We often let our wardrobes get out of hand before decluttering them. It gets to the point where clothes don’t fit in drawers, there’s always way too much laundry to get through, you don’t know where things are and you’re forgetting what you own. It’s too much, it’s overwhelming and you feel like throwing everything away and starting fresh - except, you just can’t seem to take the plunge to do that. So here you are! Let me teach you how to be ruthless when decluttering clothes - the stylist edition!

You can jump ahead to the topics that suit you, but I recommend you read them in order.

1. Work out what you want from your wardrobe.

2. Prepare your space and calendar.

3. Edit in small sections.

4. What not to do.

5. What to do if you need more help.

1. Work Out What You Want From Your Wardrobe

Before you even open a drawer, you need to be able to answer three questions: Is my issue storage based? Do I know what my style is? How much clothing do I need for my lifestyle?

Now, you might be thinking, hold on, this isn’t very ruthless, I just want to make impulsive decisions and stress about it later. Take a breath. I will help you be ruthless, but ruthless with a plan! Trust me, if you get this first bit right, you’ll feel even more in control of your own decluttering efforts and be able to make editing decisions faster.

Is my issue storage based?

Do you have no room left? Is the layout of your wardrobe giving you grief? Have you moved in with someone and now you’re *GASP* sharing? Then you know you not only need to downsize, but you might need to downsize certain categories. Not enough shoe space? Shoes need an edit. PJ drawer a nightmare? Cut those down. If there’s a category you know you’re overdoing - write it down. Really. Open notes in your phone or go with a pen and paper. But write it down. Do it.

If your issues with your wardrobe are not storage based, but instead you just have too many things that don’t work for you. The simple answer here is NO, and you can move onto the next question.

Do I know what my style is?

You know when you just wing a recipe with a bunch of ingredients and then your food tastes garbage? Your wardrobe will be the same if you don’t have a recipe for your style. Do yourself a favour and make a Pinterest board that represents the style you want, that way you can edit your wardrobe towards that style. If you do this, one of the questions you should ask yourself when editing will be ‘does this item fit the style I want?’ if, not - see you later!

How much clothing do I need for my lifestyle?

You know how many pairs of exercise leggings I’ve helped clients throw out in my time? Thousands. Most people have an area of their wardrobe that they’re over doing it. For example, lots of going-out dresses, but they barely go out. Heaps of active wear but they exercise once a week. T-shirts that should have decomposed by now but are hanging on by a thread, I find lots of those too. Think of your wardrobe as something that should fit your schedule. If you work full time and don’t wear a uniform, you should have more work clothes than casual clothes. If your barely exercise, you don’t need 15 sets of active wear.

A quick breakdown for someone working full-time looks like this:

70% of my wardrobe is workwear

20% is casual

5% is going out

5% is active wear

If you can break down how much you actually need, you’ll set some boundaries for yourself and can see where your wardrobe needs the most attention.

2. Prepare Your Space & Calendar

I promise you that you’ll struggle with your decluttering mission if you don’t do this step. Decluttering your wardrobe in a room where your laundry basket is overfilling, your bed isn’t made and there’s crap everywhere is only going to overwhelm you. Pop some music on, make your bed and if you can’t be bothered doing the laundry, at least make sure you haven’t got dirty clothes laying about the room and that they’re actually in a laundry hamper.

Next, all you’re going to do is make sure you have 30 minutes of uninterrupted time up your sleeve to edit. If you need to schedule it in in advance go for it.

3. Edit In Small Sections

Now you’ve got thirty minutes to edit, and you’re not attacking it all at once. Just pick one category - let’s say active wear. Seperate your activewear into sets (if you have sets), or type (leggings, tops, bra’s, etc), then edit each mini category. In my Closet Clean Out Course we have a super easy way to categorise and edit that you can find out more about here.

You’ll notice by just moving through one section at a time that you can be fast and efficient (ruthless with a plan!). A few questions to ask yourself along the way: Does it fit? Is it my style? Do I feel good wearing it? If you answer no to any of those questions, the item should be passed on.

TIP: Careful about the ‘No, but I’m losing weight’ or ‘It will come back into fashion’ pieces. If you’re having those thoughts limit yourself to a certain number of items you’re keeping that you’ve made this excuse for. I limit my clients to 15 items. Those items then go in a box, or out of the wardrobe where unless they do come back into fashion or you lose weight, you won’t think to get to them. If you haven’t used that item in twelve months - you know what to do! And remind yourself: didn’t you read this post because you wanted to be ruthless?

4. What not to do when ruthlessly decluttering your clothes.

Let’s keep this simple:

• Don’t empty your entire wardrobe all at once, this will only overwhelm you. You’re feeling like you want to be ruthless because you’re overwhelmed with your wardrobe, let’s not make it worse!

• Don’t bring a friend or family member into your process, if you need serious help - book in with a professional or take my course. Friends and family will slow you down, but might also convince you to hold onto things you don’t need. Picture your mum saying ‘there’s nothing wrong with those jeans, or I bought you that, you should wear it more often.’ This is about you, not them.

• Don’t try to tackle it all in one day. You’re feeling like you want to turn the house upside down to declutter and I applaud you for wanting to be productive, but pick one category and work through it. You’ll have a clearer frame of mind.

5. What to do if you need more help.

It’s normal for the feeling of being ruthless to fade once you’ve started decluttering. When I’m working with clients, often they’ve come to me because they’ve tried but failed to declutter their wardrobe. Where they’ve gone is that they’ve attacked the whole wardrobe, rather than broken it down, and they didn’t know what their style was before they decluttered. Having an idea of what you want from your wardrobe will give you parameters to work with. Sometimes even just knowing your best colours can start you on your style journey and help you edit out things that aren’t working for you.

If you live in Sydney, you can book my Wardrobe Makeover service, or if you don’t live in Sydney, my DIY Closet Declutter course is perfect for pacing yourself and then diving into when you’re in the mood.