Next, I formulated some loose goals: I want to decrease my overall wardrobe. I want it to be easy to pick out what I'm going to wear each day. I want to only have clothes that fit well and feel good. And I want to spend less money and less time shopping.
With those goals in mind, I decided to drastically reduce what was in my closet and set about sorting thru all of my clothes. But I love my clothes, I couldn't just give them all up! I knew I would have to go in baby steps. The first baby step was to get rid of anything that was emotionally easy for me to get rid of. Items I never wore, had out grown, or just didn't fit well went into a giveaway pile, a donate pile, or the trash (if they were really no good to anyone). I only got rid of things that were easy to get rid of.
For the next baby step I used some advice from the blogs I had read: I thought about "my style". People often joke that I dress as if it's still the 90s, and why not? T-shirts, jeans, vans, hoodies and flannels, layered dresses, and funky sweaters are what I like to wear and what I feel comfortable in!
Next I went thru all the clothes that remained with "my style" in mind. I kept everything that I loved, that fit the season, that fit the description of my style, and put everything else into plastic bins. I have to wear black or white to work, so I also kept (almost) all of my work clothes. I put the bins away to be reculled at the end of the season.
OK! I had drastically reduced my closet. I felt good about the progress I made and decided that it was a great start.
I knew that a very important goal for me was to cut down on shopping. But I decided that I really needed to do more than cut down. I needed to stop. So I decided that besides a few items I needed I wouldn't clothes shop at all in 2015! Scary! But I knew that there were some items I would have to buy, so I hoped that would hold off my cravings.
I started this goal for myself in January, and now 3 months later, I feel really good about what I've accomplished so far:
It's easier to find items to wear each day, I don't feel like I'm scrambling to find work clothes as much.
Almost everything I grab from my closet this season fits well and I feel comfortable in it. If I end up having something that does't feel good, it's easier for me to put it in the discard pile than it has been in the past.
I end up wearing items that I enjoy, but got little wear out of, bc it's easier to find things as my closet isn't as full.
I've only bought 2 items since Jan 1 2015.
But all these accomplishments have also made it clear that I have a long way to go:
I still have way too many clothes.
I still have items that don't fit well, or feel good.
I have huge piles of laundry, left over from years of hording clothes, that hasn't even had the first cull yet.
I have a whole new season and it's weight worth in clothes, to go thru!
My closet is still very messy and disorganized.
I have a bunch of stuff in a "maybe" pile that I haven't tried wearing yet.
I still have the urge to shop.
I haven't donated any of the items I put aside, or sent any of my giveaway bundles. So all those clothes aren't in my closet but they're still in the house.