Are you feeling overwhelmed by your wardrobe? Are you wearing 20% of your wardrobe 80% of the time? Have you considered that it’s because you have too many clothes? Read on…
1. YOU CAN’T CLOSE YOUR WARDROBE DOORS
Your wardrobe has overflowed into other areas of your home: bedroom, a spare room etc and yet you still can’t close the wardrobe doors.
2. YOU LOOK AT IT AND FEEL OVERWHELMED
If you look at your wardrobe and the thought of a declutter, reorganisation or a cull makes you feel overwhelmed and as though it would be an impossible task to start and finish, then you probably have too many clothes.
3. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR BUT STILL HAVE A WARDROBE FULL OF CLOTHES
How many times a week do you wake up and struggle to get dressed in the morning because you can’t find anything to wear? If it takes you longer than five minutes to get dressed you may have too many clothes.
4. YOU WEAR THE SAME OUTFITS ON REPEAT
If you struggle to put outfits together and just cannot see how to make a completely new look, despite a wardrobe full of clothes, and you wear the same outfits on repeat then this is a sign you own too many clothes.
5. YOU FORGET WHAT YOU OWN AND BUY REPEAT ITEMS WITHOUT REALISING IT
Do you find clothes you forgot you owned? Or perhaps, you forget what’s in your wardrobe so you rebuy the same items again and again? Then this is a sign that you may own too many clothes.
6. YOU FEEL GUILTY ABOUT EVERY NEW PURCHASE
This is a classic sign that you are over indulging with your shopping habits. Whilst the occasional impulse purchase is fine, on the whole you are not buying what you need to create a workable wardrobe.
7. YOU HAVE LOTS OF ITEMS STILL WITH THE TAGS ON
Whether you intended to wear them, never got around to send them back or bought them on a whim. You go shopping with a friend or relative and she pushes you to buy clothes she loves; not clothes you love. Or perhaps you go shopping without a plan and you end up buying clothes that you just don’t feel good wearing because ‘they’ll do’? You may try these clothes on, not feel good in them and then hang them back up in the wardrobe instead of returning them, which only adds to the problem.
8. YOU HAVE TO SHOP FOR EVERY NIGHT OUT OR OCCASION
A night out rolls around and you feel you have nothing to wear, despite a wardrobe full of clothes, so you hit the shops which only adds to the problem. You buy an outfit but feel neutral about it and never wear it again.
9. YOU LOSE ITEMS OF CLOTHING IN YOUR WARDROBE
Do you spend a lot of time hunting for clothes in your wardrobe? Always struggling to keep track of certain pieces? Then this could be a sign you have too many clothes.
If you think you might fall into one or more of these categories and simply have too many clothes that you’re not wearing, then what can you do about it? Here are my top tips:
- Consider a shopping ban for a set amount of time and shop your wardrobe not the shops. Make a list of anything you feel has been missing from your wardrobe and then see if you still need these things at the end of your ban period.
- Consider a one-in one-out policy in your wardrobe – you only have a finite amount of hanging space, so something has to go if you bring something new in.
- Try turning the hangers around the wrong way on a certain date and when you wear something put it back in the right way. This will help you see what you’ve worn over a specific period of time and help you decide what should stay and what should go.
- Spend some time exploring your wardrobe and rediscovering forgotten pieces. You might be surprised how many outfits you can make out of a low number of items. One of my favourite tips is to take photos of your different outfits every day as a reminder of what you loved wearing and as a catalogue of outfits. It makes you more aware of what you reach for all the time and is easy to refer back to as a reminder on those days when you are struggling for inspiration.
- Spend a little time every Sunday planning your outfits for the week ahead. Consider making use of a rail for this so they are ready to go each day.
- Set yourself a challenge to wear things you don’t usually wear as this will help you work out why you haven’t been wearing them. Pull out those pieces you never wear and make a determined effort to incorporate them into your looks for the upcoming week.
- If the task of organising your wardrobe or creating new looks with the pieces you already own seem too daunting then call in the professionals in to help. Hiring a Personal Stylist to carry out a Wardrobe Edit can help you understand what suits your body shape, colouring, style personality and lifestyle. I can help you edit and reorganise your wardrobe and create new outfits from existing pieces in your wardrobe. The advice and learning from a Wardrobe Edit will help you avoid future purchasing mistakes and you will be styling what you already own instead of shopping – you wallet and the environment will thank you.
My Wardrobe Edit service is much more than a declutter. Cleansing wardrobes of past seasonal trends, tired pieces and items that no longer serve you, a Wardrobe Edit ensures that items that are no longer worn are discarded in place of new complete outfits, keeping your style fresh and bang on trend. Together we review, edit and organise your clothing, footwear and accessories, deciding what you should keep and what should go, setting aside any garments that can be sent away for alterations. I then piece together outfits from your existing wardrobe, giving you fresh new looks to work with. I also identify and gaps you have in your wardrobe and compile a list of items to shop to fill those gaps and pull your looks together. This service is designed to help you really understand more about your style so you can stop making shopping mistakes in the future.
If this service sounds like it could be of interest to you and you’d like my availability then please get in touch at hello@clarewatkins.com
