How do you clean out your closet?

I love clothes. But for some reason over the years I have gone for a quantity not quality approach. I have devoured sale and clearance sections. There was hardly a box sale I missed while living in Portland. And have I mentioned that I am a hoarder as well? Especially when it comes to clothing. I still have clothes from college. Some of it has come back into style, but most of it I just need to let go of.

So I have stolen/created some rules as to how to pare down my closet.

1. This is a well known one: if I haven't worn it in a year it either needs to be worn ASAP or it needs to go.


2. Is the item damaged or worn? Gone are the clothes with small holes or stains.


3. Do I have multiple versions of the same item? For example, I had four different long sleeved black shirts which were all very similar. When I find this I try to scale down to just one or two.


4. Can I wear an item in multiple different ways? This was fun because I started finding new ways to wear old clothes. Unless I REALLY loved something that had limited uses I have gotten rid of it as well.


5. Do I really need it?? This is the tough one. It is so hard to separate "want" and "need".

I also have been aiming to only rid of a few items each week. It is really less painful and more productive for me rather than trying to cut my wardrobe in half all at once. Eventually I hope to get to a point where I can implement the "one in, one out" rule--if I buy something new, something old has to go.

So, how do you clean out your closet??