Ways to Cull Your Closet

What’s the Best Way of Culling Your Closet?

This is something of a trick question as there is no best way to cull your closet, not really.  There are lots of ways to sort through your wardrobe and make decisions on what to keep and what to let go, and you get to decide what is the right way for you.

Below you will find suggestions for 36 ways to cull your closet.  You may find there are many new criteria on this list that you haven’t considered before.  Perhaps you have additional criteria to add to the list.

Take a moment to reflect on each of the ways suggested and see what resonates for you.  You may want to try a whole lot of them, you may want to find a few that are the keys to keeping your wardrobe in tip-top shape.

Following the 36 Ways are a series of Explorations, including a Playshop to get you taking action (the “practice by doing” from the Learning Pyramid) followed by a series of questions designed to encourage reflection on and learning about your discoveries.

Also, read of these blog posts before you make too many big changes:

3 reasons your wardrobe is a kitchen

How to build a future focused wardrobe

36 Ways to Cull Your Closet

There are lots of ways to make assessments and put criteria for keeping or letting-go-of for items in your wardrobe.  It’s really not as simple as “Have I worn it in the past year?”  Read through this list of 36 ways to cull your closet to make sure you’re aware of what matters to you with regards to your wardrobe and the items you keep and what you want to let go of.

1. Timeline Past: How long has it been since I’ve worn it?
2. Timeline Present: Am I currently wearing it?
3. Timeline Future: Can I imagine wearing this item again in the future (near or unspecified)?
4. Practical: Do I actually wear it?
5. Fit: Does it fit me?
6. Visual: How do I look when wearing it?
7. Touch: How does it feel on my skin and body?
8. Condition: What condition is it in? Does it need repairing, or revamping and up-styling to make it wearable?
9. Care: What is it like to care for? Does it require special cleaning?
10. Versatility: How many other things can I wear it with?  Can I use it to create new and interesting ensembles?
11. Variety: Does this piece add variety and interest to my wardrobe? Would my wardrobe seem a little dull without this?
12. Access: Is it easy to access – is it in plain sight and easy to reach?
13. Storage: Is it easy to store or does it have special storage requirements?
14. Proportion: Does it have the right proportions for my body?
15. Line and shape: Is the line, shape and construction of this garment right for me?
16. Color: Is the color right for me, or at least is it in the right ‘color family’ for me?
17. Texture and fabric: Do I love/enjoy the feel of the texture and fabric of this garment when I wear it?
18. Pattern: Do I enjoy wearing this patterned garment, and does it feel like ‘me’?
19. Attractiveness: Do I feel attractive when I wear this garment?
20. Uniqueness: Is this piece unique in some special or meaningful way? And are those reasons enough for me to keep it?
21. Special Use or Purpose: Does this item have a special purpose or use, such as for a particular sport or recreation activity, or for wearing to special events that aren’t engaged in frequently?
22. Signature Look: Is this item something in my ‘signature’ look (my color, my print, my motif, etc)? And if so, is that enough of a reason to keep it?
23. Memories: Do I have happy memories of wearing this item (which are either significant in their own right or mean that I will wear it again in the future)?
24. Feeling: How do I feel when I wear this? At least, can I determine if it makes me feel good or bad, fabulous or frumpy, when I wear this?
25. Personality: Do I feel like “me” when I wear this? (and how do I know?)
26. Sentimental: Does this item have a connection to something significant or meaningful in my past?
27. Lifestyle: Does this item suit the lifestyle I currently have (not a previous lifestyle, or a potential future one)?
28. Emotional ‘weight’: Does it feel lighter or heavier to keep this item, or to let it go?
29. Logic:  Does it make sense to keep this, or let it go?
30. Obligation: Was it given to me and I feel obligated to keep it? (and is this a good enough reason?)
31. ‘Enoughness’: Does it feel like just enough, not enough, or too much if I keep this?
32. Money: Did it cost a lot of money and therefore I feel I should keep it, or was it so cheap it feels easy to dispose of?
33. Magic: I don’t know why I keep it, but I’m happy waiting for something to happen so I can wear it again.
34. Energy: What happens to my energy when I wear this: do I feel energized and ‘up’, or enervated and ‘down’?
35. Gut Instinct: What’s my gut instinct when pondering this item: let it go, or keep it?
36. Love:  Do I absolutely, totally, madly love this item?

36 Ways to Cull Your Closet Explorations – open your Module 8 PDF Page 49