Closet Chronicles: The Strategy for Wearing More of What You Own

Crowded jeans/pants section of my closet

I wouldn't call myself a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination. My wardrobe generally consists of  jeans, t-shirts, flannel shirts and a few sweaters. Nothing fancy. Nothing overwhelming. And yet... my 5 foot stretch of closet rod is literally groaning with the weight of all my clothes. What the heck?

More perplexing is the fact that I end up wearing the same 2 or 3 t-shirts and pants, week after week. Why keep all these clothes if I just wear a few at a time? Why not... you know... rotate through them? And I have the best laid plans to do exactly that and... it all falls by the wayside. Why? Because sometimes my jeans don't fit well... they are too big... or too small. And so I am limited to the few that actually... fit. Sigh.

Tackling the Closet

So, the other week, I stood in front of my closet and decided to get organized. I tried on every single pair of jeans and pants and figured out which ones fit, and which ones don't. I also took aside my fleece-lined winter jeans and put them with the "do not fit" pile. Then I rummaged through all of the hangers and pulled out matching ones. These are for my jeans/pants that DO fit. The do NOT fit pile got different coloured hangers and got stuff in the back right-hand side of the closet. Now, I can identify them easily.

Backwards Rotation

Reversed hangers and normal hangers - 
Pull from the left... rehang on the right.

I then organized my jeans/pants and discovered that I actually had very few blue jeans that actually fit. So I mixed them in with the beige and black jeans... and the other pants and then hung everything up neatly. But with a twist. I put the hangers on the rod backwards. This is a trick I learned in the minimalism community. Every time I pull a pair of jeans/pants out of the closet, I will put them back with the hanger the right way. This way, after a year, or so, I will know which ones I actually wear!

Another trick... I am pulling jeans/pants from the left side and hanging them back on the right side, creating a bit of a conveyer belt system. Pull from the left... hang back on the right. Theoretically... I will easily cycle through my jeans/pants! Theoretically...

I did the same thing with my t-shirts (which hang in the closet) and flannel shirts. Since these are more on the left-hand side of the closet... I will pull from the right and hang back on the left (deeper into the closet).

How Much is Too Much?

I have to admit being a bit flummoxed by the number of items I had:

• Jeans/Pants that do NOT fit - 6
• Jeans/Pants that DO fit - 20
• T-shirts - 15
• Flannel Shirts - 10
• Hoodies/sweaters - 10
• Other shirts - 5

It's definitely not a ridiculous or excessive amount of clothes. Or... is it? Considering that our house was built in 1980 and that a 5 foot closet run was considered sufficient for two adults... me having a 5 foot closet rod all to myself would suggest that... in fact... this is a bit excessive. Although... if I watch any HGTV home reno shows and see all of the walk-in closets that seem to be de rigueur for new builds and renos these days... well... my tiny 5 foot span of closet rod is positively paltry in comparison! Compared with those dream closets, I have a piddly amount of clothes.

Glorious walk-in closet
(Image by Mike Gattorna from Pixabay)

But... if I got back to the 1950s and look at closets from back then... they are even smaller... a mere 3 feet or so of closet rod length for a married couple. Which makes me think that we are experiencing wardrobe-flation. Over the years... the number of clothes that are considered "normal" just goes up... and up and up.

And this despite the fact that the Pareto Principle is very much in force... we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time (2 or 3 t-shirts and a few pairs of jeans). It's true.

Fun Fact: The Average Woman owns 103 items of clothing but only wears 10% of them. (That does not... of course... include accessories, outer- or under garments).

And trying to cycle through 100% of my wardrobe is proving to be a bit of a "thing". It's not easy. Some days I don't want to wear slacks (too fancy for grocery shopping) and I just want a pair of jeans but... the Hanger-of-the-Day says that slacks it is. Ugh. I am at the mercy of my closet system. Sigh.

Oh... and then there are the "play" t-shirts (relegated to that category because of stains or holes). These are good for hiking and gardening but not for "going out". Then there are the shorts as well... I think I might be that "average" woman with 103 items of clothing!

But... for now... I am going to give my rotating, hanging backwards closet system a try. Ideally... if there are any hangers that are still on the rod backwards in a year... those items can go. We'll see about that!