Fun fact: I’m not somebody who enjoys creating outfits or finds joy in expressing myself with my clothing. But I do value being appropriately-dressed for whatever situation I find myself in. And I want getting dressed in the morning to be easy.
To make it easier for myself, I’ve developed a system for managing my wardrobe: rotating it out on a seasonal basis.
Benefits of rotating out your clothes seasonally
I started doing this a few years ago, and it’s been an amazing fit for my life. It allows me to have fun, colorful, seasonal outfits without putting a lot of pressure on myself for picking out outfits every day. And over the years, I’ve discovered some additional benefits.
You “miss” your clothes
Have you ever looked at your closet and hated everything in it? I don’t have scientific evidence to back this up, but I’m pretty sure you get that feeling when there’s nothing new in your closet. After a while, your brain stops seeing all the clothes that you have because there’s nothing new to pay attention to!
If you swap your clothes out, you physically put away your off-season clothes, so that sundress hasn’t been staring you in the face since November and you can actually get excited to wear it come June. The strength of my feelings surprises me sometimes. Pulling out a beloved sweater as the weather is cooling down can make my day!
No more “I have nothing to wear”
Sometimes we legitimately don’t have anything to wear because we have a lot of clothing articles and no outfits. It’s like buying a full shopping cart of ingredients and still not having anything to make for dinner.
The way I sort through my clothes every season guarantees I have full outfits to wear. AND I have enough outfits that I don’t get sick of all my clothes after two weeks.
Shop your closet first
My wardrobe system has helped me get the most bang for my buck out of my wardrobe. No more shopping-just-to-shop. At the beginning of every season, my process gets me excited about all the clothes in my closet and provides me with a specific shopping list for the season.
This process helps me shop less often AND more intentionally. I always have a list!
How to Rotate Your Closet, Seasonally
This process is pretty straightforward. But in order to guarantee that I am excited about my clothes and that I have enough outfits to last the season, I have specific steps.
Step 1: Pull out allll your clothes
Yes, I mean ALL of them. I pull everything out of my closet, dresser drawers (with the exception of underwear and socks), and pull out my “off-season clothes” bin. Overwhelming? Perhaps. But you’re going to carve a lovely wardrobe out of all those items!
Turn on some music and make this fun – remember, you’re shopping your own closet!
Step 2: Put away anything obviously out of season
This is easier in the summer or winter – I’m not going to wear shorts in November, thanks. But for Fall and Spring, just tuck away anything that’s extremely inappropriate. All wool goes away in my April swap. Same with anything sleeveless in September. I’ve broken that rule a couple times and I NEVER end up wearing them.
Step 3: Do some math
Ok, this is where this process gets the Katherine Touch (TM). I do math to determine how many outfits I need. This ensures that I actually wear all of my clothes AND that I love all the outfits that I wear.
My rule of thumb is: 6 wears per outfit per season.
To calculate that, figure out how many months you’ll be wearing these clothes. I try and split the year into 4, 3-month seasons, but let’s be real: I’m going to be wearing my winter clothes from November through February. So for winter, it’s 4 months x 30(ish) days = 120 total wears. Divide that by 6, and I need to have 20 outfits to get through winter.
I usually split it 60/40 into pants outfits and skirt outfits. I like to alternate between skirts and pants at work, and have kept that habit in stay-at-home life, to keep an air of normalcy.
Step 4: Pick your favorite outfits
Now for the fun part: shop your wardrobe! For my winter wardrobe example, I’d want to find ~12 pants outfits and ~8 dress outfits.
For this step, pick your favorite. Your wardrobe should be full of only the best outfits! This is the time to think about how you want to dress. I recently turned 30 and am pulling out my winter wardrobe with an intention to feel and embrace my age!
If you don’t have enough of a certain kind of outfit (or an outfit is missing a piece)…
…go shopping. Jot down all the articles of clothing you need to get your wardrobe full of only favorite outfits and only buy from that this season.
If you have ideas for outfits, but don’t own any of the pieces…
…count those outfits as one of your total and make sure the item is on your Buy This Season list.
If you want to go shopping for inspiration…
…do it about a week before you pull out your wardrobe and commit to not buying anything. Look around and find items that you think you’d like to make outfits from.
When you pull out your wardrobe a week later, any of the outfits that you remember should go on your list. If you don’t remember it, it clearly didn’t stick.
Step 5: Review your wardrobe
Think through the next few months and make sure you’ve pulled any outfits you might need for special occasions. The goal is to NOT TOUCH your stored clothing between wardrobe swaps. I like to swap out my date night outfits and exercise gear to keep it fresh.
Also take a moment and review your basics (socks, undies, etc), and make a note on your shopping list if anything needs to be replaced.
Step 6: Put everything away
First, put your new wardrobe in your closet and drawers. Then, wash anything that needs to be stored again. Finally, put eeeeverything else in a bin (under the bed can hold more than you think) and tuck it away until the season is over.
This is the time to be critical about the clothing you’re storing away. At the end of a season, I usually find a shirt or two that I never wore. With only my favorite clothes in my drawers, it becomes obvious when I’m avoiding wearing something. In that case, donate that sucker! Get it out of your life and let someone else have the chance to love it!
Step 7 (optional): Shop seasonally
I don’t always need to buy things for my wardrobe (the magic of tucking things away makes my old clothes exciting again). But I also can’t always buy everything I need all at once. Prioritize it and buy as you can.
Well, that’s how I deal with my wardrobe! My style is pretty timeless/classic/neutral (hi, cardigans), so rolling my clothes from year to year works really well for me. And knowing that I’m only wearing my favorite outfits has helped me donate clothing that I liked just fine, but was never actually wearing. Hope you find this helpful!
