How to Like your Clothes More Without Spending Money

A great (and easy) thing to do when the season comes, changing out your wardrobe! It’s not just for people with tons of clothes. Post contains affiliate links.

75% of the clothes had the tags still on. The closet was so full that she had to steady herself with a hand on the wall to push and make room for another shirt or two. And with such a full closet, the words that came out of her mouth were… you can probably guess…

“I have nothing to wear.”

Of course we know this really means there’s nothing we want to wear. But the result is the same: we’re unhappy with our clothes. And when we’re unhappy with our clothes we’re unhappy with how we look. And when we’re unhappy with how we look we are in a bad mood. And when we’re in a bad mood we take it out on the kids.

Even though we joke about wearing yoga pants all day and embrace our season by not wearing stilettos around the house, tripping on LEGO, and twisting our ankles, the truth is it’s important to not hate your clothes. It’s not important that they’re super trendy or expensive, but that we feel like ourselves in our clothes.

(Note: Dressing Your Truth helps you find clothes that showcase your own personality. Here’s a review I did on it.)

My favorite way to be okay with my clothes – even if they aren’t all new – is to do a seasonal wardrobe switch.

How it works

A seasonal wardrobe switch is essentially separating your clothes by season,2 or 4 seasons depending on the extremes of your local climate, I only do 2 since Florida’s climate is very hot and kinda chilly. You can separate clothes into those you’d wear in summer and those in winter. A few tips.

• Layering items can stay for both. These might be light cardigans, tank tops, or t-shirts.
• Clothes that are very season specific (heavy sweaters or linen sundresses) should automatically go in appropriate piles.
• While you sort for the season you can remove any clothes you haven’t worn in a few years to a donation pile.
• The key is that the clothes for the previous season should not be visible. I take the items and fold them carefully and put them into a storage container or bin at the bottom of the closet or in nearby storage.

⇒ Fun + Energetic moms might find this the hardest since they take joy in having nice new and trendy clothes.
⇒ Confident + Take Charge moms will love the organization this brings as well as having a clear idea of the big picture of your wardrobe
⇒ Strong + Deliberate moms often care little for clothes as they are often consumed with thoughts of a less “superficial” nature, but they also like their stuff to be well taken care of so this will apply to them as well
⇒ Calm + Steady moms are fond of “comfortable” clothes so this is a good way to take inventory as to whether you have enough “dressy” items in your seasonal wardrobe

It increases contentment

One way this increases contentment with what you have takes into account the old saying: familiarity breeds contempt. If you stare at clothes (even out of season ones) every single day when you open your closet you begin to feel too familiar. However, when you bring out the new season’s wardrobe you’ll see pieces you don’t even remember owning and you’ll think of new ways to wear them.

It’s shopping without shopping

When you bring out a big box of clothes and put them in the closet you’ll feel like you’ve already gone shopping. You can look at the clothes you kept at the end of last season and seeing if you are in need of something particular like tights, a jacket or a swimsuit, etc. For me, having the clothes come out of storage is nearly as exciting as buying things. This season I realized I didn’t have enough “grown up shirts” but just a lot of button ups. I don’t work in an office, so I donated a few button ups and replaced them with some other shirts.

You know what you need

By sorting and replacing your wardrobe you quickly realize what you don’t have. If this occurs all at once you can take proper inventory and fill in the gaps. If you leave all your clothes in the closet then you won’t know what you need until you realize, that day, you don’t have it. You’ll end up shopping and spending more this way because you’ll go to the store more! By taking an inventory at once you can do one shop to get all you need and there won’t feel a nagging need to shop all the time.

After you know what you need you can figure out your budget. You can take a seasonal shop, go thrifting, or do a wardrobe swap with friends! I’ve recently signed on to StitchFix and my first shipment is on its way. You get a stylist send clothes to you and, if you like them, you keep them. If not, you send them back.

All you have is wearable

Part of the reason keeping all the clothes in the closet isn’t helpful is that, on any given day, a large portion of your clothes are seasonally in appropriate. This means as you are giving your closet the side eye you are flipping through shirt after dress after sweater that there’s no chance you can wear thinking “all my clothes are stupid and life bites.” This is particularly important if you have clothes that no longer fit. If you don’t want to get rid of them for sentimental (a wedding dress) or goal-motivation (I’ll fit in them again!) purposes then at least keep them out of sight. You do not need a daily reminder that you are not the size you used to be.

I’m not super into fashion or into big trends, but I do like to feel reasonably current in clothes that aren’t shabby. I think feeling nice about how you look – even if it is clothes you’ve had for a few years – helps set your mood.

If you struggle with how to dress or what clothes look good on you, I cannot recommend enough the Dressing Your Truth course. Here’s a review I did of the course and why it is a great thing for people who are not driven by the tides of trends, but still want to look and feel their best.