Too many clothes...a solution!

I sometimes find (okay, more than sometimes)...Rephrase and start again.  I have too many clothes.  Too many in the sense that:

1. I have bought things that I have never worn.
2. I have bought things and worn them once.
3. I have things I used to wear, but don't wear, but still have.

I wanted to find a way to 'rationalise' my wardrobe, by assessing and monitoring what I actually wear, from what just hangs in my wardrobe.

Use a piece of ribbon....
I have a piece of ribbon, it doesn't have to be ribbon, it could be string, it could be a strip of material.  Here's what you do.

Go to your wardrobe, locate your clothes, move them all to the left hand side of the wardrobe and find yourself a gap on the rail.  Have you found one?  Push them a bit further if you can't.  When you've got that gap on the rail, tie on the ribbon, in a bow, double bow, knot, something that's secure and won't untie or fall off, but you should be able to slide it along the rail.

When that's done, choose a timescale, 3 months is probably not enough, but 3 years is too long.  If you have a summer and winter set of clothes then 6 months is probably fine.  When you've decided on the timescale - do the maths and work out the date, mine will be on or around 8th April.  Now write on your calendar: Wardrobe check!

Now we begin...
When you dress for work, going out, leisure etc, select your clothes from your wardrobe (as normal) and enjoy wearing them.  Wash them (as normal), Dry them (as normal), Iron them (if you really must) and hang them on coat hangers. But when you go to hang them in your wardrobe, hang your clean clothes on the right hand side of your ribbon.

As the weeks go by, you'll be taking clothes from the left and right of the ribbon, wearing, washing and re-hanging on the right of the ribbon.

What you'll find is that you'll have a load of clothes hanging on each side of your ribbon.

Wardrobe Check!
When you reach your wardrobe check date, all you need to do is look to the clothes in your wardrobe, anything that is hanging up on the left hand side of your ribbon has not been worn for the last 6 months and tells you that you don't actually need it, want it or like it enough to be worn. 

Left = Leave

You should therefore do the decent thing and set it free, recycle it, give it to charity, a friend - but get rid of it!!

How is it working for me?
So far so good, I can see a handful of skirts that haven't been worn in the last 6 months, but the weather is picking up and I can see myself wearing one or two skirts for work in the next week or so.  But I'm prepared to let go of things if they don't get worn.

Hope it works for you!