Spring Cleaning - My New Minimalist Closet

New thing today, cleaned out my closet in attempt to go minimalist with my clothes. Like my shoes post, I'm not ready to live off of a severely pared down wardrobe, but some spring cleaning and minimalist inspiration to help me slowly get to reducing how much stuff I keep and use. I set aside about 3 hours to do this, but it took 6 hours, but it was super super productive. 

This is a first cut, but I'm really proud of myself for what I was able to weed out. 

My clothes before. Everything was stuffed.

My closet - sometimes with multiple shirts or sweaters on one hanger.

My extra clothes I stuck in a bookshelf thing. Mainly I kept pants, skirts and some sweaters in here.

And another dresser, stuffed with underwear's, shirts, pants, scarves and some winter wear. 

So one of the things I learned while researching, is that it's easier to take everything out and add what you want back in, rather than trying to take stuff out of your existing collection. So I did that. I started by taking out everything. I sorted them into "what they were" piles, such as bottoms, tops, sweaters/jackets, scarves, dresses, underwear stuff, etc. They ended up in giant piles on the bed. 

Then out of these, I slowly started adding stuff back into my closet. I was trying to add back as little as possible, and choosing multi-purpose stuff. Sometimes it was easy to pick out the good stuff, and the definite "get rid" of pile. Other times there were a ton of "maybes" and a lot of analysis over what I should keep.

It was a fascinating experiment and I learned a lot about myself.

1 - I have a ton of shirts and sweaters/jackets.

2 - A lot of my clothes are very casual/party clothes that aren't really work appropriate. One thing I learned is finding a balance and getting clothes that fit your lifestyle. I'm at work 5/7 days a week, and so it is hard finding work appropriate clothes because I either have formal blazers, or party clothes, so there's not a good mix of business/business casual.

3 - I love most/all of my dresses, so that was tough weeding through. I realized that even though some of the dresses went to the "keep" pile, they were only really appropriate for parties, and not for work/casual, so I had to put them in the "get rid of" pile, because they weren't as versatile as other dresses.

Anyway so after all that. This is what I ended up with.

Personal items - underwears, bras and socks
Started - a lot... possibly 80-90 pieces/pairs.
Ended - 30 pieces/pairs

Started
Scarves - 23
Gloves - 7
Beanies - 3

Ended
Scarves - 5
Gloves - 1
Beanie - 1

Dresses
Started with 35

Ended with 15

*At this point I started getting really tired, and well, I came to the bigger tougher piles.

Shirts/Tops
Started - A lot... estimating based on how much I started with, probably 150 shirts/tops
Ended - 50.... still a lot but considerably less.

Pants/Skirts/Tights/Shorts - Bottoms
Started - a lot... estimating 50
Ended - 25

Sweaters/Jackets
Started - a lot.... estimating 90
Ended - 40

****INSANITY****

How could I even wear that much clothing ever? What I ended up with was still probably a lot for minimalists, but I'm working on it. I know that my shirts, jackets and bottoms still need weeding, but this is a really great first start considering what I did have. It's like losing the first few pounds in Weight Watchers. You just learn and keep going and figure out what works.

Also - I'm not sure I have the "right combo" of things, as maybe I got rid of something that would work better than something I kept, so I put all the "get rid stuff" into black trash bags, but I'm keeping them hidden away, in case I need to exchange/retrieve something, or want to reconsider an item. Also if I ever feel like shopping for new clothes, I can go in there and look at all the stuff I already had, and maybe dig something out - MAYBE?

Anyway the "get rid of" pile is in limbo for now. I got rid of a LOT of "good" stuff, but it just wasn't going to work as a multi-use, timeless classic functional piece of clothing. I'm going to really think about my clothes now, try out the reduced stuff/choices/options of clothes, and see if it works for me. I hope so. I was really proud of myself and loving the extra space.

NOW - My fabulous closet! Everything fits! I have more than enough clothes for a month, with a new thing to wear every day. So that works :) Also every piece has one hanger, and I had leftover hangers!



I got rid of the bookcase full of clothes that were stuffed in there. The dresser is now filled with items, but not filled to the brim. There's plenty of extra space in each drawer between all my stuff.



So ya! I have enough clothing for awhile, and in-between when we do laundry. I definitely want to keep getting rid of more items, but it's all about quality and choosing the right things. You don't want to end up with fewer terrible options. I want to come to the point where I have very very few choices in my clothes, but they're all fabulous! Also, I want to get more "classic" styles. I LOVE the idea of classic fashion and pieces that just last, and are wonderfully timeless. I think that's why minimalism appeals to me too. Anyway - I am learning by doing, and seeing what items work and what don't. If I don't use an item in awhile, I might get rid of it. Also, if I get a new clothes item, it has to replace 2 or 3 items I already have - so I can continue to reduce. I already see where there are gaps in my fashion closet, as to what is functional and fashionable :) So ya, working on it.

I don't know how far I'll go or what will work for me in the long-term, but I'll enjoy finding out :)

Slowly but surely. New Minimalist Closet!!!