I’ve recently had a big cleanse in my wardrobe. I have been gradually de-cluttering for years BUT more recently I’ve been much more ruthless. I decided that if it wasn’t either practical or filled me with joy it was gone.

You know those things you hang onto for years because you tell yourself one day you MIGHT wear it again? Well even all those things have gone. It actually feels really good.

I used to open my wardrobe all the time and think “I have nothing to wear” – but it was full. Now I can actually see what I have. It’s a very liberating process which I recommend.

What are your wardrobe staples

I’m no fashionista, and I’m OK with that. I like practical comfy things like gym wear and I like nice dresses and boots and that’s about it. So my wardrobe is now pretty much made up of gym wear and dresses.

My staples I consider to be things like vest tops and other short sleeved tops that I can layer up. That leaves loads of combinations to go with gym leggings, also a staple item in my wardrobe these days.

What are your wardrobe staples? These will be different for everyone. For some people it’s things like jeans, a blazer and a black and white tee. For others it might be an LBD, black skinny jeans and a white blouse. Maybe it’s basic black leggings and a baggy jumper, with a crop top underneath? It really just depends what your week looks like and what you consider to be essential.

Same outfit different colours

Are you someone who has the same item in several different colours? I am someone who finds that this simplifies things quite a bit. If I find something I like I often prefer to buy the same thing in different colours, rather than try to find something else. I just find this makes things easy. I know I like the original, so why not just get it in a different colour? Like this grey crop top, same top, different colour. Is this something that you do? How many wardrobe items to you have in several colours?

I also do this with the children’s clothes. If there is something they really like, I will get it in a couple of different colours. Invariably their ‘favourite colours’ change like the wind, so this can be helpful on more than one level!

The once in a while items

I love dresses, mostly midi dresses. I’m quite fussy though. My favourite dresses are those where the fabric is quite weighty, with some stretch and has quite a slinky feel. They just feel nice on.

I love dresses that you can dress up or down, dresses that could be day or night, and dresses that could be worn to a meeting or out for drinks. Dresses that don’t show up children’s hand prints, or snot trails…well, they are my all time favourite dresses. This silver dress can take quite a lot of child-bashing!

Dresses do make up quite a lot of my wardrobe. I will wear a dress for a meeting, for a party or family event and so on. I feel like wearing a dress takes less thought than putting a whole outfit together. How many times have you thought about what you were going to wear and then realised part of the outfit is in the wash, or needs ironing and you only have a few minutes to get ready. With a dress, at least it’s just the one item and the dresses I like don’t really need ironing because of the type of fabric.

I think what I lack in my wardrobe is something to go over some of my dresses. I really like long sleeved dresses for the autumn and winter, but it does rather limit my wardrobe. I need to find a couple of things that I can wear over the dresses without sleeves to extend their wear a bit. How do you get around this? Any recommendations? Do you go for a jacket, cardigan, or something else? Although the weather is lovely this week for September, I’m sure it won’t last.

This is a collaborative post.