Clothes clearout

I have wardrobes that fill a whole wall, in three bedrooms, and I don't want to throw anything away.
The last time I sorted the clothes I transferred everything on to those ultra slim hangers so that I can get more in the wardrobe ?

I've created a big ;pile for the charity shop but we dont seem to get so many bags through the door now only about one every couple of months. I suppose I could lug it down town but you cant park anywhere near the shops- love to get it out of the spare bedroom though its untidy!

I have a 'clothes cull' twice a year, but still have too much stuff. There's always a pile called 'Might come in useful'.

Having resigned myself to the fact that I'm never going to go down a size any more, I have removed over 10 bin bags full of clothes from my wardrobe, which I washed, ironed, and stored away. I don't know how to get rid of them as we don't have charity shops here in Germany. I shall probably have to sell them off a bit at a time on e-bay or something.

Bag waiting to go at bottom of the stairs, loads more to do.

It has been a slow process but I am getting there. Every so often I sort through and stuff goes to charity. I just could not do it in one go. I have developed a new style so stuff has to go. Always good to reinvent yourself...hahaha I found my copy of Marie Kondo's book and am reading it again... I keep saying to myself 'only keep if it gives me joy

I'm hopeless! But I'm moving so it's forced me to look at my wardrobe of clothes. Those I don't want go to the PDSA or RSPCA. At least the animals can wear them!!!

A couple of questions ,Cambria
1) Why are you doing your summer/winter swap now?
Unless you live in the far north of Scotland you have another five weeks or so before you need to go into winter clothes
2) Why do you live in leggings?
Throw them out.
Check out the good clothes you have but never wear and start wearing them every day.

This time last week I was in Keswick.
It was a beautiful day and there were coach trips of ladies of a certain age in the town.
Virtually all of them were dressed in the same way .
Man made brown,beige ,black or navy sensible trousers.,tops covered with cardigans.
I didn't see anyone else of my age wearing a cotton dress .
How depressing it was.
Buy good quality clothes made from natural fibres and they will last for years.
You say you still have the wedding outfit you bought for your son's wedding ten years ago.
Is it an obvious wedding outfit ?
If you go to another wedding will you feel like wearing it?
If not,give it to the Charity Shop.
Stick to a colour palette that suits you and throw out anything that doesn't.
Only wear clothes that make you feel good even when you are not going anywhere special.
As had been said ,it is very cathartic to have a good sort out.
Good luck .

Don't care much about clothes....and hate shopping for them. I don't own a wardrobe but a 3 ft wide fitted cupboard. When I buy something new I make it a policy to throw something out or give to charity. I never break this rule. My 'cupboard' is about 2/3 full. I do own about 10 pairs shoes/ boots! Is this a lot ...? I don't know!

I admire your stoicism, Lancslass1, and I am myself partial to a cotton/linen frock. But most of mine have just been through their final Summer wash and are neatly folded ready for shoving to the very top shelf of the airing cupboard for their Winter holidays. I've left two hanging up for now just in case the good times come back.

I'm wearing a lovely cosy burnt orange jumper today - and yes, my leggings. I very nearly switched the heating back on last night.

I do own about 10 pairs shoes/ boots! Is this a lot ...?

No, it's not, Saggi, but I shall say no more.

I have no interest in ever wearing anything but comfortable clothes now that I have retired and looking after DGS almost full time so I calculate I will be giving about 90% of my clothes to charity when I finally get to sort through them all (they are all down South still and I am not). Also having lost 3 stone since I have been here just by running around after DGS I only recently realised most will be too big for me now. Plus the 2 wardrobes and 2 long clothes rails there include all my work clothes and suits, now no longer required. I have too many clothes plus about 50 pairs of boots and shoes and only had a very overcrowded 2 bedroom flat - that must be what happens when you live by yourself ?
My granny annexe here is almost ready to move into and I must be strict about the number of clothes I buy now - ironically I will have more wardrobe space as the builder built a 'dressing room' onto the bedroom (quite small because I wanted a balcony in it) which is to be fitted out with wardrobes and drawers.
I have sorted out about half of one wardrobe at home but I do find it stressful - hoping the fact that everything is now too big will help me be tougher.
I never had space in my flat to 'pack away' out of season clothes but now I will have a loft too so that's something I could start doing.

Living in a touring caravan for twelve years after my husband retired we got used to throwing something out if we got something new. I kept to that habit when living in a house again. Now that I am house bound I have few clothes and empty drawers.

