How do you rotate your clothes to make them last?

London_Town

This issue has been touched upon in another thread, but I felt it was worthy of a stand alone discussion.

When it comes to wardrobe "staples", like socks, underwear, jeans, T shirts and jogging bottoms, how do you rotate their use to make things last?

My classic behaviour is to reach for one of the above from a "not put away" pile of clean laundry, when I have identical items stored neatly away in drawers. Therefore I end up wearing out a fraction of my wardrobe, which doesn't seem sensible to me.

Any ideas, solutions or systems gratefully received!

General_Grant

London_Town wrote: »

This issue has been touched upon in another thread, but I felt it was worthy of a stand alone discussion.

When it comes to wardrobe "staples", like socks, underwear, jeans, T shirts and jogging bottoms, how do you rotate their use to make things last?

My classic behaviour is to reach for one of the above from a "not put away" pile of clean laundry, when I have identical items stored neatly away in drawers. Therefore I end up wearing out a fraction of my wardrobe, which doesn't seem sensible to me.

Any ideas, solutions or systems gratefully received!

So you wear out a fraction of your wardrobe and then move on to the less-worn fraction.

Buy ten items, use 5 for 3 months and 5 for the following 3 months. Replace after 6 months.

Buy ten items, use 10 evenly for 6 months and replace.

Is your problem that you buy too many of the same type of item and then feel they are no longer fashionable and don't wear them before disposing of them.

rach_k

I don't rotate things intentionally. If an item has a number of 'wears' before the end of its life, it makes no difference whether I spread the wears over 1 year or 10, I'll still get the same number of wears (assuming we're talking items like socks which don't really go out of style!).

You could rotate them if you wanted but I actually prefer to have some less worn items for nicer occasions (talking things like jeans); I wouldn't want everything wearing out at the same time so I look smart for a while, then gradually go down hill!

Pollycat

For socks, knickers and bras, it depends what else I'm wearing.
I have padded bras and unpadded bras separately.
Socks - it depends what footwear. If trainers, I'll choose a pair of socks that matches.
Knickers - it depends if I'm wearing a dress or trousers.
Keep-fit leggings and tops - I take from the bottom of the pile and then select a top to match nearest the bottom.
In the house, I wear shorts and T-shirts in the summer and leggings and T-shirts in the winter. I take from the bottom of the pile.
But I do put all my clothes away as soon as they are dry or ironed.
I don't do it to make things last - I'm just anal (and possibly a touch (undiagnosed) OCD).

Linda32

Put clean clothes away at the bottom of a pile in a drawer, take from the top.

In a wardrobe hang on the left take from the right.

Change over winter and summer twice a year.

Pile of smalls, put clean on the bottom, take off the top.

London_Town

Linda32 wrote: »

Put clean clothes away at the bottom of a pile in a drawer, take from the top.

In a wardrobe hang on the left take from the right.

Change over winter and summer twice a year.

Pile of smalls, put clean on the bottom, take off the top.

I think this sums up the sort of thing I've been trying to do. I just do it in reverse, put clean clothes on the top in a drawer and take something to wear from the bottom. My sock drawer is more shallow, so I do the left to right process.

London_Town

General_Grant wrote: »

So you wear out a fraction of your wardrobe and then move on to the less-worn fraction.

Buy ten items, use 5 for 3 months and 5 for the following 3 months. Replace after 6 months.

Buy ten items, use 10 evenly for 6 months and replace.

Is your problem that you buy too many of the same type of item and then feel they are no longer fashionable and don't wear them before disposing of them.

I'm largely talking about things that are beyond fashion, such as socks and plain T shirts. I guess I've tended to buy too many basics in sales, certainly.

That said, jeans can go out of fashion, in cut and wash, so I wouldn't want to find a pair of jeans that had slipped beyond my rotation, barely worn, but somewhat out of fashion after a number of years.

maman

I think any of the methods would work for basic things like underwear or socks or leggings.

My DH though does the same (wears the just cleaned stuff first) with his tee shirts, all colours and many of which have patterns. So not only does he wear a few tee shirts to death but I have to see him in the same ones constantly. He tells me they're his favourites but I think it's laziness. He's probably forgotten what's at the bottom of the drawer.:D

I've done a Marie Kondo on my own tops so they're folded and stored vertically in the drawer so I can see them all at once before choosing.

Pollycat

maman wrote: »

I think any of the methods would work for basic things like underwear or socks or leggings.

My DH though does the same (wears the just cleaned stuff first) with his tee shirts, all colours and many of which have patterns. So not only does he wear a few tee shirts to death but I have to see him in the same ones constantly. He tells me they're his favourites but I think it's laziness. He's probably forgotten what's at the bottom of the drawer.:D

I've done a Marie Kondo on my own tops so they're folded and stored vertically in the drawer so I can see them all at once before choosing.

My OH has learned to put his newly ironed shirts in the left hand side of the wardrobe and take fresh shirts from the other side.
A training manual is available should you wish.

MovingForwards

I have:
1. my work gear/suits/trainers/shoes/handbag

2. My not work gear/shoes/boots/ pumps/handbags

3. A couple of party outfits/fancy shoes/handbags

Some of my work gear is from 10+ years ago and still going strong.

Some of my not-work gear starts to get a little tired and gets relegated to casual work gear, then relegated to dossing gear never to be seen in outside the house, then it gets retired!

Yes, I even have different storage areas for the three.

maman

Pollycat wrote: »

My OH has learned to put his newly ironed shirts in the left hand side of the wardrobe and take fresh shirts from the other side.
A training manual is available should you wish.

:rotfl:
Love it!
DH is OK with shirts he hangs up. Is there a drawer manual?:D