We’re off to a great start in the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge. In the first four weeks, we decluttered our kitchen drawers, counters, and cupboards. We even cleared out the junk under the kitchen sink. Starting this week, we’re moving on to a big problem area for many—closets and clothing. The week of February 8 to 14 is Secondhand Wardrobe Week. What better way to mark the occasion than making a start on our closet decluttering!

Closet decluttering is a big job so we’ll spend the next few weeks decluttering our clothing. This week, we’ll make a good start by focusing on the “bottoms”—pants, skirts, dresses and shorts.

This post was originally published in February 2021 and republished in February 2023.

What is the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge?

In this year-long journey, we’re tackling one task at a time with the goal of cleaning up and organizing our homes. If you’ve just joined us, no worries. You can jump right in with this week’s challenge. Just check out the first two posts in the series to download your free checklists.

• 52-Week Decluttering Challenge
• Week 1 – Easy Decluttering Checklist

You can get easy access to all previous weekly posts on the main Decluttering page.

Are you ready for week 5? Let’s get decluttering!

Closets the size of small homes?

In his book The Minimalist Home, Joshua Becker reveals that some of us have closets the size of homes in poor countries. Reading that reminded me of a funny story that happened to me a few years ago.

When my in-laws’ long-time neighbours moved away, the people who bought their house built a large addition onto the old stone farmhouse. When the addition and renovation project were complete, they invited us over for a tour.

The main part of the project was the addition of a large kitchen and master suite on the back of the house. When I was in the master suite, I was a bit puzzled to see what I thought was another room just off the master bedroom. This couple was beyond the age where they would need a nursery, and it was a very odd place for another bedroom. Then, it dawned on me that this “room” was their walk-in closet. I’m not exaggerating when I say that closet was larger than the two smaller bedrooms in our house.

Luckily I didn’t say out loud what I was thinking, or I would have felt really stupid. But it did kind of make me wonder why anyone needs a closet that size. Does anyone need that many clothes? The fast fashion industry wants you to believe that!

A 2018 study by Movinga found we don’t wear over half of the clothes we own so it’s no surprise you are keen to get started on decluttering your closets.

So, let’s roll up our sleeves and make a start on our closet decluttering.

Week 5 – Pants, skirts, dresses and shorts

I’m not much of a fashionista, and I regularly get rid of clothes I no longer wear, so my closet decluttering was probably easier than it is for some people. But like most people, I tend to wear my favourite clothes often and have others that I rarely or never wear.

We have a small closet in our master bedroom. For years, I kept my off-season clothes in a closet in the basement and did the switch-over twice a year. Last year, when I did the 31-Day Declutter Challenge, I followed Dana K. White’s advice and set a goal of limiting my clothing to the size of my container. That container was my bedroom closet and dressers.

I achieved that goal and I’ll share some of my tips with you today. 

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This week’s decluttering and organizing tips

To get started, take all your pants, shorts, skirts, and dresses out of your closet and lay them on your bed. If you have a lot of clothes, you might need to do pants first, then skirts, then dresses and shorts.

Then, look at each item one-by-one and decide what you’re going to keep. Don’t forget to use my Easy Decluttering Checklist to help you out.

Before we get to what I got rid of, here are my tips and learnings from the first round of closet decluttering last year, and my second round this week.

• If there’s an item you haven’t worn in a while, try it on. If it doesn’t fit, get rid of it. We all like to think we’ll lose weight and fit into those clothes again. But will you? And even if you do, will you want to wear your old clothes? Be honest with yourself. Unless you’re committed and actively working on losing weight, you probably need to say good-bye to those clothes.
• Consider if your lifestyle has changed. If you have a closet full of business attire and you’ve retired or your office has switched to a casual dress code, getting rid of those work clothes is an easy win. Look for a charity like Clothing Works or Dress for Success that will give your career clothing to people who need clothes for job interviews.
• Eliminate duplicates. When going through your clothes, group similar items by colour. Consider what you can purge. For example, do you really need several black dresses, or multiple pairs of pants in the same colour? At one time I had three cobalt blue dresses. Cobalt blue is my favourite colour but I don’t need three dresses the same colour. I ended up keeping two—one that’s suitable for business functions, and another for special occasions.

Remember, you’re limiting what you keep to the size of your container. Here’s what my container looks like right now.

What I got rid of

In my first round of closet decluttering in October, I got rid of nine items:

• one pair of capris
• two pairs of dress pants
• three skirts
• one skort
• two dresses

I must have done a decent job the first time around. When I went through the exercise again, I only found two pairs of pants that could go. 

Please repurpose your clothes

Fast fashion and clothing waste are a huge environmental issue so please look for ways to give the clothes you no longer want new life. It’s hard right now because of the pandemic. I have a bag of clothes tucked away in a corner of my bedroom waiting for the day when I can drop them off at the thrift store.

2024 Update

It has been three years so I’m rebooting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge to see how much I can get rid of in 2024.

I’ve done a great job resisting buying new clothes over the last few years. Yet, I still decluttered five items this week: one dress, two pairs of pants, one skirt and a pair of shorts.

As I went through this first week of closet decluttering, I made a couple of mental notes.

• First, don’t buy a piece of clothing unless you absolutely love it. One of the items was a dress that I bought for a specific occasion. I bought it online and wore it once. I never really liked it and definitely don’t love it. From now on, I’ll ask two questions before buying a new piece of clothing. Do I love this? Will I want to wear it all the time?
• Second, clothing sizes are inconsistent. I bought the dress I got rid of online. I should have returned it because I didn’t love how it fit right from the start, but returning online purchases is a pain. When you shop online, there’s a good chance you’ll buy something you don’t absolutely love and end up never wearing it. Avoid online shopping for clothes!

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So that’s week 5 done. Next week we’ll continue our closet declutter with shirts and blouses.

If you have friends or family members who could benefit from a little less clutter in their lives, please share this post and spread the word! It’s not too late to join the challenge.

What did you declutter from your closet this week? Tell us below.