Thursday, January 16, 2020

 

I realized that along with my challenge that I may have left some of you hanging – pun intended! Before you start wearing everything or during your time of wearing everything ’til spring, you may want to start the purging process.  I started my wear everything last week and then moved to my new closet over the weekend.  As I did so, I went ahead and started my process.  By the way, I do this at least once a season.  I feel that if you don’t it is very easy to let things accumulate and then it becomes a bigger job.  

Just how do you purge your closet?  Have you let things accumulate over time?  Do you have multiple sizes, styles, and colors?  Why do we hang onto things we shouldn’t?  The biggest reasons are…

Guilt – We feel bad because we made a shopping mistake that may have been a costly one.  We feel bad because someone that we love gave it to us.  We love that person, but we don’t love the well-intentioned gift.  My husband often laments that adults should not buy other adults clothing, shoes, and accessories.  He says this not to be mean, but because it is a very personal thing and by the time we reach adulthood we should do these things ourselves because otherwise it causes guilt, extra trips to the store, or wasted money.  He is not wrong here! We feel bad that we can’t fit into the size anymore.  Guilt is a powerful emotion but it is not a productive one.

Fear – I will need this item SOMEDAY!  Yes, you may, but you should think more in terms of your present life.  One exception would be cold weather gear which really doesn’t go out of style and is expensive to replace. Keep a bin of gloves, scarves, tobaggon hats, etc. if you use them sometimes.  

Before you start my challenge here or during my challenge, I think you should do the following:  

Grab bags or bins and designate them as “donate”, “give away”, “sell” , “repair” –  whatever you like and whatever works for you.  

Go ahead and get rid of:

-anything with stains

-anything with holes that you don’t love enough to spend time and money getting repaired

-anything that makes you feel bad about yourself right now at your current weight

-anything that is a duplicate.  Example:  You have 5 pairs of similar black pants.  There are only 7 days in a week and you probably only get dressed 5 of those 7 at most.  Are you ever really going to wear your 4th or 5th favorite of that collection?  

Going forward, keep a bag or bin to toss things like this in and you can sort and separate when it gets full.  

There is something really strange about having less but feeling like you have more!  It’s amazing how it feels to be able to move hangers and not fight with them.  

Remember that your goal is to wear each and every piece of seasonal/winter clothing until spring comes.  Let’s say you wear a piece and hate it all day long.  Where should it go?  In one of your bins.  

You may be thinking…

Isn’t this wasteful?  They are just clothes!  Well, you’re exactly right.  It really isn’t about the clothes, though, it’s about YOU and you feeling your best self so that you can live your best life.  Have you ever hung back in a corner at a party because you hated your outfit?  Maybe it didn’t fit quite right and you kept having to tug or pull or feel self-conscious?  This steals your confidence.  This takes away your ability to be you.

One thought that makes me feel better is that I may make someone very happy by getting my discarded article of clothing.  It may be perfect for them and they may be able to be their best self!  

Wouldn’t it be nice to have what you need in your closet and only have what serves you?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have only items that make you feel great?  The only way to get to that point is to lose the things that don’t do the above.  Maybe as you go through this process you can keep a list of holes in your closet or events you need to dress for where you didn’t have the right items.  

I would love to hear your thoughts if you are participating!  What have I forgotten?  Do you have any other tips?  

Amy