I basically have two experiences when I'm in my closet deciding what to wear. Sometimes, I hate everything in there and can't choose so I just go with an 'old faithful' outfit. And other times, I'm flipping through the hangers and I find something that I completely forgot I had.
Both of these problems boil down to, what I think, is having too many clothes. Last year, when I ruthlessly decluttered our home, I sort of skipped the closet. I did go through my clothes, but I really only got rid of a few things. Holey socks are easy to toss! Other items were easily justified. The more I think about it, the more I'm sure I need to assess my clothing collection. For real this time.
First step, Inventory.
It's really important to me that I know what I have. No more finding random pieces that I forgot about. I want to know exactly how many dresses, skirts, tops and pants I have. I'm already eyeing the bin of scarves I have accumulated. I live in Florida...I don't need 8 scarves.
I'm not going to declutter yet.
There are a few reasons why I think I need to hold off for a few weeks before I really start getting rid of things. Mainly because, every spring and fall I rotate out my clothes. A lot of things I can wear year round, but I do like to put the other season's items in bins, and then the following season I rotate the items. Basically I don't want to see sweaters when it's 90 degrees, so I swap those for the bathing suits I had put away. >>All this to say, soon I will have to do my seasonal swap out anyway! Florida weather is super unpredictable but I'd say by March I'll be looking for my shorts. So, I don't really want to go through everything twice.
If I'm forced to repeat clothing more often, I think it will become really apparent what I'm still not reaching for, and then I can get rid of that item. But, that will take some time to figure out.
Other reason being:
Workout motivation.
I have a small bin of clothes that are too snug on me right now. If I keep up my workout routine I will soon be able to fit into those things more comfortably and it will be like going shopping! Plus, I think in general if you are comfortable in your body, you feel more confident in clothing. Which might be why some of the clothes hanging in my closet don't appeal as much as they could.
Benefits.
So, obviously you don't make changes if the benefits aren't worth it. I really hope that this experiment will do several things for me:
Budget: Behind eating out, I think that buying unnecessary clothing is my main spending pitfall. While hardly ever do I pay full price for an item, it all adds up.
Appreciation: It's kinda weird to say, but I think that our clothing doesn't get the appreciation it deserves. In times past, people only had one dress that they mended until it fell apart completely. We live in a world that buys clothing at incredibly cheap prices that are meant to only be worn twice before coming apart at the seams. I want to appreciate what I have, which is a lot! Also, I want to get my money's worth out of the things I buy.
Creativity: When forced, I think that this will make me try harder to create new looks with items that I've had for years. Off the top of my head I have 2 or 3 go-to outfits that are fail safes. These are looks that I'm comfortable in, they always get compliments and I feel like they are exactly my style. My goal is to come up with a couple more of these 'old faithful' outfits, as I like to call them.
Blogging: So, occasionally I
share outfits here on the blog. I love doing those posts, but I will admit that I always feel like I need to have new clothes to link to. I find it challenging that I only have 3 purses but I feel like you will get sick of seeing them over and over again. (Hence, why
I'm using something that goes inside my purse in this post) But, I hate that! I am a real person, who probably should only own 1 purse! I don't want to share anything inauthentic to my real life. My hope is that this goal will challenge me to showcase more realistic outfits. Besides, that's what I love seeing on other blogs. (
This was one of my favorite projects I've ever done, and I'd love to do more of that.)
Strategy.
I've been thinking a lot about how this is actually going to work. When I do my inventory, I'm sure I will find that I have all the bases covered. I really do have several dresses to wear to special occasions, most of which I've only worn once. There are tons of different variations of clothing I can wear to work, and I usually wear the same few things when lounging around the house.
The thought has struck me that there is probably going to be some point in the year when I am going to need something. For example, I have a trusty khaki skirt that I wear the heck out of, probably at least once a week. It's already worn out, to be honest. So if I stumble across one that could replace it, I really don't see the need to refrain from that.
So, my idea is that if I need something, I will not feel guilty buying it. A need is a need. But, I'd really like to attempt to only buy those needs used. Ebay, Poshmark, or consignment are all good options. (I do buy used clothing most of the time anyway!) The strategy here being that I need to work on deciphering a true need versus just a want.
I'm confident.
For one,
I've succeeded in challenges before. The thing is, other than building up my self control, I really don't think this will be all that hard! When I started thinking about doing this, I realized that it had already been several weeks since I had purchased anything. (My money is currently going to a baby shower right now, haha.)
About the time I realized that, I thought about going to get some new workout clothes. After I didn't find anything, I decided I was okay with it because I really do have plenty of things to wear and I work out in my living room so it's not like it has to be cute. That same day my friend texted me and asked if I was interested in a pair of VS workout pants that she had never worn. Talk about perfect timing! And let me tell you, these are the best pants I've ever put on my body. Way better than what I expected to buy that day. Basically, I think everything always works out and I'm definitely not expecting to feel like I'm doing without at any point this year.
365 days is a long time! I'm a bit nervous, but mostly just excited to see what impact this has on my budget and mentality! So, what do you guys think!? Leave a comment below if you think I can do it! Do you ever feel like you have nothing to wear while staring at a full closet? What do you think about new versus used clothing?
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