Purge and Purge Again

I can see all of my clothes at the same time!

So I thought I was done purging. Every room in the house has recently been gone over with a fine tooth comb.  The house looks good and I’m feeling good.

But, I have another yard sale fundraiser coming up. And I’ve been reading several great minimalist and sustainable living blogs. In particular, The Minimalists, Be More with Less, and Zero Waste Home. I’ve been noticing items that I don’t use/pay attention to/ don’t really need/ don’t really even like sometimes and taking them out to the porch to our yard sale pile. Nothing systemic just taking items as I spy them.

I used to be a major clotheshorse – when I lived in Seattle I went clothes shopping multiple times a week – mostly at thrift store, vintage stores, consignment shops, and Nordstrom Rack. I would purge my closet and take things to a consignment shop and immediately blow my store credit on more clothes. I used to decorate my studio apartment with cool vintage pieces that I would tack up on the wall. I had a major velvet/lace/leather fetish that could not be quenched. When I lived in Dayton I devoted our upstairs hallway to my purses (over 40 of them), organized by style – it was a beautiful sight. When I moved from Seattle to Dallas I only moved two steamer trunks, my computer, and hundreds of pounds of clothes. As I’ve had kids, found other outlets for my creativity, and had a tighter budget my wardrobe has gotten smaller and smaller. The first major purge was when I had William and my feet grew from a size 5 to a 6. I had to start from scratch – and get rid of a lot of amazing shoes I’d collected over the years. When I had Katie my feet grew to a 6 1/2. Starting over – round 2! Anyway, I felt like my current wardrobe was a)not as cool as it once was and b)tiny.

Today though I decided to tackle my closet again. I’m one of those seasonal people. I always have half of my wardrobe in storage. During my recent purge I went through my current summery clothes and through the bins that store my fall/winter clothes.

Today I started by taking all of my tops that were currently in rotation and pulled them out of the closet. I actually found one that I can’t even remember ever wearing and I have no idea where it came from. And it’s cute! I purged stuff that was unflattering, worn out, or a style I don’t wear anymore. At this point there were only a few items in the “yard sale” pile. Next I pulled all of my bottoms out and went through the same process. Again, not too much went in the pile.

This left me feeling a little unsatisfied so I decided to go through my winter stuff also. Wow! I am a winter clothes person – I had 2 vintage faux fur coats, 1 huge duffle coat, 2 medium-weight wool jackets, a silver puffy jacket, a Gap peacoat, and 3 vests – and I already had a few jackets out on the porch. I pulled out the other 2(!) bins that held my actual winter clothes and started purging in earnest. As I went along I decided merge my seasonal wardrobes into one year-round wardrobe. Enter the “maybe” pile. Once I finished with the winter stuff I attacked the “maybe” pile. The only way a “maybe” could stay was if it actually worked with multiple pieces in my wardrobe. Sleeveless tops that I thought were good for layering ending up being not so good – yard sale! Pants and skirts that I have no tops to wear with – yard sale! Cool jackets that fall to my hip bone when I never tuck in a shirt and will never be able to wear without looking sloppy? – yard sale! After going through the maybes I went through my “keeps” with the “what can it work with” trick and my yard sale pile grew and grew.

I’m so excited that I finally found the key to truly reducing my wardrobe – and making my wardrobe actually work for me, instead of against me. No more cool clothes mocking me because I have nothing to wear with them. And I kept so many cool, totally “Raine” pieces that I will now get to wear over and over instead of having them buried in my closet. I know everything in my closet now works with multiple pieces. YAY!

I did keep a few things that are still tight on me – I’m on a mission to reduce my weight and improve my health so they felt worthwhile to keep. If the mission fails (IT WILL NOT FAIL!!) I’ll get rid of them in January when I have a scheduled purge.

So adding it up – I’m at 27 bottoms, 44 tops and 3 dresses. I didn’t count the coats – they’re back in a bin until winter comes.  For my troubles I have two garbage bags of clothes for the yard sale, 2 vintage jackets I’m going to try and consign, and an empty bin. I also found a pair of heels I haven’t been able to wear since I had Katie – they are destined for the yard sale also. To balance that I found a pair of black boots that I’d forgotten about and didn’t wear at all last winter – score! There are a few things I might still chuck (I’ve got four pairs of cords) but I’m going to watch my wearing habits over  the winter and see if anything else can go. I also have a few things I would like to buy – specifically some tank tops  - but I’m not going shopping anytime soon.

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