Where is your favorite wardrobe?
Today, I would like to talk about the Capsule Wardrobe. The benefits of downsizing my wardrobe and organizing my closet will help you get an idea of decluttering.
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your wardrobe?
If you’re feeling stressed and guilty about your cluttered wardrobe, it’s time to organize your wardrobe.
As I was organizing my closet last week, I remembered that it wasn’t my favorite wardrobe. My opinion on clothes is that they should be comfortable to the body and neat. So, I didn’t do a lot of shopping, but it was huge when I put my clothes out.
The thought of reducing the wardrobe ran through my head, and I immediately started organizing.
An acquaintance I know, says that she cleans her closet every 3 months and possesses 33 pieces of clothes for 3 months.
I also decided to use that method to shrink my wardrobe.
If you want to know more about the 333 methods, you can read the book “The Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really Is So Much More”. This book was inspired me to start decluttering and living a simple life.
How to downsize your wardrobe
Do you know the fact?
The fact that we only wear 20% of our clothes. I think the 20/30 rule applies here too.
Then 80% of clothes were a waste of space and money.
So, what are the benefits of reducing the size of your wardrobe?
Reducing the size of your closet can help you get rid of clothes you don’t wear, as well as, decluttering your closet.
In the free space of your closet, every time you put on clothes, you feel happy and confident.
How to reduce the size of your wardrobe step by step?
Now, it’s time to clear the clutter and simplify your wardrobe.
The infographic below contains 8 steps actions you can adopt to make your small wardrobe.
How to make a small wardrobe
1. Two Ways of Organizing Your Wardrobe.
There are two things you can do to reduce the size of your wardrobe.
The first is to sort all your clothes at once. The second is to sort your wardrobe a little at a time.
You can choose the method that suits you according to your time or personal preference.
Method 1: Get all your clothes out of your wardrobe. Gather all the clothes you own, and keep them all in one place.
Advantages :
The shocking factor of seeing all the clothing items you own in one place can become even more ruthless when it comes to organizing your clothes neatly.
You can see your clothes at a glance, making it easier to identify duplicate items.
Also, it is easier for you to downsize your wardrobe as you carefully decide for each item whether to throw away or own.
Disadvantages :
The main disadvantage of this method is that it requires a lot of time and energy.
This can be overwhelming or even more confusing for first-time closet organizers.
Method 2: Tidy up your wardrobe a little at a time
This is a more gradual approach to tidying up your wardrobe. It could mean organizing your clothes for 10 minutes a day until you go through your entire wardrobe.
For example, one day organizing all your jackets, and the next day does all skirts and pants. Like doing it a little every day.
Advantages :
This method is less burdensome and may be easier to catch up on if you don’t have time to organize your closet all day.
Disadvantages :
Don’t expect to clean the entire wardrobe at once. Habit is important.
I’ve tried both methods, but in my case, the first method worked for me.
Perhaps this matches the nature of my work. I am the person that seeks visible results, as a goal-oriented person.
2. Prepare the decluttering items.
The second step is to get some rubbish bags or boxes to organize your clothes.
If you have sewing skills, preparing a recycling box is also interesting.
3. Sort clothes into categories.
It’s much easier to organize your clothes by categorizing them, and when you’re working through one category at a time.
As you go through all clothes, you will notice duplicated items and make your decision easier.
Sort your wardrobe in a way that suits the type of clothes you have:
Tops: short sleeves, long sleeves, sleeveless/tanks, blouses, sweaters, layering pieces (cardigans, jackets, etc.), dresses (causal/dressy), loungewear, workout tops, etc.
Bottoms: Jeans, pants, dress pants, skirts, workout pants, loungewear, etc.
Pajamas
Underwear: socks, underwear, bra, camisole, slip, etc.
Swimsuit
outerwear
Shoes: casual, attire, boots, athletic, sandals, etc.
Accessories: jewelry, hats, scarves, wallets, etc.
4. Rate your clothes and a quick sort
When clothes are organized by category, check each item in each category.
In my case, I use all three boxes. Write on each box “Go to Wardrobe”, “Hold/Maybe”, “Remove”.
Pick up each item of clothing, rate it, and place it in one of three piles.
#1: Remove
These are the things you want to get rid of.
For example, things you don’t like, things that don’t fit, things you never wear, things that are damaged or worn out.
#2: Hold
These are items you don’t like but don’t hate and not sure if you will keep them or not.
But don’t worry. You’ll know what to do next the next time you organize your closet.
#3: Go to Wardrobe
These are items that you like, wear often, and feel good about.
