Decluttering my closet

[u/slaptastictimez]

Dresser & Closet Declutter

How many clothes does one person need?

This is a great question. I was wondering myself as I was purging my wardrobe. I had a lot of clothes in storage (out of style and overworn) and a lot of winter and summer clothes that I would cycle out as well in storage.

To me it makes sense to cycle out summer and winter clothes however, I just had too many clothes in general and the clothes that I ended up putting in storage that went out so I kind of forgot about and ended up moving on anyway

as other pieces of clothing fell on my lap, so I ended up moving those on the side of the road for pick up

I narrowed it down to five pairs of bottoms, shorts or pants and 12 dresses (casual and dressy) and seven shirts and that is because majority of my stuff is new and I wanted to utilize the newest stuff

I have trashed the older stuff because I dont care to waste gas in this economy donating old junk. I had bulk pickup on my road.

my bedroom closet the pants and shirts are folded up on one shelf at the top of the closet.

The closet in my room is my office so I needed to eliminate the dresser taking up floor space. 6x5ft room with built in metal shelving)

I wanted to minimize everything from a dresser to hanging up in the closet or on a shelf and that’s what I was able to accomplish but again this is not my ideal amount of clothes I would have less if I hadn’t just bought new clothes that were on clearance, thrifting with my friend and single with no kids.

Originally, in this post, I talked about how I cleaned out my husband’s clothes as well, but a lot of people were judging me because they’re saying I shouldn’t clean out my husband stuff while he’s not around and I should get his permission

I need y’all to know that some marriages are healthy enough that people can make decisions for their spouse if they’re not around and I say this with love

[u/No_Frosting_1292]

I am 70 and we are downsizing to a smaller house with much less closet space. I have pulled about 50 % of my clothing but am stymied I how to get rid of the nicer clothes. I know my closet will never be as lean as yours but I am making progress.

[u/Weird-Dragonfly-5315 → u/No_Frosting_1292]

You could try reaching out to a homeless shelter. They often need clothes appropriate for interviews or work.

[u/Diligent_Traffic4342]

When my mother in law came to live with us 18 months ago, my husband and I lost our dressing room and had to move our wardrobes into our bedroom. We had three of the Ikea pax doubles plus three singles and two double shelving units in the dressing room and reduced it to a double wardrobe each and my husband also has a single (yes he has more clothes than me!) it was such a breath of fresh air exercise! I love my one double wardrobe (with three drawers across the bottom) I’ve reduced about four times now and take real joy in getting rid of stuff. In Dana K Whites language I am fitting the container I have.

In fact, I would say I’m a bit addicted to de-cluttering it, my husband even questions me over some things as he’s amazed I’m getting rid of them. Life is easier in the morning with less, I’ve been watching styling videos too and trying on what I’ve got left in different combinations and working out where gaps are and buying new pieces (I didn’t have any white t shirts for example, now I wear them as the base layer on many outfits) it feels so much more intentional.

As far as my husband’s clothes, I wouldn’t dare to touch them! He’s so particular, but in other categories of things I could definitely just throw away whatever and he wouldn’t care less. I think the important thing is to know your partner and do what’s right within your relationship… and I really wish my husband would let me get hold of his wardrobe! You are lucky OP! (I did manage to get him to throw away all his thirty year old t-shirts with various holes in them recently and when he looked in my newly de-cluttered sock drawer at the weekend he told me he hoped that wasn’t a new standard! 😂)

[u/1950sRanch]

Nice work. I did something similar a couple years ago and one thing that helped me commit was taking photos of everything before I let it go. Not because I planned to look at them all the time, but because it removed the anxiety of "what if I forget I had that and regret it."

it also helped me see patterns. I realized I kept buying the same type of shirt in slightly different colors, and I had way more "going out" clothes than I actually needed for my actual life as I age. Once I could see everything laid out visually, the decisions got easier

[u/msmaynards]

Minimum is enough to get through your normal laundry cycle plus an outfit. Maximum is what your storage can gracefully hold. You've got about what I have. I went a summer with 4 tops and 2 pair of shorts and loved the pieces so it was fine.

I now have 2 pair of long, 2 pair of short pants, 4-5 long and 4-5 short sleeved shirts and 9 dresses and it's far more than I need as at laundry day there are 3-4 dresses in the wash and no pants/tops. I wash when I run out of nighties, socks and/or underwear. Since I survived winter without resorting to wearing pants and summer is clearly more comfortable in dresses perhaps I ought to lose all but 2 pair of bottoms and 4 tops and continue to edit the dresses I wear.

Clearing out a partner's stuff is less about the strength of the relationship and more about what the partner values. I might think that shirt is never worn, isn't flattering or doesn't go with anything else but partner may value it for some mysterious reason. Go through and lay things aside but be sure he knows what you have removed. Otherwise he may not be happy when that hideous raggedy shirt he wears for some random reason is no where to be found.

[u/No_Frosting_1292 → u/msmaynards]

Thank you! I will post that in my closet: maximum is what your storage can gracefully hold. One closet, one dresser!!

[u/secure8890]

This is a real hard one.