A couple of weeks ago I shared with friends on Facebook and otherwheres online that I was starting a major cull of my closet with the intention of living with a relatively small capsule wardrobe by the end. The gist is that each season you have some set number of things to wear, including shoes and accessories, excluding underwear and workout gear. Some people who subscribe to this default to the number 33, perhaps driven by Project 333 (33 items for three months). You can read more about that project and what inspired me to do this here. But the bottom line is that I have a ton of clothes that no longer suit my lifestyle or fit me and very few that do.

Since sharing this plan and my steps taken so far, which have included thinking about sorting, sorting, sorting again, washing and dry cleaning, and replacing a few urgently needed items, I have received a variety of reactions from “hey, I need to do that” to “I could never do that, good luck!” And more than a few questions, like what’s your magic number (don’t know yet), and won’t it be expensive to ditch all your clothes *again* in three months and replace them?

Another thing that has come up is why the number matters if you wear the same core wardrobe items most of the time and the other stuff is just there, or it’s in storage, or it’s waiting for a special occasion (or it’s not worn often for whatever reason). For me, it’s not that any number is significant, it’s more that I want to have an easy to wear and care for wardrobe, where *everything* actually fits me every day and I have options that are appropriate for every sort of event I might go to. While I haven’t completely figured it out, here’s what I’m thinking so far:

• Since I live in Texas, there are really only two seasons–summer and notsummer–so the three-month dividing line is pretty false for me.
• I have no intention, desire, or ability to buy and discard a new wardrobe even twice a year, let alone four times a year.
• I sort of feel as though 50 might be the right number, but I still need to inventory what I have remaining at this point.
• I plan to have a core set of items that work in both summer and notsummer, and then a set of items that come out for each season–for example, my winter coat won’t be part of the summer set and my cutoff jean shorts won’t be part of the notsummer set.
• I want to feel in control of my wardrobe rather than feeling cranky that nothing fits me or looks good.

It’s going to be a little while before I get there. I’m pretty close to deciding what to keep, but each time I go into my closet another item tickles the back of my brain and I decide to part with it.

If I don’t love it and it doesn’t do incredible things for my {insert body part here} then why keep it?