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!

Surrounded by Stuff

The stuff in my office got to me in mid-December. Everywhere I looked, there was just stuff and more stuff. I had had enough and started a decluttering purge.

I do this every once in a while when the decluttering bug bites me. Or when the stuff just seems like too much. Or when I watch a bit of a Hoarding: Buried Alive episode. Or after reading a book like Fumio Sasaki's book, Goodbye Things.

Lest you think I am a slob or a hoarder, I am not. I come from a long line of super-organized Germans who, while they might keep old jars and bits of string (because... you never know!), keep them in super-organized fashion. Our house was always neat and tidy growing up, even in the closets and cupboards. Everything had a home and we all knew where things went.

Now, this is not a problem when you live in a 2000 sq ft house, and we had a lot of space for stuff when I was growing up. There was a whole massive side of one cupboard totally devoted to gift wrapping - paper, bows, ribbons, tags, stuffing. It was all there. Super handy, super efficient and super organized. If you have the space...

Today, my partner and I live in the upper half of a typical BC box house and we have about 1000 sq ft (maybe a bit less cause that's the outside measurements and doesn't include the square footage devoted to walls and what-not). We have three bedrooms, one a half baths, a living room and a kitchen/dining room. Oh, and three lovely closets in the hallway. It's a nice little house but, honestly, I've lived in apartments that are about the same size. So, it's not like we have a tonne of space. I've added extra shelves in all the closets because there is always so much wasted space up top. And we use all of that space with a vengeance.

But... it's a lot of stuff. Still. Even after moving from an 1800 sq ft condo in Calgary when we came here. We did a lot of downsizing over the years, even here on the Island. Letting go of furniture and stuff. Do we really need all this stuff? What is it all anyways?

And so I go on a little scan through my closet and cupboards in my office and... quickly realize that a lot of it has sentimental value. Little stones that I've picked up along the way. Vases that look sooo cute. Tchotchkes from here and there. Trip souvenirs. Childhood books. A little vase from my grandmother, a gift from a friend. A crystal bowl from my other grandmother. Every item seems to have a memory and an emotion and a person attached to it. I can't let them go!

But, when I sit down with my partner and go through her things, I could easily let go of all of her stuff. Of course I could, I don't have the emotions and memories attached to those objects. They are just things to me and I have no attachment to them.

When I come back to my things, I sit in front of them with a perplexed frown. Why? Why do these objects hold so much attachment? And I realize... with a bit of a gulp... that I really am not all that different from those folk on the hoarding shows. I want to hang onto all of these things because of the emotions that they bring up. Whether it's joy or security or nostalgia. Or even fear. If I let go of this thing... I might need it one day! Better keep it. No matter that I haven't needed it in the lasts ten years. Nope... as soon as I let it go, Murphy's Law kicks in and I'll be needing it.

Like this. My old pair of headphones that I use at the computer were getting pretty ratty. The padding on the ear covers was deteriorating and the plastic was flaking onto the side of my face every time I put them on. So I bought a new pair. Beautiful new headphones. But then I looked at the old pair and thought... They still work just fine. Maybe I should keep them just in case something goes wrong with the new pair? So I did... for months. Crazy, no? But I happy to report that those headphones are now in the electronics recycling container, ready to go to the depot. Although... I still have an old, stained mouse pad in the cupboard... and a spare mouse... just in case the current ones die. Sigh...

And so it went... all through the latter half of December. Some things went to the thrift store. Somethings went into recycling, others into the shredder and still others got scanned first. A bunch of things got listed on Kijiji. If they sell, great. If not, off to the thrift store they go. And some things got set aside for my niece and sister... but only after checking with them first! Some things (like cute rocks and driftwood pieces) went out into the yard to decorate the fairy garden. And... a few things ended up in the garbage, but not too much.

I feel lighter, as if I can breathe and move.

Our ultimate goal, once everything settles down again (if it ever does), is to travel more. Maybe sell the house and become digital nomads. Not sure yet... but if that is our goal... all of this stuff is a big barrier to that goal. We went on a one year sabbatical a few years ago, sold the condo and put everything into storage. It was a pricey hassle, let me tell you. Not planning on doing that the second time around.

I'd rather do the decluttering slowly over time, not in one big fell swoop at the end. And, sometimes, I take pictures of the things I am releasing back into the world. Just in case I want to look at them again. You never know... and digital pictures don't take up any physical space... right?

Don't even get me started on digital decluttering. Ugh!!

Credits - desk image from Lisa Fotios from Pexels