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How to Shop Your Closet
With the holiday season over, now is the time to cut back on spending, take stock of what you have and plan for the new year. What a better way to save money on your wardrobe than to shop your own closet! What does it mean to shop your closet? It means taking stock and evaluating ways to repurpose or reimagine what clothing or accessories you already own and rather than going out on a mindless shopping spree without an agenda, which I have done many times in the past and my wallet has sadly regretted! Over the years, I’ve experimented and found a system for saving money and almost always having something to wear.
Here are five steps to shopping your closet.
1. Keep it simple.
I always found that one of the best ways to save money on your wardrobe is to keep it ridiculously simple. There was a time when I was always shopping for bargains, and I still do from time to time but I also am on the look out for quality material clothing I could get more wear out of. By way of the Pareto Principle’s 80/20 Rule, I would much rather own 20% few quality clothes that I wear 80% of the time than 80% bargain priced clothes that I only wear 20% of the time.
The added benefit of having a simple wardrobe is that it’s also easier to find what you’re looking. No more rummaging through tangled scarves and leggings!
2. Declutter.
This brings us to the declutter step where we get rid of what we haven’t worn in over a year or more. Toss out anything that’s unwearable, completely worn or has holes on it. Donate to charities like the Good Will or Salvation Army if the clothing is still in good used condition. Or you could sell branded luxury items with potential resale value at a consignment stores like Second Time Around or Plato’s Closet or online at eBay or Tradesy.
3. Organize.
What you do decide to keep, try to keep organized by keeping like items together. Use shelf or closet organizers, storage boxes, shoe organizers and other containers to keep things tidy and easy to find.
4. Get inspiration.
If you’re in a style rut and feel like you need a change, set up a Fashion or Style board on Pinterest for ideas for how to rework your existing wardrobe. For me, I usually set a timer on how long I browse and pin because it’s a total time suck and is easy to get distracted by all the visual eye candy.
One thing to do is look out for themes for what you like and want to remake them with your current wardrobe. For example, in my Fashion Pinterest page (see image), the ladies have black boots, crossover bags and chunky sweaters which I also have but now have a visual of other ways to reuse and restyle them. I usually don’t layer like the models here so that’s something to consider the next time I choose an outfit. Or I’ve always used skinny blue jeans, but maybe I could use black jeans or leggings instead. Or the color orange seems inspiring. I don’t have the exact shade of orange sweater but I do have a bright coral cardigan I could use. I also a have bright orange statement necklace I could use at well. The beauty of Pinterest is the visual images can remind you of something you already have.
5. Track your outfits.
No excel spreadsheet necessary here (unless you’re really into that much detail ;). You could actually keep track of what you wear versus what you don’t wear via this simple ribbon trick I learned from Hilary Rushford’s free Style & Stylablity videos where you take a ribbon and tie it on the rod of your closet. On one side goes the hangers with clothes you’ve worn and on the other side clothes you haven’t worn. The challenge here is to use what you have so that your “worn” side hangers with clothes outnumbers your “unworn” side. Using what you already have, you’re forced to be creative and reuse what you have in an original way.
With these five steps, you’ll be able to save money and time by shopping your own closet and experimenting with more style options.
