How many clothes are really necessary? Wardrobes overflowing

pleasedelete

I have a 1 in 1 out for my wardrobe. I only have 1 (large with 2 rails) cupboard and no clothes at all in drawers (just underwear, tights , swimwear and nightwear) . I don't have summer and winter- I have a few extreme items that are either very lightweight or very heavyweight but everything stays in the wardrobe all year and most things can be worn in 9/12 months I would say.

I also now only buy good quality clothes-I would rather have 1 beautiful dress than 5 cheap ones. That also means if I do get rid I can sell them as they have some value.

Everything is on wooden hangers which spaces them and means that you can always see all of the clothes. Every item has a hanger and I will not buy new hangers- so 1 in and 1 out.

Oddly people always assume that I have a lot of clothes and are genuinely surprised when they see my wardrobe. I think you can do a lot by accessorising carefully, swapping jackets between outfits etc.

missbiggles1

pleasedelete wrote: »

I have a 1 in 1 out for my wardrobe. I only have 1 (large with 2 rails) cupboard and no clothes at all in drawers (just underwear, tights , swimwear and nightwear) . I don't have summer and winter- I have a few extreme items that are either very lightweight or very heavyweight but everything stays in the wardrobe all year and most things can be worn in 9/12 months I would say.

I also now only buy good quality clothes-I would rather have 1 beautiful dress than 5 cheap ones. That also means if I do get rid I can sell them as they have some value.

Everything is on wooden hangers which spaces them and means that you can always see all of the clothes. Every item has a hanger and I will not buy new hangers- so 1 in and 1 out.

Oddly people always assume that I have a lot of clothes and are genuinely surprised when they see my wardrobe. I think you can do a lot by accessorising carefully, swapping jackets between outfits etc.

Surely you don't hang up jeans, tee shirts and jumpers?

flubberyzing

I think "how many clothes should you have" is incredibly subjective and hard to measure.
It depends a lot on things like whether you are working right now, and in what sort of job, how much storage space you have, and just how much you "like" clothes.
I like clothes, but do try to limit what I have. I know exactly what sort of clothes I like, and what I'm likely to get a lot of wear out of.

MallyGirl

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Surely you don't hang up jeans, tee shirts and jumpers?

I hang up jeans/trousers - I have 34" inside leg so they take loads of space if folded!

Linda32

ripplyuk wrote: »

I think I'll also do as Linda suggests, having 5 best things and some casual stuff for around the house. It's the casual stuff I wear most of the time anyway. Usually just jeans and a fleece. I very rarely go out anywhere that needs fancy clothes.

Nether do I, I just make sure I wear them at the weekend or after changing out of work gear. You never do wear anything if you always save it 'for best'

Scrimps

Another thought, I'm very money motivated nowdays so this may not work for you: all those clothes in boxes under your bed are money, not whilst they're in their boxes but once you sell them they will be money in your account, get them out of your house and the money in. You could put that money to help you pay for a personal shopper to get you things you actually like if that's what you wanted.

Also, all those clothes that won't get you money but are not used by you could be given to a charity shop, who get money they need and someone else, who may not have much gets something they need for not much cash too. Whilst they're sat there they are not benefitting anyone and actually causing you stress.

pleasedelete

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Surely you don't hang up jeans, tee shirts and jumpers?

I hang up everything except:
1 drawer for pants
1 drawer for bras
1 drawer for tights
1 drawer for pyjamas
I drawer for swimwear

I can see all my clothes at 1 time in the cupboard- all on display- sorted by type (dress, skirts, jacket etc).

There are 2 rails. 1 is higher and has a longer drop and has dresses and coats. On the bottom lower/shorter drop rail is tops, jumpers, jackets , skirts and trousers.

missbiggles1

pleasedelete wrote: »

I hang up everything except:
1 drawer for pants
1 drawer for bras
1 drawer for tights
1 drawer for pyjamas
I drawer for swimwear

I can see all my clothes at 1 time in the cupboard- all on display- sorted by type (dress, skirts, jacket etc).

There are 2 rails. 1 is higher and has a longer drop and has dresses and coats. On the bottom lower/shorter drop rail is tops, jumpers, jackets , skirts and trousers.

Wow - that's a lot of underwear and swimwear! All my undies go in one drawer and I only own a couple of cossies.

GreyQueen

My clothes hang on a 3ft wide rail, fit into 5 x 28 inch wide drawers plus I have a basket of jumpers in the bottom of the airing cupboard.

I actually have more than I need but some items have been resting for a few years whilst I got fat and now that I am shrinking back down again, they will come back into use again.

I think the quantity of clothes people feel they need is incredibly subjective. Some folks feel that lots of choices are essentail, others get stressed out by having too many options to choose amongst.

As some items wear out, I won't be replacing them so that the inventory of certain clothing types, like the drawerful of jammies, will go down.

greengoblin

cyantist wrote: »

My problem is I have so many items which were bought on holiday, and although they no longer fit me or aren't practical I only have to see them in my drawer to remember the holiday and feel all happy.

I wonder if I could recycle them into something that I would use, like use several items to make a cushion cover.

I recycle all my old band t-shirts (which invariably come from gigs or special festivals) by saving the logo or front design and sewing it onto a blanket which I have as a throw on my bed all the time and I see all year round. Cushion cover is a nice idea too as well