Having a limited wardrobe

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Good evening.

I was discussing this subject earlier in the evening elsewhere and thought that I might share some of my thoughts here.

Ive carried out a search and cant see anything obvious but am guessing its been covered before, possibly many times. Not to worry just keep scrolling down if this is the case for you.

Personally, I find clothes to be a real pain. What to wear and when. Choosing them. Going to the shops. Getting the right size. What goes with what. How much time is consumed with this craziness I wonder?

Having struggled with this for years whilst reaching the stage in my life where I dont need to dress up for work or at other times impress people or fit into social convention I decided earlier in the year to minimalise my wardrobe.

There are some clothing items I like so I decided that I would buy multiples of these and not have anything else. I went for two variations - a black t shirt with jeans or a white shirt with jeans. Shoes either brown leather oxfords or Toms canvas shoes.

So, aside from a couple of coats, a wooly hat (for emergencies) and pair of leather gloves my entire wardrobe now consists of:

6 x identical white shirts
6 x identical black t shirts
6 x pairs of Levi 501's
2 x plain sweaters
7 x pairs of underpants
7 x pairs of socks
1 x pair brown leather oxford shoes
3 x pairs Toms canvas shoes

This has been so liberating, just not having the stress of figuring out what to wear or know what to buy when an item wears out or is damaged. Its so good not to have to worry about any of this stuff.

All of the clothing that I own can fit into a large hold-all, and I like the idea of that too.

My son in law (who is one of the digital artists on 'Bobs Burgers') often jokes with me that I am like a cartoon character - in that I am always dressed the same. Mind you, he is very similar.

Anyone else do this?

I would. I definitely would.
It's how I'd want it. Only quite less items than that in quantity.


Now, if only my mom listens and stop buying me more clothes every damn time she gets her money.
So far she only knows I don't do short shorts or skirts or sleeveless.

Sure, it slowed down lately for obvious reasons. I pray it means it stopped for good.


But that doesn't remove the clutter consists of huge pile of clothes and bags accumulated over the years.

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I've gone through phases. In the workplace my routine was: colorful nylon blouse, jeans, silver earrings, brown/black plain shoes and cover-up makeup (under my eyes). Now working from home: solid cotton shirt, jeans, Sketchers and no jewelry nor makeup. In college I wore flannel tops and blazers. I have nice skirts, pants, dresses, shoes, makeup but it's too "hard" to figure out how and when to wear them. Plus I need different bra types for some of the tops and dresses, which is an additional landmine. For customer meetings I found one blazer and set of jewelry I was comfortable with, and managed lipstick. Some women's pants have pockets, some have fake pockets and some don't have pockets. Don't even start on shoes. I wonder if it's time to donate the (unused) heels in my closet...

Honestly the workplace to home transition has been hard that way. Just this morning my husband mentioned my laundry has piled up higher than usual and I was wearing a colorful cotton shirt (which violates my new norm). Yes, b/c before I had one load of cotton on Warm and one load of nylon on Cold --- but now it's all cotton-like and I am not sure how to split my pile into two loads and to do Warm or Cold. My clothing routine changed and I have yet to adjust my laundry routine. Crisis .

I'm glad you found what works for you.

Yep, took me a while to figure it out, but I have 4 almost identical outfits, so that it appears I am wearing the same every day. I do still have a few other items in my wardrobe, which I need occasionally if it’s really hot or some kind of special occasion. The hard bit for me is when something wears out and I can’t get the right replacement. I am trying to teach myself to sew so that I can make the things I need when I can’t find them. I think people tend to expect women to have a more varied wardrobe than men, but frankly, I don’t care. I am very happy with the energy it saves me

Well, yes and no. My closet has a lots of clothes that I think I might end up wearing more at some point, so I don't throw them away, but I mostly wear the same four or five outfits on a regular basis. Of course, since during summer it can be, and often is these days, 30 degrees and then even -20 degrees during the winter, I have different sets of clothes for different seasons and weathers.

I don’t have that much clothes….but I still have to throw out some slacks and shirts that are too big.

All my clothes don’t take up a full closet. They take up maybe half a closet, and a couple of drawers.

I never got to the point of having a specific list of apparel, but yeah, I know the struggle and deal with it my own way too.

My struggle is a little weird, though. I'm great at picking out things for others and used to get asked for my opinion all the time (holding true to the queer male stereotype), but when it comes to myself it's like I'm blind. I look at others and have all kinds of insights and analysis, but when I see myself in the mirror I just can't understand what I'm looking at. The best I can do is just ensure the colors aren't clashing.

Mostly I just buy semi-casual stuff that mostly all works together. I just grab whatever is closest at hand or whatever individual articles I prefer at the time, and then just do a quick check to make sure it doesn't look terrible.

IMO so long as I have a weeks worth of semi-casuals, I'm good. (exception being special occasion stuff like winter garb, full dress suit, exercise clothes etc)

I've lived in shorts and tshirts for the best part of a year now.

But I do have a few nice dresses for when I go anywhere special.

I hated it when I went out to work because I had to have something clean and smart for each day. I threw all of that stuff away at the start of all the lock downs.

I do to some extent. For work (as a female) I have 4 different colored identical polo shirts, and rotate them through the week and that is all that I wear for shirts at work. I have a grey pair of pants, a khaki, and a black, and rotate those too. This is my work wardrobe. I'm sure people think I'm nuts but I don't care. Its comfortable and it works and it is simple and don't have to think about it.

Also I have a simple wardrobe for outside work too, pretty much rotate between the same 3 outfits all the time. I just hate figuring out clothes.

I've got loads of pairs of shoes actually. Probably more shoes than clothes and definitely more than I need. I like them though.

I used to be like this, not being interested in clothes to the point of letting my parents chose for me what I was going to wear on a daily basis. Then, suddenly, I became interested in menswear and it somehow became a special interest. Now there is always something missing in my wardrobe, be it jackets, trousers, shirts, shoes, ties and even socks, all in various styles. If I had more money I would be going to my tailor’s shop like once a month.

I usually wear just t-shirts and shorts, and they're usually the same type of fabric. It makes buying clothes and wearing them really predictable and easy.

I have never spent much time on clothes. I mostly buy them used now. However, when I was young, I had a maintenance job with uniforms supplied - no markings, just green shirt and pants. I saw no reason to change when I got home. Then came Halloween, and I wanted to dress up as a cowboy. I borrowed jeans and a checked shirt, and my roommates didn't recognize me, even without the rest of the costume.