Minimalism: Capsule Wardrobe Tips (de-cluttering and organization)

I've recently embarked on my minimalism journey and loving it. The first thing that I tackled was my closet and the results have been amazing. I feel like I have so much more space, everything is so much more organized and getting ready has never felt so easy and fun. After putting together a "capsule wardrobe", everything I reach for generally goes with each other and I know looks and feels good on me.

From the start of my process of paring down my closet, I read many blogs and watched many videos on the subject to get me motivated. One prominent example is Project 333. For me, I actually went through several stages to get my closet to the point where its organized and simplified to where I wanted it to be.

From my experience, the first purge is easy because there is just so much to get rid off, but the subsequent purges / organization became harder so I'd thought I share some tips on the final stages of completing your minimalist closet in this post today.

Tips for a Minimalist Closet: Final Stages of De-cluttering and Organization

• Setting targets

After the first big purge, you may find it hard to narrow your clothes further. I found that giving myself a target of removing 1 - 3 items of clothing each week made it very easy to further pare down my collection + it was also satisfying to approach closet-cleaning in this mindset given that it is easy to reach this simple goal of removing 1 piece of clothing each week.

• The guilt of waste

Another problem that I encountered was the guilt of getting rid of all these clothes, especially fairly new pieces or expensive pieces. From what I've read about other people's experiences, this is a fairly common obstacle. To help to overcome this obstacle, I found that finding a tangible person / place e.g. friends, family, co-workers, charitable organization that you were going to give your clothes to was great motivation to get rid of the clothes I wasn't using. 

This makes the process much easier as instead of thinking "oh, what a waste" or "I may wear this one day", I could think "X would look great in this" instead.

• Re-purposing

Related to the guilt problem in point 2 above, another helpful tip is with regards to clothes that were showing slight wear and tear but were otherwise in good condition. I found it difficult to part with these clothes as they were still in wearable condition but probably not in the kind of condition I would sell / give away.

My solution was to gather these pieces and either a) made it a point to wear them for the next few months (and eventually get rid of them with a lot less guilt) or b) re-purpose them into lounge wear / sleep wear/ gym clothes. At the same time, for every new re-purposed piece that I planned to add, I would get rid of an existing piece.

• Non-clothing items

Finally, I would add that after you're done focusing on clothing items, to pay attention to other add-ons that may not fall under "clothing" per se.

For instance, underwear, socks, tights/leggings, scarves, hats, swim wear and belts. These categories can easily pile up to create clutter. Also, I find that organizing hangers (e.g. having only 1 type) can create an additional aesthetically-pleasing touch to your capsule wardrobe.

Hope these tips help!