As we start to approach spring (yay!) it can be a good time to start thinking about your wardrobe/closet. “Should it stay or should it go?” What clothing should you purge from your closet??

I actually edit my closet fairly continually. That way when I actually get to the point when I’m ready to pull the past season out completely and get ready to put the exciting new season, it’s a quicker, easier process.

If you’d like to do these interim edits or even if you’d rather wait and purge all at once. Here are 6 guidelines for what to purge!

6 clothing items to purge from your closet

1. Things that don’t fit or can’t be altered

When you find yourself reaching for an item and each time you almost put it on and realize it doesn’t fit and can’t really be altered…get rid of it! This post can help you make a little more sense of this category.

Your ultimate goal with your closet is to be able to open your closet doors at any time

and know that everything fits, looks great, and you feel great in it.

Seriously, can you even imagine how amazing this would be?

2. Things you questioned during your last closet edit

These are the things you questioned the last time you purged your closet and still haven’t worn. There will always be cases for special occasion clothes or other events that don’t come up often. However, if you have pants, skirts, t’s, etc. that you’re just not wearing, it’s time to pass them on.

3. Clothes/Accessories that are simply out of date

In a perfect world, the clothes we spend our hard earned money on would never expire. On the other hand, you’d probably be super bored without ever having any newness. The fact of the matter is that clothes do become dated. And you know you don’t want to look frumpy or dated!

“Let it go!” (Sung to the theme of Frozen. See doesn’t that make it easier?)

4. Clothes/accessories that are stained, ripped, need repairing, or are worn out.

If you truly loved these things, you would have made the effort to fix them. I know repairing clothes/shoes is an errand I’m really bad at…I intend to have an item overhauled, and it just never gets to the repair shop. But if I love it, I make it happen much quicker!!

I mean think about it…if you have a key item in your wardrobe that you can’t wear, aren’t you missing it in order to make outfits work? If it’s not essential, and you don’t love the “out of order” garment/accessory, it’s simply taking up space and fooling you into thinking you can wear it.

Shoes and handbags that are completely worn out also belong in this category. You know the ones…the shoes you should have gotten rid of 6 months ago. Sure, you may still love them, but every time you consider wearing them you think, “Oh, I shouldn’t!”

5. Clothing that doesn’t fit your lifestyle

Perhaps you have 10 business suits from your corporate days gathering dust, but now you work for a tech company, and business casual is the dress code. While 1 or 2 suits are a good idea for any wardrobe, the rest (especially the ones with big shoulder pads,) should go.

Or maybe you were a stay at home mom for years and have tons of t’s and jeans. Sure, a few for weekends are fine, but ultimately your clothing needs to be proportionate with your lifestyle. Otherwise, you’ll be fooled into thinking you have plenty of clothes when the truth is you don’t have enough of the right clothes.

6. Things you just don’t love anymore

Even if you consider yourself uber-practical and buy classic clothes, there often comes a time where you find you do just not love an item any longer. It languishes day after day, year after year in your closet.

I recently retired several sweaters. It was hard—they were still in good condition and had been expensive, but I simply didn’t feel good in them anymore and hadn’t worn them for a couple of seasons. It just doesn’t make sense to have clothes and accessories like this taking up space in the closet any longer!

Editing and purging your closet probably isn’t on the top of your hobbies list. I am super passionate and picky about my clothes and even I don’t love spending time in my closet.

Doing interim audits like I mentioned at the beginning of the article can greatly reduce the amount of time it’ll take you when you’re ready to swap out your winter clothes for spring clothes. If you don’t like the idea of interim purging, no worries. You can definitely use these guidelines when you do your big edit.

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