding, part obsessing ("but, what if I get invited to the president of Dubai's birthday party? I should keep this so that I'll have something to wear!") and part fear too - a fear of never having enough or never getting anything new again or running out of things - I don't know for sure. But I DO know this - it is a huge hurdle for me that I keep stumbling over - and then I stop thinking about it for a few days/weeks - and then (again) resolve to purge, sort, etc. - but instead find myself falling right back into the same mental trap. CRAZY making! Maybe the ones of us who struggle with this should form some type of on-line support group - or better yet, those among YLF who have overcome this "problem" could "sponsor" those of us who are still in the beginning stages of the recovery process!

rute

Veteran

I adore shopping also, but I'm not a keeper, so my wardrobe is always under control.
My advice is to try everything, take pictures (help to see the piece with other eyes) and give away what you don't love, what is old or what don't fit right!

Queen Mum

Veteran

SYC has given me the chance to really ponder this. I have arrived at the following for my personal wardrobe size... I call it my closet to the power of 10. I am currently there in most categories (I think I am just short one cardigan and one jacket).

10 dresses ( I currently own 13 though)
5 winter bottoms
5 summer bottoms
10 unders (camis/tanks)
10 summer tops
10 winter tops
5 pull over sweaters
5 summer toppers (vests, short sleeved cropped cardis)
5 winter cardigans
5 jackets
10 summer shoes
10 winter shoes

Not counting the cami's and tanks or accessories, this totals 80 items. I figure if I plan to purchase 2 items per month (plus one accessory) my wardrobe will be renewed roughly every 3 years. When I purchase an item I will remove an item from the same category.
Obviously if my lifestyle changes (as in get a job or win the lottery) I would need to adjust my wardrobe accordingly, but for now I feel really good about having this size of wardrobe. It will give me enough variety to not get bored, but a small enough wardrobe to get regular wear out of most everything. Plus, allowing myself 2 purchases per month will keep me having one new item to start playing with every two weeks.

The fine print...
it goes without saying that birthday and christmas money will also go toward wardrobe purchases above and beyond my 2 item monthly limit

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

My problem is that I buy statement pieces that are pretty unique in some aspect. I don't buy basics much anymore.

Barbara

Veteran

Interesting posts! I buy only styles and colors that look slamming on me. I WILL try on most anything, but I MUST own the look before I buy it.

I do believe in a reasonable amount of multiples, especially jeans, tees and some shoes/boots. I have recently discovered my love for fitted v-neck cardigans, but ONLY if they are fitted and flatter my slim hourglass shape.

And although I recently purged my closet, I still need a frock or two.

Vix

Veteran

Mo, I think we all agree that there's no magic number or objective way to judge whether it's "good" or "bad" to keep pieces that get less wear around for comfort, variety, etc.

But since you said:

>>Either I need to let go of what isn't working and move on or I need to put more effort into putting what I do have together in new ways

you know the answer for you is that you still either have too many of the *wrong* things -- or you would rather buy new than put effort into combining what you have.

Like you say, it's a process trying to break old habits and "comforts" -- a never-ending one if you are me -- and it sounds like you and others are trying to work through that process.

So while I think it's really important to Know Thyself in terms of style, tendencies toward "emotional shopping," lifestyle etc I also think there's a lot of trial and error involved until one finds the system that works best.

Personally I *do* see crossover with other habits (like eating and exercise!). Some people do better with routines, some with variety; some love goals and "magic numbers" and others feel constrained...and some like MOSTLY x but gotta have y.

Me, I need some structure (color-based capsules that cross into my neutrals; go-to silhouettes) and some wild cards (trends I like; more standout pieces; favs I bring out now and again). And my comfort zone is 2 weeks of perfect-condition work wear with no repeats...I'm OK with less for casual and special occasion stuff.

Some seasons I get there, and some I don't...because some seasons I am all about the clothing "dessert" and not so keen on the "broccoli." Which just means I have to rebalance down the line....

I am rooting for us all (but drooling over those with the exotic stuff!).

Mo

(website)

Veteran

QM, thank you for the detailed list - that is super helpful! I won't bore you with all my details but I did a quick count and have 133 items not including shoes - 24 of them. And that doesn't include about a dozen or more each of shoes, jeans/pants and sweaters/coats left in CA. This also does not include exercise or loungewear. Upon doing this quick inventory though, I see I'm not too far out of control in most categories:

pants 9
jeans (here in FL) 6
ss shirts 14
ls shirts 15
dressier tanks 12
shorts 6

I start to veer off the road in the skirts and dresses, which, oddly I wear less often than the pants and shorts.

dresses 21
sweaterdresses 2
skirts 13

So this may be worth looking into, as far as my ratio of stuff I wear most often being in direct disproportion to the amount of those items I have. I am thinking 12 of any one thing should be plenty even for a hoarder like me

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Vix, we must have posted at the same time. Yes, you are absolutely right that in the past I'd rather just buy new than put the effort forth into figuring out new combinations. I think I also still have trouble letting go. This list I just counted was after purging a good 30 or 40 items this last year. I think part of that is that nothing truly gets worn out when you have so many items, so it's hard to toss things that are still in good condition but not being worn. Anyway, at least I'm aware which is haf the battle!! And I *am* working on it. Thanks to you and everyone for the thoughtful responses. There's a lot for me to mull over now!!

Evie

Mo, you said: "Also, ratty shoes hit the pile in droves". I SO need to do this. Just can't bring myself (are you *sure* they will see the scratched up toes of my ankle high boots when I'm wearing long pants?? Maybe I can just wear them to a grocery store??)

"And for now, I am going to start a holding place for questionable clothes." Alright, this is a fun idea. You can have a holding place for clothes that you don't *absolutely* love, or, citing Barbara, clothes the style or color of which are not that slamming. Depending on how many end up there, you could have a journal listing all the items there in the closet, and everytime you wear a particular item from the black list, you could give it a point (even if only in your head). Then when you feel a need to purge or revamp something, or make a new shopping decision, you could analyze the list.
I think the "analysis" could be done with Queen Mum's power of 10 idea in mind, or the power of 12. hehe.

Good luck! And hope mulling over/closet makeover will be fun and refreshing!

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Update: I pulled another half dozen things and turned all the hangers around so that I can truly see what I wear by switching them back around as items are worn. I also gave thought as I was pulling a few things. One shirt I was going to toss until I started thinking of how it could work in differing outfits. I don't love the piece by itself but it's a great outfit maker - aha ding! So that's another lesson. Not to evaluate each piece solely on it's appeal alone but to try harder to think of the big picture of where it fits in. And I'm hung up on a skirt/vest suit I just bought this summer but have no occasion to wear save a job interview (which was why I bought it). I have a sneaking feeling it will hang for a year and then I'll realize it wasnt' meant to be. But I am not yet ready to part ways lol.

Evie

Great that you're finding ways to cope
Oh, and I wouldn't part with an interview suit in *this* economy! But I'm also sure you can creatively use the vest and the skirt separately.

catgirl

Veteran

Vix, your post is BRILLIANT and spot-on for me.