Assessing Your Clothing

Assessing Your Clothing Capacity

By Judi Culbertson

I believe that the amount of clothing people can wear, care for, and keep under control varies widely. But life is easier when you find your level and know that everything in your closet fits and is ready to go and that you feel good wearing each item. For some reason, it’s also easier to put clothing away after wearing it.

Looking in your closet you’ll probably find things that were marked “Clearance,” which you were tempted to buy because they were so cheap—how can you go wrong with a $4 sweater?—and you ended up with a lot of clothes you just don’t wear. When I help people go through their closets, I’m no longer surprised to see how many items still have the price tags on.

Trimming the Trimmings

Sometimes when you can’t decide whether a piece of clothing should stay or go, it helps to ask yourself some questions about it.

• “Do I have a place to wear this?” If you haven’t been line dancing in fifteen years, are retired from your day job, or have no firm prospect to be invited to the Inaugural Ball, say good-bye to the clothing you are holding on to for those occasions. You’ll feel much better moving into your current life. If you were invited to an important ceremony, you’d no doubt want something new to wear anyway.
• “Would I buy this now?” It may made you feel chic or sexy or professional when you originally brought it home, but the glow is gone and the item feels outdated. It may be a clearance item that you never found the opportunity to wear. If it was a gift, ask yourself, “Would I buy this at all?” If not, then give it away.
• “Do I feel attractive when I wear this?” Sometimes you may reach for particular outfit, thinking, “I haven’t worn this in a while.” But when you out it on and look in the mirror, you don’t feel particularly uplifted. It looks OK but nothing special. Your next thought may be, “Well, I’m only going to work/to that meeting/food shopping. It doesn’t really matter.” But it does. Whether you feel attractive affects your whole mood.
• “Does it have sentimental value?” Sometimes I encounter people whose closets are giant memorabilia boxes. They know they will never wear certain things again, but they have fond memories of the times that they did. They remember their earlier self as gutsy or daring or attractive. If it’s decorative, I tell them to consider hanging it on the wall or putting it into a shadow box. If not take a photo before you give it away.

Getting Started

Before choosing any clothing to recycle, you need to pick out three or four complete outfits that fit well and that you feel good wearing. To do this you may even have to buy some accessories or additional items. But you need to know that you have a core wardrobe for any occasion. This will allay your fears that once you weed through your closet you will literally have nothing left. If you are confident that some clothes in the cotton jungle are better than the rest, you’ll be able to make more objective judgments.

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