I didn’t know how many clothes I had until I had to move out of Turkey after university with only one suitcase.
Packing, as you can imagine, became a nightmare.
My wardrobe was not dramatically bursting at the seams with clothes falling out.
But it was definitely cluttered enough to make me ask myself, ‘what have you been doing with your life?’
And let’s not even get started on my ridiculous shoe collection.
I went through this phase where I thought comfortable shoes were too masculine and not stylish enough.
So, I bought all the ‘girly’ shoes I could afford as a broke student, only to wear them once, realise how uncomfortable and badly made they were, and dump them in my wardrobe, never to be worn again.
‘What should I keep and what should I donate?’ became the sentence that would forever haunt me and cause my brain to want to explode.
After lots of blood, sweat, and tears, I managed to pack my clothes into one suitcase.
But guess what? Even after I moved, I found myself hoarding clothes again, this time they were secondhand.
It took three more moves to finally nip this habit in the bud.
And today, I’m thrilled to say, I’ve found a solution to decluttering and simplifying my wardrobe.
In 6 minutes or less.
- We’re not stupid.
- Why do we keep hanging on to trash?
- But why should we care?
- Is that it?
- Declutter your wardrobe : Declutter your mind.
We’re Not Stupid.
We know the benefits of decluttering our wardrobe.
Having a well-organized closet lets us easily pick out what to wear and enjoy getting dressed without wanting to pull our hair out.
But we have busy lives, trying to juggle business, work, family, and self-care, so focusing on the mess in your wardrobe starts to seem trivial and, frankly, overwhelming.
Or, like me, you tend to see potential in everything, even though there are already three gaping holes in that dress and you know you will never have time to sit down and fix it.
Why Do We Keep Hanging On To Trash?
“I’ll declutter when I lose weight”
“I have too many children”
“I’m too attached to these items; they hold sentimental value.”
“What if I regret getting rid of something? I might need it for a special occasion.”
“I can handle the clutter; it’s not affecting my productivity.”
“Fashion is my way of expressing myself, even if it means a cluttered closet.”
It’s complicated.
As usual.
But Why Should We Care ?
A study by the University of Connecticut found a direct link between decluttering and stress reduction.
Decluttering creates a clean and organized space, which reduces anxiety and positively impacts your mental health.
Okay, probably not rocket science.
How does clutter cause this anxiety?
In one word : Overstimulation
Imagine opening your wardrobe, filled to the brim with a variety of colours, shapes, and objects.
You’re trying to choose an outfit for a business meeting or pick the perfect dress for a night out so your eyes dart from one piece to another, trying to make sense of the chaos.
This is where the primary visual cortex, a special area at the back of your brain— like the control room for everything you see—comes into play.
When faced with a cluttered space like this, it goes into overdrive, trying to process the relentless stream of visual information coming its way.
This visual noise distracts you and makes you less productive, as your brain is too busy trying to process the mess in your wardrobe instead of focusing on the important decision of what to wear.
Is That It ?
No. Of course it’s more complex and involves other parts of the brain such as :
- The Prefrontal Cortex which is responsible for decision-making, attention, and problem-solving.
- The amygdala, an almond-shaped structure deep within the brain, that processes your emotions, including stress and anxiety.
But let’s keep it simple and avoid a boring neuroscience lesson.
Declutter Your Wardrobe : Declutter Your Mind
Hopefully, you’ve followed the guide from last week’s newsletter about defining your personal style, as it’s the foundation for today’s decluttering.
Step 1: Set the Scene
You can tackle your wardrobe in a day, over a week, or throughout the month.
While some people suggest a serene setting with soothing music and your favorite tea or coffee, I prefer a different way.
Breaking up with your clothes is more effective without music or the lovey-dovey atmosphere.
So skip the drama and set a timer to keep the process from dragging on too long.
You don’t want to get tired halfway through, tempted to just throw everything back into your wardrobe.
Step 2: The Initial Sweep
Let’s start with the box of clothes you buried in your backyard last week.
Remove them from the box and lay them out on your bed.
Go through each clothing item one by one, inspect its condition, and separate them into two piles.
Step 3: The Keep Pile
Great news: Your keep pile are the clothes you kept last week because they fit your personal style.
Today, we’re refining it even further, making sure every piece in your wardrobe is something you’ll wear often and that suits your style.
Remove all the clothes from your wardrobe, place them on the bed, and organize by category: tops, bottoms, dresses, skirts, cardigans, jumpers etc.
Now, let’s begin editing.
Step 4: Re-evaluation
Go through the ‘Keep’ pile again, this time focusing on creating different outfits, identifying, and writing down potential gaps in your wardrobe.
Getting into the habit of creating new outfits with what you already have is important for maintaining your collection ; you become more aware of what you actually need versus what you simply want due to trends or impulses.
I’ll explain more next week when I write about ‘why we buy new clothes’.
Meanwhile, go ahead and exercise your creativity to maximize the use of each item.
Step 5: Organize, Donate and Recycle
Store the “Keep” items neatly in your wardrobe, organizing them by category, colour, season or outfits for easy access. (I organize according to the outfits I’ve created and love, which saves me so much time!)
What to do with the other pile?
Well done!
Everything in your wardrobe has now earned its place.
Is it time to celebrate yet?
Almost.
Step 6: Maintain The Momentum
This is the step I kept forgetting, as I watched more clothes slowly creep back into my wardrobe.
Whatever you do, you must commit to a periodic wardrobe review.
It could be every month, every season, every year, or when you feel the first symptoms of wardrobe anxiety.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this.
So, this is where you need to start having an opinion about your wardrobe and stop waiting for some second-hand clothes-obsessed girl from the internet to tell you exactly what to do.
Now it’s time to celebrate!
What did you think about today’s newsletter? Click reply to let me know!
And please forward this to your friends if you liked it. 😉
See you next week,
-Yosi
