CURATE A MINIMAL YET VERSATILE WARDROBE

If you are frustrated that your closet is disorganized and overflowing yet you seem to never have something to wear, here are three tips about how to maintain a minimal yet versatile wardrobe. Believe it or not, I can make about 240 outfits from all the clothes in my very minimal closet! If you would like to see a capsule wardrobe video, let me know in the comments below.

Keeping your closets from overflowing and always having something to wear is as simple as:

• purging the excess
• organizing what you do need and use
• and keeping yourself from accumulating clothing pieces you don’t need or won’t actually end up using.

That’s it! But wait! Before you click elsewhere, I break down in more detail how easy it really can be to purge the excess and determine what you really do need and use. And, I’m talking about the clothes in all of the closets in your household from infants, to boys and girls, and men and women!

Minimal Yet Versatile Wardrobe Step #1 – Get Rid of the Excess

So, the first thing you will do to keep your closets from overflowing is to get rid of the excess which is causing the overflow! One key tool to use is my initial sorting guidelines chart which helps you sort your items into what you will keep, toss, and donate. There are multiple stages for sorting your items in order to efficiently declutter your closet and then effectively organize what you need. This initial sorting stage is where so many people get stuck and overwhelmed. My initial sorting guidelines chart (which you can grab for free here) helps keep you on track so you can complete this essential decluttering stage. Remember, getting rid of the clutter helps you to more effectively organize what you do need and use.

Some other great tools to help you get rid of the excess are my declutter challenge calendar and guide. This free calendar and guide are in my freebie library, so you can gain access to these free resources now and start removing the stressful clutter today! Following my declutter challenge is my in-depth organizing challenge so that you can finally set up organized systems that work for you! Be sure to gain access to my freebie library so you can access my free organizing calendar and guide and so you don’t miss more details on our upcoming organizing challenge.

In my free tips and tricks guide for my declutter challenge, this guide breaks down additional categories to help you quickly sort through different areas of your home including all the categories of clothing items. I break things down a little further for the clothing categories to help you more easily determine what you need to purge … like how many dresses makes sense to keep, for example. And, I also share how to donate different categories of clothing items. Did you know that you can donate formal dresses for young girls who may not be able to afford a dress for prom? And that homeless shelters appreciate gently used socks? I go through all the clothing categories as listed here:

• Under garments including bras, underwear, lingerie, socks, camisoles, boxers, and
• Undershirts
• Pajamas, workout clothes, and swimwear
• Dresses and tops including t-shirts, dress shirts, and blouses
• Outerwear including cardigans, jackets, and coats
• Bottoms including skirts, shorts, leggings, pants, and jeans
• Shoes and accessories including scarves, belts, hats, and jewelry
• Bags including purses, backpacks, briefcases, and gym bags

I break down additional tips and tricks on how to declutter the excess in each category on my free guide.

Throughout my declutter challenge you will purge damaged clothing items (like old socks), the items you never wear (like out of style or ill-fitting pieces), the items you have way too many of (like bikinis or bathing suits), and you will follow my tips to help you quickly grab an item and count while running through the initial sorting guidelines chart so you can declutter the excess super quickly. I also share tips on how to sell those high-ticket items like brand name bags so that you can get a little something back from something you’re not going to use anymore anyway!

Minimal Yet Versatile Wardrobe Step #2 – Know What Quantities Make Sense to Keep

In addition to these free resources I just shared, in my freebie library I also have a whole 5-page guide noting what quantities of clothing items to keep for your entire household from infants to adults! These quantities to keep are based on how often you will realistically do laundry and they are also based on your lifestyle.

For an example of the quantity of items to keep based on how often you do laundry, each person will need 14 pairs of underwear. You can add 1 week of underwear to how frequently you do laundry. If you do laundry once per week, you will have 14 pairs of underwear on hand as this will accommodate for any weeks you are not able to get to the laundry.

For an example of the quantity of items to keep based on your lifestyle, to curate a month’s worth of outfits, let me give you an example of someone who dresses mostly casually, works from home, and wears a lot of T-shirts. This person can curate a wardrobe which consists of 14 T-shirts to wear most days, 10 blouses to wear out on the weekends maybe, and 4 dresses for church maybe which totals to 28 outfits. My quantities to keep guideline helps you to put things in perspective and decide what pieces make sense to keep for you and your lifestyle.

Minimal Yet Versatile Wardrobe Step #3 – Curate a Cohesive Wardrobe

If you curate your closet based on what you realistically wear, how often you do laundry, and your lifestyle, you will always have something to wear. And, honestly, for me, I don’t even have that many pieces of clothing, but I am able to combine my clothing into a vast number of outfits because my pieces mostly all coordinate together. Curating your closet with a few pieces that all coordinate together is known as a capsule wardrobe. So, again, if you would like me to share my capsule wardrobe breaking down how I combine a few pieces of clothing into several outfits, let me know in the comments below. And, once you curate your closet, you will simply keep my quantities to keep guideline on hand so that you are a more mindful shopper and prevent yourself from accumulating the excess again!

I have even more details of how to declutter your overflowing closets and still always have something to wear in my free declutter challenge calendar and guide here. That way, you can quickly decide what to declutter, what quantities of items make sense to keep, and how to donate the items you declutter. In my next post, I will share six tips on how to declutter your kitchen super quickly. Comment below anything you might struggle with decluttering or organizing, and feel free to share this with anyone you think might want to join the declutter challenge.

Happy Organizing!