How I Downsized My Wardrobe
As someone who loves fashion, and who also loves writing about it, it’s no real surprise that over the years my wardrobe grew and grew until it couldn’t contain any more. Most fashion lovers will tell you, it’s easy to build up quite the wardrobe, full of things you love, once loved and can’t bear to part with. However, I had reached a point, about 18 months ago, where I realised that my bursting wardrobes and multiple dressers were not adequatly fulfilling my styling needs. Every morning I’d still have the “I have nothing to wear” dilemma and even with half of my wardrobe in storage I never felt that I had any room to see the clothes properly in the first place. And then one day it all seemed a bit much, I started to declutter and now I have a massivly reduced wardrobe. The downsizing process didn’t happen overnight, but I’m so pleased I started.
Part of my motivation for doing this was that horrible feeling I’d so frequently get where I felt that I had nothing to wear, despite having a wardrobe full of clothes. So few of the things in there fitted me well or made me feel confident but I also didn’t really have the room, or felt that I should spend the money, to add anything else to it. Instead I started to go through it piece by piece. After about 12 months I had a pretty good set up, but then I moved and knew that I would have a whole new challenge. My wardrobe size literally halved and instead of 2 large dressers I was reduced to one skinny one. Downsizing was the only way to go and whilst I certainly don’t have a capsule wardrobe and would never claim to have a minimalist lifestyle things are much more streamlined than they used to be, and here’s how I did it.
Get organised: The best place to start is organising what you already have, that way you can really assess what you’re working with in the first place. Is everything in your wardrobe in the best place? Can you easily access the things that you’ll need the most or have some items crept to the back to be totally forgotten? Pull everything out, sort out what you do and don’t want and then you’ll have a much clearer idea of what you really need in your wardrobe.Sorting everything into sections (such as coats, trousers, shirts etc) also really helps you to see exactly what you have and what you may in fact be lacking in.
Be ruthless: When you start going through and organising everthing make sure you are as ruthless as possible. The easiest way to downsize your wardrobe is to simply get rid of things but you want to be smart about it. Don’t keep something just because you like the idea of it (even if it doesn’t suit you and it’s uncomfortable) but don’t simply bin everything you’ve have for more than 2 weeks. If the things you’re finding don’t fit you, don’t make you feel great or aren’t comfortable then create a pile to recycle and a pile to donate. If there’s anything that you think will make a little money then it’s worth listing on eBay, Depop or Vestiare Collective (depending on the nauture of the product). Just make sure that you can justify why you are keeping each item and how it will work within your wardrobe and current style.
Utilise every bit of storage: Once you’ve whittled down your wardrobe to the clothes you actually like and will wear it’s time to rethink storage. Often we have more storage than we think so get creative with the space you have. I always start with packing down my wardrobe for the season that we aren’t in (so at the moment my summer clothes are all stored away). I wash them, iron them and pop them in a vaccum bag before putting them in my large suitcase. Suitcases are a great solution to storage as it’s unlikely that you’ll be using it all the time, they’re full of space and take up a lot of space in themselves so are the perfect place to store the things you wont need. I also like to jig my wardrobe around a bit, this is really easy especially if you have an IKEA wardrobe or something similar. The poles & shelves all move, so in the winter I want more shelves for storage knitwear (never hang your knitwear, kids) whereas in the summer months I need more space for hanging dresses and jumpsuits. It’s all about making the space work for you. Don’t forget the space on top of your wardrobe, under your bed and in drawers! I’ve found that the IKEA drawer dividers to be a life saver when organising things like pyjamas and underwear as they allow you to section things off so much more easily.
Make mindful purchases: So once you’ve done all the hard work and you’ve got a smaller selection of clothes it’s all about maintaining that. I used to be a chronic over-purchaser and would impulse buy things just because I liked the look of them. Now I think more about my wardrobe as a whole, what I actually need and what is going to fit in with what I already have. I try to avoid impulse shopping wherever possible (unsubscribing from all those mailing lists certainly helps keep the temptation at bay!) but if I do see something that I can’t resist then I always make sure I apply the 5-outift rule. Simply put, whatever the item is I have to able to think of 5 different outfits that the item will go with. That way I can be sure that it will actually fit in my wardrobe, that I am likely to get the most wear out of it and that I don’t have to buy a whole new outfit to accommodate this one item.
My wardrobe certainly isn’t the gold standard and is far from a capsuel collection of minimal pieces but having fewer things in there has definitley helped me to curate a line up that I really do love. I no longer have to worry about “having nothing to wear" as most of my items are interchangable. I don’t have any of those “dread to wear but just in case” clothes and it’s helped to curb my shopping habits, a little at least. So if the new year has got you in that spring cleaning mood or you simply want to become a little more organised this year then why not have a go out downsizing your wardrobe.
