Sunday, November 02, 2008

Is It Possible to Have Too Much Clothes?

I was watching Tim Gunn's Guide to Style the other day, and they featured a girl, Diana (click here for her episode), who had too much clothing without a good idea of how to put outfits together using all the fabulous stuff. I totally related to her situation b/c I am often bombarded with the amount of clothing I own and am sometimes overwhelmed trying to put an outfit together for work b/c there is so much to go through.

The show really got me wondering if it is possible to have too much clothes. I am the kind of person who always feels like they are missing something. I could always have a suede pair of brown boots...or a black pin skirt...or something else to compliment my wardrobe. I always feel like there is something missing from my closet. But perhaps even though there are items of clothing I feel like I am lacking...just maybe I already have too much clothing.

Here's my closet...yikes! Such a mess!


Yes, it's color coordinated, too:


Actually, I have pants in one group, then tops (left half - work stuff, right half - non-work stuff), suits, dresses, skirts. I also have jeans in a dresser, T-shirts somewhere else, a few standing bins of tank-tops, work out gear, and three bins of sweaters. I am feeling slightly embarrassed as I type this all out...sheesh! Perhaps my situation is worse than I originally imagined?

Anywho, I wanted to see what you guys think on this topic, so I created a poll. It's a bit reminiscent of the How Many Shoes Do You Have poll, but different enough for its own poll. :) Cast your vote!

Is it possible to have too much clothes?
Yuppers!
No, what kind of question is this?!
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

17 comments:

L said...

I'm sure I have too many clothes, and occasionally I feel not only overwhelmed by it, but also guilty. I think it can just be wasteful, because you spend so much money when you end up wearing items only once or twice a season and before you know it, you're tired of it. My feelings have changed on this, and now I'm excited to buy just two 'it' items a season and find ways to make them work with my wardrobe. It's actually much more fun than filling my closet.

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com said...

My closet looked like that before I started purging. Now I have 50% of the clothes left and I'm being careful to replace/purge instead of buying new all the time...

Now my money just goes to Etsy, LOL!

Shopaholic D said...

I - we are so alike! Did you see my post a couple down about "it" items. I am working on the very same thing. Good for you!

Fab - I never told you, but I wanted to do your exercise of clothing purging (from a few months ago) and started with the counting of the items and got tired and never finished! Ack! lol. I try to go through my stuff all the time, but have a hard time getting rid of items I like. I will have to check out your blog for tips.

:) D

WendyB said...

As long as you wear them and keep them, no, of course you can't have too many! And you don't have to wear things a lot. I have some pieces that I wear once a year...for 20 years. I don't find anything wrong with that!

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Anonymous said...

I don't think you can ever have too much of anything that you love and enjoy. I have a lot of clothes but I do not like clutter, so I do weed out pieces I haven't worn in the last year. Then I go buy more. i do wonder sometimes how many of one color item you need. Like 15 pairs of jeans, 8 black short sleeved tops etc. I just keep buying them if I like them. Never too much.

Shopaholic D said...

Hey Wendy - I bet your closet is divine!

Kim - I will try to check it out, but things are crazy around here!!

Anon - I will def buy dups of something if I like the style - nothing wrong w/ that!

:) D

G.G. said...

I just moved (which was insane) but the good thing about it was that I had to evaluate my closet with a cruel, unremitting eye. The thrift stores around me were thrilled when I took bags and bags and bags in. Anything that wasn't really my color, shape, size, or I just didn't ever really wear got donated. It was actually quite liberating. And now I have a much better handle on what I actually have in my closet and where I need to spend money. The best suggestion is to have a friend or family member who promises to be 100% honest in their opinions, so you have an easier time letting go. I kept several pieces I no longer really wear, but which have great memories attached. But you just stick them in the back of your closet (or in a Rubbermaid container, or under-bed container) and that way they don't clutter your view when picking outfits. You can do it! I believe in you! xoxo

kokostiletto said...

yes too much clothes! my closet is soo full that clothes are getting wrinkled from being stuffed in my closet!

Shopaholic D said...

Thx GG - Just emailed you ;)

aww...that stinks koko...sounds like you need some spring cleaning!! lol

:) D

Anonymous said...

Your closet looks just like my closet, except neat and tidier! The left side has my tops, the right side has my dresses and suits on the top rack, skirts and shorts on the bottom rack. They're in order of when I received them. A complex I started a long time ago.

Yes, it is all too possible to have too many clothes! I usually wear dresses once, unless they're the 5% that are a solid basic color and cut.

Shoppy Gal said...

You can NEVER have too many clothes, or shoes, or purses, or accessories.
You just always have to keep everything well organized.
My rule: any item you don't wear for two seasons gets kicked out and replaced by a (or more) new item (s)

BumbleVee said...

can I come and play in your closet? ... I hate shopping...but maybe there would be some fun stuff in there ...I could just play dress up like we did as kids...

hey Diana... can you send me your address ...again> I seem to have lost it.....

vphilion@telus.net

Anonymous said...

I used to color coordinate my clothes too but because it was getting so tight, I decided to just hang it where I could and go back when I have time to color coordinate. My closet is 10 feet wide and I had to have my dad take out the closet rod and install on running along the top and another one running across about 7 or 8 feet so that my long coats and special occasion dresses could hang down, so looking at your closet, my closet is about twice your size and should be more seeing that I squeeze what I can into it. My closet rods, first the bottom then the top have fallen down because of so many clothes and the support was not strong enough.

Shopaholic D said...

Kiwishe - I'd love to see your closet!

Hey H, I think that's a definite possibility. I've been trying to downsize but I wear a surprising amount of stuff from my closet...lol. I've been trying to do the ole "If you haven't worn it in a year, toss it" rule.

Hey ShoppyGal - my inner shopaholic wants to agree with you. Now, if I had unlimited closet space, I'd definitely agree!! hahah

Wow Anonymous - your closet sounds absolutely massive!! I bet you have a lot of fun putting outfits together!

:) D

butterfly said...

When we bought our house 3 years ago, i was super excited it had three bedrooms, me and my husband in one, my son in the second, and all my gorgeous clothes in the other, i had it all planned out, i'd even have room for my vanity, so i can get all dolled up and a sewing table to create more cool clothes, well life got busy, i did set it up somewhat but mostly it became a storage room for all my stuff, i really do have way too many clothes, yes some, no lots of them are sentimental, and i totally am one of those gals holding on to the clothes she use to fit into, in hopes i lose a lil weight. well im currently having to totally downsize, baby number two is on its way and my super cool closet room is making way for a beautiful nursery. so during my dreaded clean out im finding things i havent seen in years, items that still have thier price tags on them, and having a hard time purging my gorgeous clothes, i've already filled 3 huge bags worth and two boxes of accessories(shoes/purses)and yet it doesn't even look like i've made a dent... what an overwhelming task...

Anonymous said...

I do not have as many clothes as you do, but I feel overwhelmed by the clutter. Even though I want to maximize the use of every item, I only use about 20% of what I own. Before this, I used to buy tons of clothes. But I have discovered that less clothes leads to more organization and less stress.