My Minimalist Wardrobe

This week….I got inspired.

I got the urge to purge.

I felt the need to weed.

OK, that’s it for really bad rhymes.

I have been interested in minimalism and downsizing my “stuff” for many years now. I’ve always enjoyed clearing out clutter and organizing spaces.

When I was a kid, I actually cleaned and rearranged and organized my own room on a regular basis. Just for fun.

I was totally a normal kid.

But anyway, I have been settled into my new home for several months and I have been gradually feeling the clutter creep in.

So, with my interest in another purge building, I figured I’d stoke the flames of motivation by listening to Joshua Becker’s The More of Less.

Surprisingly, this is one resource on minimalism that I haven’t previously perused.

It was exactly the motivation I needed.

The Purge

Last night, I cleaned out my bedside table and found a small pile of items to donate or discard.

As I worked in the kitchen and homeschooled the kids this morning, I found a few more items to toss, recycle, and pass along – including a nice stack of unused school books that another homeschooling mom could use.

And then this afternoon, I went all in on my clothes.

Some Background

A few months ago, I went through my clothes after reading about Project 333, a minimalist fashion challenge that encourages people to dress with 33 items of less for 3 months.

I did a modified version of that challenge – though my wardrobe was already pretty simplistic – and narrowed my overall number of clothing items to roughly 30 for the spring/summer. This did not include items tucked away in a bin for winter or footwear and outwear.

Today, however, my goal was to cut out the fluff. The clothes I dislike or rarely wear or keep “just in case.”

Most of all, I wanted to get rid of clothes that make me feel uncomfortable.

I’ll share another post soon about the Mirror Project that I learned about recently as well, but in general, I want to be comfortable in my own skin – and thus my own clothes – more.

So I got right to it.

Before

I started out by collecting all the clothing items and dumping them on my bed.

I wanted to see all the things all at once.

This included my small underbed storage bin of off-season clothing.

I still excluded footwear and outwear from this project. (I don’t really feel like I have an excess of either of these items). So it didn’t take me long to pull my entire wardrobe together.

You’ll notice throughout this endeavor that I own a lot of monochromatic clothing. Pretty much just black. And some more black. And slightly faded versions of black.

Once I had all the clothes dumped on the bed, I decided to work category by category as I assessed each item.

Category One: Athletic Wear

I started out (from top to bottom) with:

A running hoodie
One long sleeve performance shirt
Five pant-length leggings
Three capri-length leggings
Two bike shorts
Three sports bras
Four exercise tank tops
Three (or four) socks (I swear there are more somewhere)
One headband
Five printed performance t-shirts from various races I have run

I started with this category because I knew it would be pretty simple. I exercise nearly every day and do yard work several times a week too. Most of my athletic wear actually gets worn every week.

I hadn’t looked at the pants since they had been packed away at the start of the spring, so I ended up pulling one black legging that had a hole I had patched and the one purplish-maroon pair because they tended to fall down and were too long in the leg.

I also purged one older tank top and two of the race tees (one that was stained and one that was very old and faded) as well.

Category Two: Casual Wear

This category includes t-shirts, plain tank tops, regular shorts, hoodies, etc.

Three long-sleeve tees
Five short-sleeve tees
Four tank tops
One athletic short
One black jean short
One regular pant-length legging
Three hoodies

Recently I have realized that I don’t really enjoy shirts that have sleeves. I’m not sure if it is just the way that sleeved shirts fall on my arms or if I am just weird, but I knew that most of the regular tees had to go.

I ended up giving my kids four of the t-shirts and put the three long-sleeve t-shirts and one of the hoodies in the donate pile.

Category Three: Junk Clothes

Is it not normal to have an entire bin of junk clothes? We have been renovating our house and working on so many projects, that I had to designate some clothes for messes or I would not own an article of clothing that wasn’t stained or paint spattered.

My inventory:

A jogger/sweatpant love child in camo print
Two t-shirts
Two long-sleeve shirts
Two tank tops
One quarter zip sweatshirt
One old pair of bike shorts

This was another easy category for me. I really disliked the way the camo pants fit and they were so not flattering. These went in the donate pile.

I felt like one type of each shirt would be sufficient so I purged one tank top, one t-shirt, and one long sleeve. And kept the rest!

Category Four: Accessories and Miscellaneous

This category is really just socks and scarves. Don’t ask me why I lumped these together.

The socks were simple. I toss socks as soon as they get holes, pretty much, so most of these were keepers. I did toss one older pair and the one pair of fuzzy socks.

I also decided to donate two of the scarves.

Not pictured, I decided to let go of one pair of pajamas.

Category Five: Dresses and Work Attire

In this category: three swing dresses, one simple sleeveless black dress, one long sleeve black dress, one rather dressy long sleeve dress, one pair of black slacks.

Also: a work polo, two plain swing t-shirts, three sleeveless printed blouses, one plain swing tank top, and one sleeveless halter-style top.

I kept most of these items. I let go of my least favorite swing dress.

Also in this category: four cardigans and one black maxi skirt, a pair of black jeggings, and a pair of black shorts. I donated two of the cardigans.

After

My entire wardrobe – all seasons – now fits into this small section of the closet.

I will likely add a basic long sleeve t-shirt or two for the winter and replace my favorite black jeggings (they are pretty threadbare). But overall, I am pretty content with my remaining clothes.

I didn’t picture it, but for footwear, I have: one pair casual sandals, one pair nicer sandals, one pair of Birkenstock clogs, one pair of “barefoot” shoes, three pairs of sneakers, a pair of dressy boots, two pairs of dress shoes, a pair of hiking boots and a pair of winter boots.

The three sneakers may seem excessive, but I have a dirty/worn pair I use for morning walks on dusty trails, a clean pair I use at the gym and for walking on paved roads, and a pair I only use at my friend’s house for our indoor workouts (out of respect for her clean floors).

I am very excited about the way everything fits so nicely into my basket too:

I have one bin devoted to athletic wear, one for junk clothes, the usual underwear and socks bin, and a final basket for casual tops and bottoms. Everything else is hanging (and my scarves and cardigans are in one of the blue baskets on the upper shelf.

My other blue bin is for my work shoes.

Conclusion

I will undoubtedly be pursuing other minimalist challenges and household purges in the coming weeks. I tend to feel the need to clean and downsize before the holidays arrive (or in general with the changing seasons).

Whenever I declutter and organize, I am mindful to repurpose, share, or donate any usable items. Tell us in the comments below if you embrace minimalism (or not) and what your next decluttering project will (or should!) be.

This was my final pile at the end of the day. I hope it motivates you!