7 signs you have too many clothes

/

According to an article published in the Daily Mail* in 2016, the average number of clothes owned by women in America is 103, many of which they consider unwearable.

If you’ve ever wondered how many items of clothing you should own, and whether you own too many or not, then there’s no simple answer. 103 is not a magical number!

We’re all individuals and we have different lifestyles (and some of us like shopping and enjoy more options), so I don’t think you should take this number too seriously. There is no minimum or maximum. It’s really more of a physical and emotional question that’s completely individual to you.

Here are some signs that you might be holding on to too many clothes or buying too much.

7 signs you have too many clothes

  1. If you’ve maximised your space, organised it well and still can’t close the doors of your wardrobe or drawer, you’re living beyond your storage means.

  2. If you forget what you’ve got and buy repeat items without realising.

  3. If there are lots of items with the tags still on. Whether you intended to wear them or just didn’t get round to sending them back.

  4. If it takes you too long to put outfits together - you just have items and can’t see any outfits. Nothing seems to go with anything else. So you end up wearing the same outfits on repeat.

  5. If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of it. It’s too big a task to think about tackling, you feel like it’s a job that would never get finished.

  6. If you feel guilty about what you’re buying. This is a classic sign of overshopping and whilst the odd impulse purchase is fine, you’re not buying what you need, you’re buying what you want.

  7. If you’re buying clothes you don’t need and it’s making you go into debt. Of course there are times you really do need to buy clothes that might tip you into a small overdraft - a new job, pregnancy or a change in dress size. But check it’s what you really need, not just what you want.

If you think you might fall into one or more of these categories and simply have too many clothes that you’re not wearing, then what can you do about it?

  • Consider a one-in one-out policy in your wardrobe - you only have a finite amount of hanging space, so something has to go if you bring something new in.

  • You could turn the hangers around the wrong way on a certain date and then when you wear something put it back in the right way - this will help you see what you’ve worn.

  • Consider a shopping ban for a set amount of time - shop your wardrobe not the shops. Make a list of anything you feel has been missing from your wardrobe and then see if you still need these things at the end of your ban period.

  • Spend some time playing in your wardrobe - you’d be surprised how many outfits you can make out of a low number of items. Check out my FREE PDF guide on How to create 21 outfits (from 12 items you already own).

  • One of my favourite tips is to take daily photos of your outfits as a reminder of what you loved wearing and as a catalogue of outfits. It makes you more aware of what you reach for all the time.

  • Set yourself a challenge to wear things you don’t usually wear - you’ll work out why you haven’t been wearing them.

  • Get a professional in to help. Hiring a stylist can help you understand what suits your personality, your lifestyle and your bodyshape and help you purge and reorganise your wardrobe and (most importantly) put together new outfits. This will also help you stop making purchasing mistakes in the future. That’s where a wardrobe edit comes in.

My STYLE, COLOUR & WARDROBE WORKOUT is much more than a declutter. It’s designed to help you help you understand more about your style - the colours and shapes that suit you, as well as your style personality. You even get a full colour swatch and a 45 page personalised Style File that you can refer back to any time.

It’s designed to make you feel happier about your wardrobe - yes, by clearing out the clothes you no longer wear and reorganising it beautifully, but more importantly to put together new outfits and help you really understand more about your style so you can stop making shopping mistakes in the future.

Find out more here or contact me to book a free 20 minute discovery call.

*Link to original Daily Mail article - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3564177/The-struggle-real-Infographic-reveals-average-woman-103-ITEMS-closet-laying-REAL-reasons-never-wear.html