I tend to be type of person that just keeps things for no good reason. If I hadn’t used a specific electronic cord in years I would just hang on to it “just in case”. When I moved to a new apartment a year ago I had 78 T-Shirts! This runs opposite to the fact that I can’t stand clutter. Counters, desktops and tables need to be clear for me not to want to clean up. Type A much?
After reading multiple examples of minimalist wardrobes from Adam Baker, Leo Babauta, Nina Yau and Francine Jay I finally decided to tackle my own. In this post I will document all of the clothes I have and the process I used to minimize them by 41%!
Not only does having less clothes mean that I have more space in the apartment, dresser and closet, it also simplifies the decisions of what I should wear on the day to day basis. I have several pairs of pants and shirts to mix and match and get a lot of combinations. If I didn’t have to dress up for work I could have even less clothes.
I also used to feel guilty about some of the clothes that I had. I would think to myself that I had to keep wearing an item because I or someone that gave it to me had spent money on it in the past and I needed to get some use out of it. I finally realized that the sunk cost of the clothing didn’t matter any more and I started downsizing my wardrobe.
My Stuff
When I started this exercise I had 211 items of clothing. Below is the new list of all of my articles of clothing:
- Socks (Pairs): 20
- Boxers: 15
- Short Sleeve T-Shirts: 11
- Long Sleeve T-Shirts: 13
- Athletic Shirts: 9
- Swimsuit: 1
- Sweat Pants: 2
- Hooded Sweatshirt: 1
- Ties: 3
- Belt: 1
- Shorts: 5
- Sweaters: 3
- Long Sleeve Button-Ups: 9
- Short Sleeve Button-Ups: 6
- Coats/Jackets: 7
- Dress Pants: 4
- Jeans: 2
- Shoes (Pairs): 11
- Robe & Slippers: 1
Total: 124
Wardrobe
All in all I donated 87 pieces and decreased my clothing count by 41%. Here are all of the clothes I am keeping. (The only things not included are 3 pairs of athletic shoes, some coats and the clothes I was wearing when I took the picture…)
Donations
Here is the pile of 87 articles of clothing that I donated to Goodwill.
5 Easy Steps
1. Put all of your clothing in a huge pile: Just seeing all of my clothes in one spot made me realize how much I had.
2. One by One put the clothing in a Keep, Sell, Donate or Trash pile: Don’t move onto the next piece of clothing until you decide on a pile for the one you are on.
3. Get Help: If you need an extra opinion or help deciding pick a friend that you know would support your minimalist goals.
4. Take pictures of your final piles: You will be able to see all the progress you made.
5. Say Goodbye to your clothes: Drive them to the consignment shop, Goodwill or the dump.
Current State
Instead getting frustrated when I have to hang up my clothes because there is no room, I now have plenty of space:
I used to have to cram my shirts in the drawers of my dresser but now there is ample of room for them in just 3 drawers:
While I couldn’t go down to the extreme of having only 10 items like Francine Jay (Miss Minimalist) recently posted about, this is a start! It was so refreshing to go through this exercise. There are many areas of my life where I have too many things, the worst of it being electronics. For more adventures in living more minimally, check out the post on how I minimized my movie collection.
How many pieces of clothing do you have? Does it drive you crazy to have so many? Let me know in the comments below.
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And here I was expecting a half nudist post……Anyways, I find this to be a great technique. For me it is not really about minimizing my attire, I like having some options, and I don’t want to be the guy that wears the same shirt to work everyday. Its more about changing what I have. I get bored with them. T-Shirts seem to accumulate quickly so those are always the easiest to get rid of. Yet if I had more money I would change a number of other things. It doesn’t have to be expensive either, outlet stores = amazing.
I agree with you on the outlet stores. When I do buy clothes, which happens only a few times a year, it is usually at an outlet. By this point in my life I know what I won’t wear so I just avoid buying those kinds of things.
Hey Caleb, great post, and I can certainly relate. I try to do a “de-cluttering” every year or two, and just get rid of everything that I’m not using (otherwise, there’s a Parkinson’s Law-like effect with stuff; your stuff will expand to fill the space you have!). I’ve been meaning to get around to doing one, because my closets are starting to feel a bit too full…
By the way, Gretchen Rubin describes a very similar process in her book “The Happiness Project” - you might enjoy it (I did)!
Definitely Danny. Once a year just looking through all your stuff and asking yourself whether or not you even touched or used it is a great exercise.
The Happiness Project is a book that I have on my ‘to Read’ list. Looking forward to it.
But I thought guys didn’t care what they looked like!
One simple technique I use is to throw/give away a piece of clothing every time I buy a new one. That way you cycle your look without accumulating clothes.
That’s a great tip Graham. I try to use the ‘one in, one out’ system for everything I accumulate. Better yet is doing ‘one in, two out’.
The black striped cardigan survives! I was rooting for it.
You know I gotta bust it out every once in a while to feel like a hipster.
Caleb,
I’ve always been a major minimalist, I literally only keep less than 10 pieces of both work clothes and casual clothes. I also actually only use 3 pairs of pants for everything (work, pajamas, jeans). I need to buy a few more stuff, actually, to at least show that I don’t wear the same thing over and over and over again.
This is a really cool exercise bro and I wish you well in your Minimalist Journey.
The fact that you have always been a minimalist is great! I still want to minimize more eventually, but at this point I have the room for them and there is no need to get rid of more.
I have never had a wardrobe full of clothes and I have very few shoes, but I like the useful steps that you have provided - I need to do a wardrobe audit desperately and the method you followed will definately guide through!
Thanks Caleb!
No problem Juanita. I think that everyone has at least one piece that they don’t wear anymore and should donate to reduce their clutter while helping out others in need.
Hey Caleb
Great post! Thanks for sharing. This post is quite timely, as my girlfriend was just purging her closet on the weekend. Makes me want to sort through the 50 t-shirts and 20 hoodies I’ve got. I must do a purge this weekend!
Blair
I know what you mean Blair. I seriously had almost 100 t-shirts at one point in college and I thought I should just keep all of them. Whether they were sentimental to me or not I just kept them. It feels great to be down to only owning the few that I actually wear.
one of the reasons i haven’t done this exercise is because i figure i can keep clothes longer without having to spend money to buy new ones. i figured, if i already have all of these, and most are not going out of date soon, i might as well save them to save money in the long run.
my ex used to work at a GAP and i would get a lot of his clothes, but i also spent approx. $1200/year on new clothes. not now. haven’t bought anything new in almost a year. and as some items wear out (particularly underwear and socks), i’ll have more to draw on before finally needing to replace them.
but, what works for me may not work for everyone else. good exercise, though, and one i can see doing in other areas of my life (books, cds, etc.).
It’s true that if you have the room for the clothes and really don’t have a need to get rid of them, you shouldn’t. What I advocate is taking stock of everything you have and asking, “do I use this?”
Thanks for the comment!
Glad to see michigan state shirt not only kept, but representing in the drawer. Classic
You know it. Whoop whoop.
Wow Caleb,
At first I thought you had too many clothing when you counted all the clothing and when I saw the final pile you were left with, I have like four or five times more than that!
I need to do something about this thing ASAP.
Thanks for providing such a great way to get rid of the extra clothing, now I just have to bring someone to help when I get confused.
(just not my girlfriend or she’s going to leave me with no clothing LOL she always wants to trash everything)
Thanks again!
Sergio
I’ve since downsized even more for the travels we went on and will do a reassessment when we move back into an apartment next week, but the same theories apply.
If you don’t use something, get rid of it.
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