Keep or Sell? The 7 Question Test

Keeping a well-curated collection of fabulous stretchy pants (and your clothes in general) is an important skill: not only is holding on to too much a storage problem, it also ties up money you could be using for other things.  And no one wants to end up on that “Hoarders” show.

Sometimes the decision to get rid of something is a no-brainer, but often it turns into a drawn-out, dramatic ordeal. (First world problems.) Taming your closet into something neat and efficient can require discipline and practice to manage effectively.  Here are 7 questions you can ask yourself to simplify the process:

1. Did a whole season pass without you wearing it once?

This one’s pretty simple.  If the whole summer went by and you never wore this pair of shorts, or if a whole winter went by and you never touched that scarf, be honest with yourself: you’re just not gonna wear it.

One trick I really like is to turn all the hangers in your closet backwards, then when you wear something, turn it back the other way.  At the end of 3 months (or however long you pick), anything with the hanger still backwards goes bye-bye.  If you don’t hang your clothes, there are plenty of similar concepts for folded clothes you could use, like turning them inside out.

2. When you wear it, is it because you love it, or simply because you haven’t worn it in a while?

You know that feeling when reaching for something, but then you think “oh, I just wore that” and instead you dig for something you haven’t worn in a while?  Well, that thing that you haven’t worn in a while might need to go.  If you’re not actively reaching for it, that’s not a good sign.

3. If you sold it, would you miss it?

Would you have days where you would say “man, I wish I could wear x today!”, or would it fade out of your memory?  Would you want to go out and buy it again?  Maybe it’s something that you loved when you bought it, and now your “love” has downgraded simply into “like”.  In this case, it’s unlikely that you would truly miss it if it went away.

4. Is there another item you would love more?

The follow-up to #3 is that if you can replace an item with something you love more, then you should do that!  This is most applicable to those with especially small budgets/collections.  For example, if I have a pair of wee space inspire crops that I like, but I would LOVE fatigue camo inspires, then I should probably ditch the wee space.  Focus on filling your closet with the maximum percentage of “LOVE”s.

5. Does it fit your body NOW?

Unless you’re pregnant, in the middle of losing weight, or have something else funky going on with your body, don’t allow yourself to cling to things that haven’t fit you for more than a month or two.

The truth is, you don’t usually know what your body is going to do a month from now.  Maybe you’ll lose weight, maybe your butt is going to keep getting bigger from those squats, or maybe not, who knows?  Don’t keep things because “someday, maybe…” you’ll be x size again.  Invest your money and storage space into things you can enjoy NOW! (And let someone else enjoy what you’re clinging to!)

6. Is it an orphan?

An orphan in your closet is something that matches very little or even nothing.  You know, those awkward pieces that you love by themselves but always have trouble figuring out what matches.  For example, if your wardrobe is mostly blues, pinks, and purples, then a pair of orange-red crops is going to be be problematic, and you should probably just stick to your main color scheme.

7. Is it a duplicate?

Duplicates are basically the opposite of orphans.  Duplicates have similar colors, functions, and outfit pairings.  For example: coco pique, herringbone, and minicheck pique wunder under pants are all textured, the same cut/material, and roughly the same colors.  A little overlap isn’t the end of the world, but if you’re looking to cut back, eliminating or minimizing duplicates is a simple way to trim things down while still letting you create basically all the same looks.

 One last thing…

DO NOT let how much you paid be a factor in your decision.  Regardless of whether you keep or sell the item, and regardless of how much you sell the item for, the price you paid does not change.  It’s a sunk cost.  Don’t let the guilt of what you paid convince you to keep something you wouldn’t keep otherwise.  The past is the past! ;)

Now go forth and conquer your heaps of spandex!