If you've tried (and failed) to declutter your wardrobe time and time again, a decluttering expert says you should try the easy-to-use Sudoku method.
Ever stood looking at your wardrobe, which is bursting at the seams with clothes, and thought, I have nothing to wear. It's a common problem, and it stems from the classic pitfall of buying clothes rather than outfits. This results in a wardrobe that is full of beautiful things that you adore on the hanger, but either a) don't know how to wear, b) don't have the right clothes to style it with, or c) the right opportunity to wear it hasn't presented itself.
However, there is a genius little trick that will help get your overflowing wardrobe back on track – and you might have already heard of it. The Sudoku packing method has been floating around on social media ever since packing influencer Natalie Shaquer posted about it a couple of months ago.
The idea is that you take three tops, three bottoms and three pieces of outerwear and lay them out in a 3x3 grid (just like a sudoku grid). The trick is to get all the tops to go with all the bottoms to go with all the outerwear – and when they do, you create 27 different outfits from just nine core pieces. Clever, right?
The method was originally designed to make packing for a trip away simpler, easier and lighter. "When they're all laid out in the Sudoku grid format, it's so easy to see and ensure all combinations go with each other," says professional organiser Vicky Silverthorn.
However, there is also a way to use the Sudoku method for decluttering. Take a category – workwear, for example – and pull everything out that fits in that category. Then, start creating 3x3 grids of tops, bottoms and outerwear.
Silverthorn suggests starting with your absolute favourites – the things that you know you wear on repeat (the jeans that fit just right, the shirt that perfectly suits your complexion) and then moving onto your lesser-worn pieces to see if and how they work in the grid. You'll soon be able to spot the hardworking, versatile pieces that go with everything among the impulse buys that don't. Any pieces that you struggle to fit into any grid combination are the ones you might need to consider getting rid of. If you're serious about streamlining your wardrobe, this is a great way to help you get there.
"The method is like an updated version of a capsule wardrobe," says Silverthorn. It's not a solid rule either, she says. You can adapt it by expanding the grid or even including extra rows for accessories, such as shoes and bags. "It's just an extremely clever way to think about organising your wardrobe."
If you're someone who struggles to throw things away, Silverthorn says this is an especially great method to try. "It works so well for people who have little headspace to make decisions or those who have decision fatigue. The choice is still there, but this method makes it so much simpler. Instead of keeping endless 'just in case' clothes, you focus on a smaller group of pieces that genuinely work together."
It's not a perfect method – for example, there might be a dress you own that only goes with one jacket and one pair of shoes, but you know you wear that outfit repeatedly throughout the year. "Another drawback is that combinations could potentially start to feel too similar for some people, and that could feel restricting," says Silverthorn.
However, if you take the method with a pinch of salt and adapt it to suit your needs, she still thinks the basis of the idea is a great way to get started with creating a more streamlined wardrobe. At the very least, you'll likely identify at least a handful of items that simply don't work with anything else you own, and you might even discover some new outfit combinations you didn't know existed.