make space:clothes

I reached the point recently where none of the clothes I wore ever made it back into my wardrobe. They'd just sit in the washing basket until I wore them, then back to the laundry. Repeat cycle indefinitely. Meanwhile my wardrobe was full to overflowing with clothes I didn't wear. I really dislike clothes shopping so this was just an accumulation of things I'd slowly written off as no longer my style or too small or inappropriate for the real world (after finishing uni).

After 3 weeks of traveling out of a carry-on backpack with 3 shirts, a pair of pants and a pair of jeans and a jacket, I came home and was completely overwhelmed by having to dig through clothes I disliked to find anything to wear. It was exhausting and nine times out of ten I still left the house lacking confidence in how I looked.

Enough was enough.

I took everything out of my wardrobe and dumped it on the lounge. Collected all my clean washing from the basket on my floor and added it to the pile. Then I enjoyed the extra space in my room for a little while. During this process, I found a link to the no brainer wardrobe on Stephanie Howell's blog. At first I added it to my "maybe later" list of wants (not spending money at the minute and yes, this is an actual list) but when I saw it would cost me less than a cheap t-shirt at Kmart, yet add way more value to my wardrobe I bought it. I've read the first 30 pages and am slowly but surely making my way through it. It's making so much sense but I just get distracted by other things.  After reading the section about purging my wardrobe I starting on the pile on the lounge. With all those tips from Hayley Morgan in mind it was so easy to sort through everything. There were a couple of things that I struggled to decide on and I think these made their way into the "keep for now" pile, but I'm ok with that. It doesn't have to be a one-off purge. Maybe in a few months they'll go out the door too.

More than 50% of my (non-work) clothes are now sitting in bags at the back door. A garbage bag full of old t-shirts and jumpers etc, that are past their best, waiting to be taken out to the shed for rags and two shopping bags full of work shirts, skirts, etc that I may have worn a few times, but mostly not, ready to be dropped in the Vinnie's donation bin. They didn't fit me or they didn't fit my work environment so out the door they go.

I still have a fair way to go before my wardrobe makes it to "no brainer" stage but I'm definitely headed in the right direction. And it feels so good.

Day five: make space in my wardrobe (so I can use it)