Any tips? My BF is planning to move into my house this summer so I’ve got about 2 months to somehow clear out a dresser AND a closet for him. (I have 2 dressers and 2 closets in my master bedroom, all of which are currently 100% full of my stuff). I clearly have entirely too many clothes but have no clue where to begin. I went through everything the other week and got rid of a lot… but there’s still not enough room. I can’t exactly make him keep his stuff in the attic.
Do people remove the clothes that are out of season? Ex, pack away shorts/tank tops in winter?
Ha! I bought lifts for the bed and under it are “drawers” (boxes) , a place for my shoes etc, I bought those cascading hangers things and the ultra thin thin hangers. Also back of closet door and bedroom door now have over door hanger hooks. I m not one who can swap out seasonal clothes. I wear 65-75% of my stuff all year. With AC, i need a lot of my winter things even in summer. Opposite true with heat in winter.
@cptofthehouse - lol - i have over hanger hooks on both closet drawers which are full of shoes!
I like the idea of the cascading hanger things.
The good news is that he’s a minimalist and barely has any belongings. It’s just mainly his clothes that I need to find a home for. Lol. He was even joking today about losing his walk in closet for a tiny lil closet in my 1940’s house. i’m like hey man, we’re both losing closet space here! lol
Reverse all the hangers in your closet. If you wear something put the hanger on the right way. After six weeks look at anything that you haven’t worn ( you’ll know based on the hangers) and consider culling more. At a minimum think about putting some or all of those unworn clothes in a storage container under your bed and see if you miss anything.
I have a small room in our second home. Only one small closet. I’ve gradually reworked and replaced the furniture in there to accommodate our stuff.
As I said, I added height to the bed and so have all that space for storage. I replaced the old chests of drawers for cheap new tall ones with deep drawers. The two night stands are also dressers, small ones , but with deep drawers. Also higher in height to go with the uplifted bed.
Purged a lot, and moved some of my things out of that closet. Have s clothes tree, for clothes I want to wear in near future, things thatvsre not freshly washed but still good to wear.
Discard anything you didn’t wear last year. It doesn’t matter if that sweater is brand new, with the tags still attached. If you didn’t like it enough to wear it last year you won’t wear it this year.
I do give myself an extra year for a few special occasion clothes such formal dresses but otherwise I try to be ruthless. The problem with having an extra storage closet is that it gives you an excuse not to make choices about what you should save.
Watch an episode of Marie Kondo. Even though it’s a real PIA…do the Kondo thing and put ALL of your clothes on the bed. Try them all on. You may find you’re ready to say good bye to some of them. Use some of her folding tips.
I pared down my wardrobe today. I let go of about 6 pair of pants and two sweaters. I only wore the sweaters each about twice. They look great on me but made me too hot. They probably should have gone to a consignment store but I put them in the donations bag. I also let go of some older shoes that I don’t truly need and have recently replaced with one new pair. Had very little luck with H. He did agree to watch a few of the Kondo videos–and I will hold him to his promise. I keep a bag in my closet. If I put something on and it no longer feels good or looks good into the bag it goes.
I think the main thing is to be ok with an occasional mistake. The lack of stuff in my life makes me calm and happy.
One of my favorite minimalists lately is Maria / golden zipper. She has instagram, you tube and blog. The “wearing one dress for a month” video is fun. She has amazing spread sheets analyzing cost per wear.
It might be an interesting and different perspective for you.
ETA
Daily Connoisseur does 10 item seasonal wardrobes. Also fun. imo
I live on Long Island, where we most definitely need a different wardrobe for January than July.
So, twice a year, I switch the wardrobes. (Normally Columbus Day weekend and the start of Easter vacation, since I’m a teacher and it means a lot of laundry as I freshen up the clothes I’m taking out.)
I always leave out some transitional stuff-- I have both long and short sleeved Ts and jeans and stuff that are always out. Cardigans, too.
During the winter, I recorded the clothes I wore for one week. I realized I didn’t want to wear the other clothes. I got rid of those. Doing this with summer clothes now and recording only the clothes I want to wear. It’s complicated by the fact I love summer casual dresses and I have too many. And, I recently decided I only want dresses that have pockets (I don’t like having a purse) and most of mine don’t. I am buying summer dresses with pockets that have to be mail ordered and trying them on. Sending most back. In a couple of weeks I’ll take stock and decide what former dresses I really want and if I can part with the ones without pockets. But, I am confident I will have a week’s worth of summer clothing for work and cull to 4-5 summer dresses.
Thanks all. I also have the closet in my guest room full, and the coat closet in the living room too. Lol. Everyone has great suggestions. I will have to start over with going through things again. I currently have a giant mound of clothes on my floor to be donated from when I did this exercise previously. BF added all of 2 things of his own to the pile this weekend, heh. I’m the problem child here!
I like the idea of trying stuff on. I gained 10 lbs and am currently working to lose it, so right now things fit a little snug. I’ll have to make some time.
For 30 years I was married, my ex never got to use closets in the bedroom. His closet was always in another room or hallway (maybe that’s why I am no longer married).
I recently cleaned out my closet, but I am kind of sorry now because most of the stuff I got rid of came back in style. If you have some investment pieces I would try to keep them even if they are a bit out of style now, but would regularly get rid of cotton casual wear every few years because they fade and are fairly inexpensive.
The Kondo folding, I already use. Her book did nothing for me. I love my stuff. I am getting rid of my older clothes, slowly. I just know all those looser fitting pants are going to come back into style though. This move to the leggings and skinny pants with longer tops/tunics really is a big reason for my wardrobe expansion or even explosion. That, and taking a professional type position that needed office wear. Also, now heavily doing the wedding circuit And hate not being able to ID wedding because wearing same dress. My “glamour ” wear was all black, Manhattan de rigeuer ninja wear these many years, and these weddings and events Ive been attending lately want color.
I hear you, CPT. I have all of my professional clothes plus my regular casual clothes. Plus my giant collection of sweat pants in every color possible. Lol. :O)