Many of us have too many clothes in our closets.
An overstuffed closet makes it harder to pick out an outfit for the day, more challenging to identify your favorite pieces, and can cause stress just to look at.
If you’re wondering how to declutter your closet, you’re in the right place.
Decluttering clothing is a great place to start when trying to pare down your belongings in pursuit of simpler living.
Here are 9 practical tips on how to declutter clothes.
9 Steps To Decluttering Clothing
1. Remove Everything From Your Closet & Dresser Drawers
And I mean absolutely EVERYTHING.
Take all of your clothes off the hangers and lay them on your bed or the floor.
Pull every item out of your drawers.
Don’t leave a single item remaining in your closet, dresser, or wardrobe.
As inconvenient as this might feel, you can’t skip this step. You have to look at all of your clothes all at once in order to make informed decisions.
After removing everything from your closet, you might realize that you were storing half of your T-shirts on hangers and the other half in a drawer. It’s important to get everything out of hiding so you can confront every article of clothing that you own.
2. Group Like Kinds Together
Once everything is out, make a pile for pants, a pile for T-shirts, a pile for long sleeve shirts, a pile for short sleeve shirts, a pile for underwear, socks, pajamas, dresses, etc. You get the idea. Create a zone for each category of clothing.
By grouping like kinds together, you can evaluate them more effectively. After seeing a pile of 16 pairs of jeans right in front of your face, you might feel more willing to let go of the ones you don’t wear.
3. Start With Out Of Season Items
Now the fun begins.
Once you have your piles, start with your out of season items.
Since you’re not wearing these items right now, you’ll feel less attached to them. It’s an easy way to start strengthening your clothes-decluttering muscles.
There are many different tools that minimalists use to evaluate clothing. Marie Kondo asks herself if something sparks joy. Courtney Carver chooses 33 items to wear for 3 months and puts the rest in storage.
I like to ask myself one simple question when evaluating my clothes:
“Would I buy this again today?”
If the answer is YES – you can confidently put it back in your closet.
If the answer is no, or I’m not sure, toss it to the side. You don’t have to get rid of it right now if you’re not ready, but don’t put it in your closet.
Pick up each item of clothing and ask yourself this question. If it’s a yes, you can hang it up/fold it/place it in a drawer. Anything that’s a no or a maybe gets set aside.
4. Focus On What You Want To Keep
Spoiler alert: this whole exercise is not about what you’re getting rid of.
It’s about curating a collection of clothing that you are super excited to wear, and of which you utilize every piece.
If you find yourself feeling sad about decluttering your clothes, don’t think about what you’re getting rid of.
Focus on what you are gaining: a curated, well-styled wardrobe that contains only pieces you love to wear.
As you’re going through each article of clothing, evaluate whether you’re excited to keep it (i.e. you would buy it again today).
Minimalism isn’t about everything you’re jettisoning. It’s about finding yourself underneath the excess.
5. Say Goodbye To Anything That Doesn't Fit
If you have gained or lost 20 pounds in the last year or so, your closet may be full of clothing that doesn’t fit you anymore.
Don’t hold onto clothes for a different size you. Unless you are actively on a weight loss journey and have good reason to believe that your pants from five years ago will soon fit you again, accept yourself for where you are today. Focus on the clothes that make you feel good in your current body.
Especially if you’ve lost weight… don’t hang onto clothes that are now too big for you, just in case you gain weight again! You don’t need that kind of energy in your closet.
If an item doesn’t fit, let it go. You wouldn’t go out and buy something today that doesn’t fit, so these items don’t deserve a place in your closet.
6. Set Limits
Closets are not meant to be stuffed to overflowing.
A natural limit for your underwear and socks are the drawer they are contained in.
A natural limit for your shoes would be the space available on a shoe rack.
Choose one drawer or section of your closet for each type of clothing, and don’t let your clothes overflow from there.
Setting limits will help you naturally cull your clothing to an appropriate amount. If your T-shirts are currently occupying two drawers, minimize down to one. Choose one location for each article of clothing.
This might feel restricting, but it’s actually the opposite! Imagine your pajama drawer is full. When you’re out at Target and see some cute new PJs, you’ll be freed from the desire to buy them knowing that you already have enough. And if you absolutely must have them (spoiler: you don’t), you know you’ll have to remove something else from your drawer to make space for the new ones.
7. Choose A Color Scheme
As you’re culling your clothing, think about what colors make you feel your best today.
Our tastes and preferences change over time. A few years ago, I primarily wore black clothing for its versatility.
Today, however, I don’t feel as good in black, and tend to lean towards creams, beiges, and neutrals.
In my most recent closet purge, I got rid of a lot of black clothing (except for my workout clothes, which are all black), and the result was a beautifully light, neutral closet of clothes that coordinate perfectly.
8. Consider The Power Of One For Layers & Accessories
Do you really need five swimsuits? What if you owned just one?
Crazy idea, I know. But imagine if you picked just your favorite of certain items.
One versatile cardigan, one swimsuit, one baseball cap, one LBD.
This is the easiest to do with items that you don’t wear daily. It’d be tough to get by with just one pair of underwear.
But for layering pieces/accessories, the power of one can be transformational.
You’re a little cold? You grab your favorite (and only) cardigan, and it coordinates with your outfit perfectly because your closet has a color scheme.
No brain power necessary. Just grab and go.
How freeing!
9. Establish A One-In, One-Out Rule
Finally, once you have done the work of paring down your clothes, you have to establish a system to keep it that way!
You don’t want to undo all of your hard work, so consider establishing a one-in, one-out rule.
For example, if you want to buy a new sweater, you have to remove an existing sweater. If you want a new dress, you have to eliminate one of your current dresses.
This will help you think twice about whether or not you actually need that new shirt you’re eyeing up. Because you have decluttered your clothing, you know exactly what you own, everything has a limit, and your closet works perfectly for you, you can clearly evaluate whether that new shirt would better serve you than one of your existing ones or if it doesn’t quite measure up.
Take it a step further... build a personal daily uniform!
If you are loving your new decluttered closet, consider taking things one step further and building a personal daily uniform.
Establishing a personal uniform and wearing the same thing every day has allowed me to reduce my excess clothing by another 50% after completing the steps above during my initial closet declutter. Check out that post if you’re interested in taking your closet to the next level!
Which of the 9 steps above is the hardest for you? What tips or tricks would you add for someone decluttering their closet? Let me know in the comments!