Quick Answer: Decide on summer pieces while the season is still fresh, because the information you need is memory-based and it decays fast. Five categories are worth going through now: the once-worn holiday piece, the white item with a mark you never removed, the pair of sandals that hurt, the linen that never got ironed, and the too-warm layer you reached for in June and abandoned. Each has a specific decision rule below, and each is one you will get wrong in May.

In nine months you will look at these and think they seem fine, because you will not remember the blister, the mark or the ironing board.

Five categories below, and the rule for each.

Pile 1: The holiday piece you wore once

Take it out and answer one question: was it worn once because the holiday was one week, or once because you did not like it in it? Those are entirely different verdicts and only you know which, and only right now.

If it was the week, keep it without guilt. Occasion pieces have a legitimately low wear count and cost-per-wear is the wrong lens for them - a swimsuit or a resort dress does not need to earn its place weekly.

If you took it and did not wear it, that is the real signal. A piece that travelled and stayed in the case was rejected daily for a fortnight, which is a much stronger verdict than one unworn month at home.

Photographs settle the argument. If you have holiday photographs, check whether it appears. People consistently misremember what they actually wore versus what they packed.

And if it needs a specific occasion you do not have, it is not a wardrobe piece, it is a costume for a life you are not currently living.

Rule: kept only if you can name the next occasion. Not a hypothetical one - a real one, in the next twelve months.

Pile 2: The white piece with a mark you never removed

Be honest about how long the mark has been there. A stain that survived one wash and three months is not coming out on the fourth attempt in April.

Set a genuine deadline instead of an intention. Treat it this week with a proper stain treatment, or accept the verdict. Vague intentions are what keep this pile alive for years.

Check where the mark is. Under an arm or on a hem is survivable with layering; a front-of-chest mark on a white shirt is terminal for anything outside the house.

Yellowing at the collar and underarms is different from a stain and is usually a build-up of product and sweat residue. It responds to a soak and it is genuinely worth one attempt.

Consider the demotion option honestly. A marked white tee is a legitimate house or under-layer piece, but only if you will actually wear it that way rather than keeping it as a lie.

Rule: one real treatment attempt this week, then a decision. Not an intention - a date.

Pile 3: The sandals that hurt

Nothing about them will change over the winter. Shoes that hurt in July hurt in the following July, and this is the pile where people most consistently deceive themselves.

Distinguish break-in pain from design pain. Leather that needs softening is fixable; a strap crossing a bony point, a heel pitch you cannot walk in, or a toe box narrower than your foot is not.

A cobbler genuinely can stretch a specific pressure point, and it costs little. If the pain has one identifiable location, that is worth doing before you decide.

Count the actual wears rather than the intended ones. Sandals you loved and wore twice because of the second-hour blister are the clearest keep-nothing case in the whole wardrobe.

And check the sole and footbed for wear while they are out, because a worn-through footbed is also a comfort problem people attribute to the fit.

Rule: one cobbler visit if the pain has a single location, otherwise out. Do not store hope for nine months.

Pile 4: The linen you never ironed

This is a lifestyle verdict, not a garment verdict. The linen is fine. The question is whether you are a person who irons, and one summer of evidence has just answered it.

Look at how many times you wore it versus how many times you meant to. A gap of more than about three to one means the maintenance requirement is the barrier.

Check whether a steamer would solve it, since many people who will not iron will happily steam, and it takes a quarter of the time.

Distinguish crumpled from creased. Linen is meant to crumple softly and that is the point of it; a hard pressed crease across the lap from sitting is a different and less charming thing.

Heavier linen blends crease far less than pure lightweight linen, which is worth knowing when you replace it.

Rule: keep it only if you buy a steamer this week or already own one. Otherwise you are storing a garment for the version of yourself who irons.

Pile 5: The too-warm layer you abandoned in June

This one is genuinely ambiguous and worth slowing down for, because it may simply have been the wrong season rather than the wrong piece.

Ask when you last reached for it. A denim jacket abandoned in June may be about to have its best six weeks - late August into October is exactly its window.

Move it rather than judging it. Anything that is genuinely a transitional piece should come to the front of the wardrobe now, not go into storage, and that reclassification is the actual decision.

If it was too warm in June and will be too light in November, it has a real but narrow window, and narrow-window pieces need to be visible during that window or they never get worn.

Two of these is plenty. The transitional layer is the category people over-buy most, and four similar mid-weight jackets means three of them never get chosen.

Rule: promote it to the front for six weeks, then decide. If it does not get worn in its own season, that is the answer.

FAQ: End-of-Summer Editing Questions, Answered

Why edit now rather than at the end of the season?

Because the memory of how each piece performed is still accurate. By spring you will remember the garment and not the blister, and you will keep everything.

What do I do with the things I decide to remove?

Deal with them the same week. A bag by the door for weeks becomes a bag you unpack again, which is how most decluttering quietly reverses.

Should I keep summer clothes I love but rarely wear?

Occasion pieces are allowed low wear counts. The test is whether you can name a real occasion in the next year, not whether the cost-per-wear looks good.

Is it worth storing summer clothes separately?

Yes, for space and for clarity - but keep the transitional layers out. Storing them is exactly how they miss their own six-week window.

How much should actually leave?

There is no target number. A detox that removes four genuinely dead pieces is more useful than one that removes twenty and creates gaps you rebuy in March.

What if I regret it?

Regret is rare and it is almost always about a specific occasion piece. That is precisely why the occasion test above is the one rule worth being generous with.

TL;DR:

• Edit at the end of the season, not the start - the memory you need decays over the winter.
• The once-worn holiday piece: keep only if you can name a real occasion in the next twelve months.
• The marked white piece: one genuine treatment attempt this week, then decide.
• The sandals that hurt: one cobbler visit if the pain has a single location, otherwise out.
• The unironed linen: keep it only if you own or buy a steamer.
• The abandoned transitional layer: promote it to the front now, and let its own season decide.
• Deal with the outgoing pile the same week, or it quietly walks back into the wardrobe.

By May you will remember the garment and forget the blister. That is the whole argument for doing it now.