Sale PSA: A wide sleeved sweater from Topshop, now under $40, easy shorts from J.Crew (now that the weather’s warming up), now under $35, and a classic Herno coat (I LOVE my Herno and have had it for I want to say six years), now 40% off – Nordstrom has a few styles on sale, here
Hello! I am suffering from a massive flu which my kids seem to have brought home – I nursed them for 24 hours, upon which they recovered immediately, but then it struck me and my old bones, and I’ve been out for multiple days. My God!!
Anyway, I had a longer post planned but it’s okay as there was a comment on my last post, about shopping my closet, that I’ve been wanting to share, from the lovely “P”:
I have a personal goal this year to wear every item I own at least once (other than formal evening gowns). It’s a good way to figure out if you even want to own a piece anymore if you put it on and then immediately think “nah” to yourself!
I loved this advice! So much that after reading it I immediately went up to my closet and looked through the items – I’m glad P excluded evening gowns because I basically haven’t worn ANY in the past year except for a few weddings, but even going through the rest of my clothes, I realized there’s quite a few which don’t qualify for the one year mark. Like the Max Mara jacket above, which I loved, which I have always loved, yet years later it is STILL hanging in my closet with tags attached, and WHY? WHAT am I saving it for?? So this year I’m going to try and do what P suggested – wear every item at least once. I’ve realized the real offender in my closet is outerwear as evidenced above…I love my outerwear, seem to believe it is an “investment” for some ridiculous reason when clothes are not investments and I live in a warm climate. Hopefully doing what P suggests will both a) cure me of my outerwear addiction and b) help me wear my existing pieces more!
What do you think of P’s suggestion? I also like her description of “nah” when you put on an item – doesn’t that sound familiar? It did to me! And I’m sure there’s some pieces lurking in my closet that’ll give me that reaction…once I bother to put them on, that is. I’ll be reporting back!
What do you think of “wearing every item once”?
14 Comments
mai
February 24, 2020 at 8:47 amI love this advice and thinking and can’t wait to tackle this myself! I have really old things in my closet that I can’t seem to want to wear but also don’t get rid of bc i think maybe it will come back into fashion, maybe I will change my taste, etc. It’s silly bc some have lasted in there for YEARS without getting worn. I am excited to get rid of them with this advice! 🙂
Kat
February 24, 2020 at 8:52 amYAY! Please report back on your results (if you can)!
Alisa
February 24, 2020 at 9:36 amGreat advice and I’m inspired to do the same. I’m also prone to collecting outerwear, even though we live in Texas half the year. It makes no logical sense but on the few days it’s cold — or when we travel — it’s nice to have choices. 🙂
Alisa
Elle
February 24, 2020 at 10:38 amI love this idea, and may give it a whirl myself. I am *pretty* good about purging my closet regularly (okay, the purges may be necessitated by running out of closet space), but there are some pieces that I haven’t worn in years because of my blog (“I have nothing else like it, what if I need to style something in this color family in the future??” Will report back! 🙂
Erin
February 24, 2020 at 11:53 amA few years ago, I began to use the backwards hanger method. Based on where I live and the work travel I have to destinations in a variety of climates, I loosely split the year into two seasons: “warmer weather” and “cooler weather.” At the start of each season, everything is hung up facing backwards. Once an item is returned to the closet, it hangs frontwards. When the weather changes, I donate anything left facing backwards, making exceptions for certain special occasion items, things that were added part way through a season and/or items I could realistically wear year-round.
The visual of the hangers makes me more conscious of my choices- and no more guessing just how long it’s been since something was actually worn. Sometimes I choose to wear something near the end of a season simply because I’m not ready to part with it! I’ve also found I can let go of the emotional attachment to an item more easily when I have objective proof I’m not putting it to good use.
I’m still working to replicate the process with things kept in drawers- I’ve tried turning items inside out at the start of the season. It works until you find yourself frustrated when you can’t tell one pair of yoga pants from the other! If you have the storage space, you can try putting things aside after laundering until you work your way through the other items in the same category. That trick did help me pare down my workout clothes to items I actually feel good wearing for those activities!
J
February 28, 2020 at 6:28 pmWhat a great idea! I am going to give it a try!
A
February 24, 2020 at 4:10 pmMy personal threshold is 10. 10 times a year or its labelled excess. I only want to own my favorites and I think of clothes as treasures. If I cant wear something I love atleast 10 times, how can it be a favorite ? This takes care of minimalism and sustainability too. There is only so many garments one can own if a 365 day year has a rule of 10 wears per garment. Its been a happy and peaceful closet since.
Clara
February 24, 2020 at 7:05 pmWhat great advice! I only think about that with my bags but never thought of clothing. It may be a better resolution than thinking about how many pieces to buy because ultimately it’s true that a lot of things go unworn!! Me being absolutely guilty of that (tags still on the item as proof!!). Thanks for sharing this advice!
Jen
February 25, 2020 at 10:22 amGreat inspiration. I have a few dresses that I need to donate if they don’t make it out of the house this summer.
B
February 25, 2020 at 4:11 pmLast year I catalogued 90% of my closet to see what I wear. Right now, it is mostly leggings and sweatshirts! I haven’t been able to get rid of things though (I also have a MaxMara jacket that has not seen any use in 5 plus years of ownership!) and think maybe the hanger forward/backward method will be a physical prod that the closet app doesn’t provide.
Monica
February 27, 2020 at 2:08 pmI cataloged my wardrobe last year as well and found that I mostly wear business casual clothing, but own ~30 pairs of denim. I’ve since banned myself from purchasing any more jeans until I start getting more weekends off.
Jo
February 27, 2020 at 7:56 pmHi B and Monica, how did you catalogue your closet? Did you use an app? Honestly though, i would find it hard to get rid of a MaxMara jacket even if does not see much wear!
monica
March 11, 2020 at 9:23 pmHey Jo, I just made a google spreadsheet. It was both frightening and enlightening.
D @ Breath of Fresh Wear
February 26, 2020 at 2:15 amThank you for posting this – I’ve been hemming and hawing about doing something like this and this was the push I needed!