I have been buying clothes (needed, at first) on a frenzy lately. I don't know why but I have been buying up clothes like there is no tommorow. My closet has now creeped into my DH's. I took over more than half. SO when do we have enough clothes? What do we really need in a closet to make our wardrobe work? I must be missing something because I have too much and still feel I have nothing to wear...why??

What are the closet essentials?

You can never have too much clothes or shoes

Black pants, black cashmere sweaters, black cotton sweaters, black t-shirts, black capris, the same in white, and the same again in grey, plus jeans. Toss in some big white linen shirts, a straight black skirt, a pair of peridot green linen pants, and you have Green's closet. I have a few other things, too, but those are the basics. It makes dressing easy and I always look good.

And I like to wear colourful socks and shoes and carry colourful bags.

I have to forgo black.. I have 3 long haired white cats.

My essentials are different cuts of jeans depending on how professional or slutty I plan to look. Dressy tunic shirts, t-shirts, and 2 pairs of khaki's for the super professional days (hah hah).

But then I have tons of clothes on top of this, because once in a blue moon I feel like changing it up! I'm the same way though, I keep buying and buying, but I still keep wearing the same old stuff.

I feel like I have 3 or 4 closets. I have the nice work clothes, the "extra nice" stuff for special events at work. I have the everyday stuff and then I have my pin up stuff, but 2 different levels there too...the slutty stuff and the good girl stuff....lol....

Is there a way to bring it ALL together??

Eh, I'm pretty disfunctional and un-girly, apparently, when it comes to clothes. I have very little clothing that actually fits me, yet I still have a ful closet, somehow. I tend to just have a couple of pairs of pants/jeans that fit me and a few t-shirts, and wear them until they have holes in them and then buy just to replace the worn out ones. I have TONS of old clothing that are in smaller sizes, though, that still have the tags on them. I bought them during the "excited phase" of old diets, when I still thought I would be super successful. This is the first time in years that I realistically think I will be able to fit into them in the (hopefully) near future!

What are the closet essentials?

I'm the wrong person to answer this because my basics are overboard and particular, but here you go.

My basics for winter:

4 pairs of jeans. Two light wash, two dark wash. In each wash, one with an inseam for flats and one with an inseam for heels. So basically a pair of light & dark jeans for heels, and a pair of light & dark for flats.

Two pair of black dress pants. A pair of grey pants. 3 pair of subtly patterned brown slacks. (I do not like solid brown pants.) These are absolute minimums for me b/c I won't wear slacks more that once between cleanings, and I don't want to bother with 24 hour cleaners.

Camis and long sleeve cotton shirts. I have camis in just about every color. I like to layer, and they're perfect for wearing under blazers, layering under shirts, etc. I also keep 2 cream and 2 white long sleeve cotton shirts, for wearing under sweaters.

Shoe basics - brown pant heel boots, black pant heel boots. An everyday black heel, an everyday brown heel. An everyday black flat, an everyday brown flat. A boot for when there's ice/snow out. And then the "sport shoes" - not quite tennis shoes, not quite flats. Think Sketchers style. I wear these fairly often outside of work.

I follow the same rules for coat basics. One for black-based outfits, one for brown. For black, I have a black wool peacoat, and for brown I have a leather coat with a tie waist. I'm extremely particular about what I wear black with, or what I wear brown with, and I never mix the two unless it's khaki bottom with black top.

When we bought this house, I didn't even let me hubby see the master closet - he has to use one in the guest room, lol. I have decided that I finally have enough clothes and will not (I hope) buy more for a while. I have shoes for an army, and too many purses. And I love all my stuff!!!

I don't work...so I probably can't help there...but I used to have three pairs of black pants and two pairs of other colored pants and 10 different various styled shirts to pair with them...that was work clothing.

Casual clothing...I have one-two pairs of jeans and at least 5 long sleeved tees...and three sweaters. I have to have enough long sleeved shirts because I am so tall and can't dry them. I do dry my pants though...my torso and arms are harder to fit than my legs.

Shoes are the same pair of shoes almost every day.

I'm so boring and unimaginative...and poor...don't forget poor!

Rain

Why bring it all together? I enjoy having tons of clothes.

However, I have gone once a month to the depths of the sea of clothes and emptied out clothes by this criteria..

"Have you worn it in the past 2 weeks?"

"Is there a special occasion you know of that you will need this for?"

If the answer is no and no.. I bag it and send it off to goodwill. I find I normally hold onto clothes for years that I'll never wear. I don't know why.. like one day I'll magically want to wear it.. and I don't. So I've been cleaning it all out to make room for all my new sizes

Why bring it all together? I enjoy having tons of clothes.

lol....good point. Maybe DH just needs to start dealing with it, or buy me a bigger house with bigger closets?

I do need a pair of black pants though. That seems to be a staple I am missing!

BooBoo - our master bedroom has a walk-in closet. The right side has a high-hanging rod, for dresses and such, and a shelf above it. The left side has a shelf at the middle with rods above it abd below, for shirts, slacks, etc. In the middle is built-in shelving for sweaters, shoes... My husband gets the lower rod on the left. The rest of the closet is mine. Of the chest, dresser, and armoire he gets one drawer in the chest.

Our has has two other bedrooms, each with identical closets to the master, but smaller. The 2nd bedroom closet is completely mine. The 3rd we split evenly.

I've finally gotten the closets to the point where I actually wear what's in them. Every now and then I will "closet audit" and find things I don't wear, and toss them out. I'm like Fairy in that I have criteria for staying in my closet. I have to have work it in the last 3 months, OR know I will where it but just haven't had the right occasion/event. It has to fit, if it's too big I toss it or put it in my "consider it for lounge/housework" pile - things like big tshirts and knit gauchos go here.

I REALLY need to do something about my clothing situation, as in get rid of it. We have a storage unit and at least 40% of it, ceiling to floor, is full of big 50+ gallon storage tubs full of clothes. On top of that there are probably 20+ of the Ziploc XXXL storage bags, 4 - 5 55+ trash bags, and who knows what else. Easily enough for 4 separate wardrobes. But what to do with it? I thought about ebay but was talked out if it. Maybe consignment. I'm not much of one for charity (depends on the charity), and don't have a lot of bandsters in my area who would wear those sizes. Maybe in the spring I will just get a uhaul or smtg, and go consignment... *shrug*

:bounce:You are all free to send your discards to Denise :bounce::eyebrows:

I think my discards would swallow you whole.

I LOVE CLOTHES!!!

All I do with mine is sort them so everything is easy to find, all black pants hanging together sorted into smart and casual, all skirts the same way and colour sorted, you get the picture.

I have all my evening wear and ballgowns in one wardrobe on their own - they deserve their own room they are so gorgeous

I find it is easier and that way I really do wear them all (mmm apart from the ball gowns but they fall into the same catagory is Jimmy Choos - things of beauty in their own right!) and if I find that I havent picked something out for a couple of months then I pass it on to my friends who through devious means encourage my addiction knowing that they will benefit eventually

Nina x