My closet stood in front of me laughing...
How many times have you stood with your closet doors open deciphering the jumble of fabrics in front of you? Too many to count? You are not alone. I'm here with you. We can get thru this.
Too often I found myself struggling with wardrobe fatigue. My closet stood in front of me laughing. My clothes hung there depressed as they no longer led a life of flaunting how good they make me feel. My summer wear had begun to taunt my one pair of fleece-lined leggings because I only wore them once. The pile of colorful Old Navy jeans cringe at the sunlight as they’ve never felt the kiss of it’s glow. (That’s what happens when you bulk buy clothes just before a pregnancy.) Ok. Enough with the flowery humanizing of my clothing. I’m gonna tell you how I fixed this. And it has saved me a lot of time and mental anguish.
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After seeing this video on Marie Kondo’s way of decluttering and organizing, I realized that the piles of laundry (mostly clean) sitting in front of my closet wasn’t going to be as hard to conquer as I thought. The simplest takeaway from the video was “Does this item bring you joy?” I’m all about things clicking and this was one of them. I thought, “Of course. If I don’t get excited to wear it, then it’ll just stay in there not adorning the body of a buxom beauty like myself.” Ok, I didn’t think exactly that. But the general idea is still the same. What’s the point of holding on to something that doesn’t bring you joy? Doesn’t make you happy?
The first thing I did was buy Marie’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying. I was so anxious to begin that I attacked my closet before I even cracked the spine.* I focused only on the small "Does it bring you joy?" aspect.
*I do not advocate taking on the KonMari method without fully studying it.
Steps I took to decluttering my closet:
- GATHER I gathered everything in my closet, dresser, and the clean clothes from that laundry pile.
- CATEGORIZE I then went thru and looked at each piece. Yes, every piece. Touching, I found out later, is a big part of Marie’s KonMari method. I just did it because I really wanted to be rid of some things. With each piece I asked myself, “Does it bring me joy when I wear this?” Not even when I look at it. I am guilty of loving a piece much more on the hanger than I do on myself.
- PURGE Once I had my ‘Joyful’ and ‘Joyless’ piles, it was time to decide what to do with them.
- Joyful pile: I folded my t-shirts and organized them standing up into my dresser drawers. The KonMari method of folding like a package really came in handy. I hung my dresses, skirts, and jackets. What to do with sweaters has always been a conundrum for me, so I ended up folding them and putting them all on a hanging shelf in my closet.
- Joyless pile: There are plenty of things you can do with this pile. Donate it. Sell it. Upcycle nostalgic items into something more practical. Whatever you decide, get it out of your closet/dresser.
It’s that time of year again where you’re only a few months away from ugly sweaters from grandma or a gift card to your favorite clothing store. This means you need more room in closet! Find a weekend between now and mid-December to go thru your closet and dresser. Keep in mind that there are plenty of organizations that look for weather specific items around this time of year. So if you have a coat or a pair of snow boots that are lacking in the joy department, donate them to a local shelter or a church.
When you’ve gotten rid of all those Joyless items, take a deep breath and look at just how much more room you have in your closet! You did it! And now that you’re down to only those pieces that bring you JOY, you’ll be able to see more of what you need to complete your wardrobe. You’ll also have more time to think and less anxiety as that lofty space in your head will no longer be overwhelmed by what to wear.