A practical guide to owning fewer clothes

A Practical Guide to Owning Fewer Clothes

Who doesn't have too much clothes? I sure do, I need to put this to practice.

The Skeezyks has shed SO many articles of clothing! A lot of it went because I lost weight & it no longer fit. But I still have much more than I actually need since I rarely go anywhere. Mostly I just wear overalls & crew neck cotton knit shirts or tee shirts during the summer . I could probably get along with... oh... three pairs of overalls & a similar number of shirts (just so I could wash 'em once in a while!) The good thing is that most of what I do have, I've had literally for years... in some cases for decades. Some of it is probably older than a lot of the members here on PC!

Thanks for the article. I know I need to pin it to the fridge and really get to work cleaning out my closet.

I seem to be the only person with the opposite first-world problem of having too few clothes for my liking. And the ones I do have are mostly just practical: I literally live in jeans and t-shirts, unless I have an interview.

I can barely stop myself from browsing pretty clothes online: I want to dress nice, dammit! Laziness and lack of money keep me the way I am. It's embarrassing though, when everyone else has a closet full of nice stuff and my entire wardrobe fits in a single suitcase.... :/

Thanks for the answers! Glad it is of help!

Scientia, people who own more than you are not happier than you are. Minimalism is not against consumerism, but in favour of conscious consumerism. So it is good that you want to dress nice, the bad thing would be to have an exploding wardrove.

You can dress nice and have few clothes at the same time. For example, I only own two pairs of shoes: one for going out (I wear T-shirts, which I have too many, or shirts and jeans.) and one for sports (In this case of course I wear sport clothes.).

So that's basically my wardrove. I have to get rid of many t-shirts. I also own a lot of underwear and socks, but imo they are never enough.

I also realized that most of the clothes I own are the ones that were given to me as presents. That tells a lot about how consumerism affects all of us.

I will definitely read this. My closet is bursting at the seams. I really need to trim it back a bit. Thank you.

Glad it is of help! I need to trim back mine as well!

Only two? Hell, I have more than that and it's not enough for me....could be a gender thing too, though. Most of the guys I know could happily own two changes of clothes and be done with it. Whereas, like I said, I've always envied girls with packed closets.

Appearance is probably part of it: if you want to experiment with looks, you need more stuff. If you're content to wear more or less the same thing all the time, mimimalism becomes easy.

I know liking clothes and fashion is bad. I kind of don't care, I'm just tired of living in jeans, t-shirts, and ugly sneakers.

Update. Very helpful. A third of my closet is gone. Thanks again!

I'm a believer but my spouse is not. That's why he uses 3/4s of our closet!

Thank you! I think that excessive consumption is a way to feel satisfaction, even though pragmatically speaking it is not necessary. Reminds of Fromm, "To be or to have", if I remember the title correctly.

I am allergic to shopping and have little apparel - my kit is all falling apart so a late night visit to M&S is now unavoidable.

Mrs MOCS has much clobber - I threaten to bin everything less than size 16 - she starts shouting. Why?

I have five or six huge bags of clothes to unpack. They probably won't fit in my closets. So I'm waiting to order my dresser. Then my aunt will come over and help me unpack. She has low blood pressure. She wasn't feeling well last time. So we are going to give away half the clothes. I won't be a real minimalist, but it suffices.

I'm afraid after I unpack my closet will be bursting at the seams too

Thanks! By general rule, I donate any clothes that are too large. It's the opposite of typical advice to get rid of your thin clothes, but it works for me.

I have a huge handbag collection. Those are keepers. =]