Wardrobe / Closet: Sort 整理
Remove everything that doesn't belong.
The clothing audit is the most impactful sort you can do in a home. The rule: worn in the past year, or it leaves.
Understand the zones before you sort
Daily wear
Clothes worn this week
Grouped by context: work / casual
Most-reached for = most accessible
Occasional wear
Smart / evening / occasion
Worn a few times a year
Still earns its hanger
Seasonal storage
Out-of-season clothing
Vacuum bags or labelled boxes
Swapped at each season change
Accessories
Shoes on rack (all visible)
Bags on hooks or shelf
Belts · Scarves · Jewellery
The 80% rule: a wardrobe should be 80% full. The breathing room means every item is accessible and visible. If you can't get things out cleanly, you're storing too much.
Sort tasks for the Wardrobe / Closet
- Remove every item from the wardrobe — sort on the bed, not inside
- Worn in the past year? Keep. Not worn? Donate (if good condition) or bin
- Remove duplicates — four black t-shirts become two good ones
- Remove clothing that no longer fits or that you've been saving "to lose weight"
- Check for damage: missing buttons, broken zips, unrepaired tears — fix or remove
- Remove seasonal items that belong in long-term storage
- Toss worn-out underwear, socks with holes, stretched basics
What is the Sort phase?
Sort (整理, Seiri) is the first phase: remove every item that doesn't belong in the space. Expired products, duplicates, broken items, and things used elsewhere all leave before any organising begins. You cannot set up a good system around things that shouldn't be there.
Common questions about the Wardrobe / Closet
How do I declutter my wardrobe?
Remove everything first — sort on the bed, not inside the wardrobe. Three piles: keep (worn in the past year, fits, in good condition), donate (good condition but unworn), and bin (damaged, worn out, or missing parts). The key question for every item: did I wear this in the past 12 months? If not, it leaves.
How do I organise a wardrobe with too many clothes?
The problem is volume, not organisation. No system can make too much clothing work in a wardrobe — Sort comes before Set in Order. Reduce to 80% capacity first, then organise what remains. A wardrobe at 80% full has breathing room: every item is visible, accessible, and easy to return.
How should I fold clothes to save space?
Vertical folding (the KonMari method) — fold items into a rectangle, then fold in thirds to stand upright in the drawer. Every item is visible at a glance; no more digging through stacks to find the bottom item. Takes the same space as flat stacking and eliminates the "I can't find it" problem.
Common Wardrobe / Closet mistakes
✗ Mistake
Wardrobe stuffed so tight nothing comes out cleanly
✓ Fix
A wardrobe should be 80% full. The 20% breathing room makes every item accessible.
✗ Mistake
Folding clothes in stacks (can't see what's underneath)
✓ Fix
Vertical folding — KonMari style — means everything is visible at a glance