It’s easy to tell what your style is by looking at the clothes in the “Wardrobe box”. This awareness is a helpful metric when it comes to buying clothes.
5. Take time to sort out the hold/Maybe box.
You are now ready to resolve the hold/Maybe box.
There are few questions you need to ask yourself.
# 1. Does it fit?
If it’s a matter of size and fashion, it’s helpful you make decisions ruthlessly and boldly. Trying it on and honestly evaluating how it looks and feels will sometimes make your decision easier.
Do you have any clothes that you can say “I have to go on a diet and wear this”?
Then throw it away or donate.
You should aim to keep only clothes in your closet that fit your current size and shape.
#2. Remove clothes that are not in good condition.
If you have sewing skills and you can remake something with that fabric, that is fine. Otherwise, throw them away.
#3. when was the last time you wore it?
For most items, you probably won’t need them if you haven’t worn them last year.
I always get emotional on this topic.
There are clothes I don’t wear, but I can’t throw them away.
The clothes I bought while shopping with my Mom in Korea, the clothes my mother sent me as a gift.
These meaningful items made me worried to remove my precious memories.
When I organized my closet last week, this kind of empathy made it very difficult for me. The feeling of guilt that those memories will disappear if you throw away the stuff.
However, I was acted ruthlessly to get rid of this feeling.
In a book I read once, I remember the phrase. “Memories you want to keep forever are not in the object, they are in your heart.”
#4. Would you buy it again? Would you like to pay in full?
Thinking like this.
Does it fit your preferences and lifestyle?
Do you often wear items in your daily life?
Are you willing to handle more high-maintenance items, such as dry-clean-only parts?
You should decide and act fast. Please trust your gut, and be bold.
Rate each item one at a time. Unrated clothes will not be returned to the closet.
Don’t tell yourself to keep something because it was a gift, it’s expensive, “should be kept”, etc.
Be as bold as possible when organizing your clothes.
6. Keep items that are difficult to decide whether to keep them in a box.
If you have a really difficult time deciding the items into your closet, put them in a small box and write down “ Hold till—-”
Put this stuff in a box, seal it, and keep it out of sight. Then add reminders to your calendar for the next 1-3 months.
During that time you probably miss out on whatever is in the box and see if you need or think.
When you get a notification, donate a box and make sure you didn’t need it and you won’t miss it.
7. Organising what you decide to keep in your wardrobe.
Now that you’ve reduced the size of your wardrobe and cleared out the clutter, it’s finally time to organize.
It’s important to remember that trying to declutter your items before organizing your closet. Just organizing a closet without decluttering, will not help you downsize your wardrobe.
You will waste time, energy, and money by cleaning out the clutter.
Therefore, the first thing to do is to remove clothes you don’t like or wear. Then organize your favorite clothes, leftovers.
As a bonus, it will be much easier to organize when things are low.
In my case, it was easily processed within 2-3 hours, because it was cleaned every 6 months. This time, when I organized the clothes and put them up, there were 35 items (including underwear).
Next time, I plan to make 33 items. The popular method in the USA is a practice method called “capsule wardrobe”.
8. Manage Your New Small Wardrobe
Now that you’ve reduced the size of your wardrobe and organized your clothes, here are a few simple ways to keep them.
Re-evaluate your closet frequently when dressing and organizing laundry.
Make sure to keep only the items you wear and love.
Keep a donation box or bag to one side of your closet so that you can easily remove the items you want to remove.
Pay attention to what you wear and what you don’t
Another way is to hang the hangers in different directions. You pay attention to the clothes in your wardrobe and how often you wear each item.
If you don’t wear the item often, you should send it away.
This way you can find items you rarely wear.
The final thought of downsizing a wardrobe.
We all want to live less stress in our daily life. A simple and tidy wardrobe is the basic step of decluttering your life.
After organizing your clothes, the best way is to simplify your wardrobe. It is to plan carefully about what to add to your wardrobe and buy less.
You can use Amazon Prime Wardrobe to choose the clothes. When you get them and try on them. after you decide to choose and you can send the rest of the clothes to Amazon without any cost.
You can also simplify your wardrobe by using the “one-to-one rule”.
Plan what you’re going to remove before adding anything new if that is necessary.
It means that you can live to simplify and intentionally.
If you want to know more about a simple and mindful life, you can read my simple life page to get information.
I hope that these steps will help you learn how to reduce the size of your wardrobe.
Also, it gives you an idea for organizing your clothes in a simple, effective way and as painless as possible.
How do you organize your wardrobe? What difficulties do you struggle with organizing?
I’d love to hear from you.
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