Agree.don't send good stuff to charity shops!! I eBay or go on Sphock to sell it.

Lancslass1 throw out my leggings?? Never! I love them to bits with big jumpers or mini dresses over the top. Have given the wedding outfit away and all the other going out clothes. If I haven’t worn them in ten years, I ain’t going to and anyway I am now ten years too old for some of them!

I live in Yorkshire and am a cold soul, so winter clothes start now. I spend a lot of the winter in Greece, so if I don’t sort them out now, it will be Christmas before I get round to it!

You are right about the colour palette. I had my colours done years ago and will now go through and have another look! Do agree also about not all looking the same in beige but my wardrobe doesn’t contain beige at all!

Don't send ..

MOnica, I had a friend, who, when she was working, said she spent £1000 one year on clothes. (This was much more than I ever spent.) Now she is retired I have noticed that her wardrobe is shrunk and sometimes her clothes look a little tired. Money is a big factor in how we look!

My DH is a worse offender than me. He had so many clothes in his side of the wardrobe but tended to wear the things that are closest to hand. However he has lost 35 pounds since being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and we have had a clear out of clothes that now swamp him, filling two of the large charity bags that come through the door and keeping some things back to see if family members might be able to make use of them. He has a lovely M & S jacket that he has only worn twice, in fact the pockets are still sewn up. Perhaps we should try selling it on EBay, something we have never done.

I used to have a lot of things but started decluttering about two years ago and I have lost the same amount of weight as him but because I had already started to declutter it hasn’t been such a big task. The things I did were:

Stop buying clothes in sales on impulse unless I really need them, in fact recently I can’t really be bothered to sort through the rails in sales because a lot of it is bought in specially. When Debenhams had their sale I looked through things on line at leisure over a few evenings and found I bought less and I did send several things back.

I read this tip somewhere a while back and it has helped. Turn all your hangers in the wardrobe one way and after you have worn something turn it the other way round. Then after 6 months you will be able to identify things you haven’t worn and re-evaluate whether you will wear them again.

I also found it helped to put things in order of colour and when we did this with DH’s clothes we found he had umpteen tee shirts in grey and blue and in fact he had two blue tee shirts that were exactly the same. So he was able to thin them out and keep the best.

We are both also planning to adopt the ‘buy something new, get rid of something you have’ rule before things get out of hand again.

I have a lovely dress I bought 20 years ago and didn’t have occasion to wear it again until renewing our vows at sea recently. Then loved wearing this dress again. Incidentally it was our 58th anniversary in August and we had a lovely ceremony on Fred Olsen’s Black Watch.

I tend to store all the summer stuff, and then sort it when it comes out next spring. This solves the problem for the charity shops as it is the right time for them and it also means I sort the winter stuff now, so whatever size I am this year will govern what I keep. Also when you haven't seen something for 6 months you feel differently about it. Anyway despite this I still have too much stuff, but this seems a good halfway house. I use the big bags which you then vacuum out all the air so they don't take up too much room.

I have just spent this afternoon doing the same as OP and decided to move on the dress & shoes I wore to DD1 wedding 8 yrs ago! I have one bag of clothes to take to a charity shop. Sumner tops, linen trousers & cotton dresses up on the top shelf in exchange for jumpers & 2prs of wool trousers. Bound to have a late heatwave now!

Ok you’ve all motivated me. I only managed to take three bags full to the charity shop. After reading the tips on this thread I only took winter clothes. I’m sure I've got more than treble that. I’ll keep the summer stuff here and take them in next spring. I don’t know why I find it so difficult.

I cleared mine a month ago but left the full large suitcase in the porch in case I missed anything.I did retrieve a cross body bag but my brother called and thought I was planning a trip.When I explained he insisted on taking suitcase to his favourite charity shop.I let it go and so far have not missed anything.Sent wedding shoes with matching bags and hope somebody else enjoys them.

You're not the only one with skinny clothes hangers Harrigran!
I'm trying to summon the oomph to attack my bulging wardrobe and ruthlessly cull clothes. I reckon I could get rid of at least 50% and still have more than enough I daren't count how many pairs of jeans I own....
Oh dear, the mere thought of going through two big huge wardrobes makes me feel faint. It's not helping being unwell and lacking in energy but must be done ?

I try and sort at least 4 or 5 things each time I open the wardrobe.
For someone with no interest whatsoever in clothes, I sure have a lot!