the most important question to ask when cleaning out your closet

on women knowing their preferences

After 11 years of officially helping people clean out their closets, and many more years before that unofficially, I’ve developed a pretty useful set of questions to ask when someone is waffling over whether they should keep a particular clothing item or not. However, you might be surprised at the one that’s most effective. Ready? Here it is:

Do you like it?

I know, it seems like such a simple question shouldn’t be so helpful, but what I’ve found is that most women actually don’t consider this. I think it’s part of a larger conditioning that we’ve been subject to. As early as childhood, we’re conditioned to think about everyone else’s needs and preferences before ours. How many times have you said “oh, I don’t care, you pick” when someone has asked where you should go to dinner? How many times have you been talked into buying something you don’t need because an “expert” recommended it? How often do you say yes to something so that you don’t hurt the other person’s feelings?

When I ask …