Most of us possess such burgeoning wardrobes that we could get by with never shopping again (assuming the Jaffa Cake habit is kept under control). However, there are often some real howlers hiding in there and occasionally a complete gem waiting to be re-discovered. Go through it all, try everything on and be ruthless. Ask a very honest friend for his or her advice and once you’re done, there should be three piles: keep, bin, mend.

If there are any unworn items in the ‘keep’ pile, work out what other pieces they can be worn with. It’s so much easier to put something on in the morning when it has been established as a complete outfit. Who needs to be hopping around with a different shoe on each foot at 7am?

The ‘bin’ pile can be taken to Oxfam, sold on eBay or used to host a ‘swap shop’ party with similarly sized friends www.swishing.org. In a similarly social vein, you could find out if there is a Swaparama happening somewhere near you. This novel club night originally hails from Paris where clubbers exchange items of their clothing on the blast of a klaxon horn – definitely a night when you want to be wearing bus accident appropriate underwear.

The ‘mend’ pile needs to be actioned immediately to avoid another year of languishing in the darkest corners of your closet. If you can sew or are willing to learn, start to alter, fix and customise (à la Gok Wan). Failing that, find a good seamstress or a friend who you can swap skills with – half a dozen chocolate brownies for a zip replacement seems a fair trade. It’s also worth noting that it’s often cheaper to get an outfit made-to-measure with a dressmaker than to buy designer ready-to-wear. Oh and apparently clothkits are fashionable again!?