minimize my wardrobe

I’ve been a packrat and a clutter bug practically all my life. It has complicated my life, cost me money, resulting in others throwing away things for me that I still wanted or needed, or unsolicited advice that I’m either taking already or which doesn’t work for me.

And my favorite Saint happens to be Francis of Assisi who has given away everything except for the cloak he was wearing. He’d give that away too if someone else were wearing something in worse shape than what he had on-they’d swap. In fact that’s why I like him-that and that he was an animal lover-like me!

I feel that if I do this-even if I take my time-and carefully consider any new addition to my wardrobe-it could free up some time and money.

In the last year and a half of living in my new house.. I have donated/sold between 15-20 decent size boxes of just clothing…

and I still have more than enough to wear! I’m not done yet though..

Good Goddess, I have a lot of shit. I’ve started going through my closet and the so-called “wardrobe” in there that exists of semi-slutty clothes from my single and clubbing days as well as tshirts that I haven’t worn since highschool. That was 8 years ago. I’ve started sorting into stacks a) stuff that isn’t mine and should be returned to it’s owner should they still want it, b) donations, and c) clothes that I want to keep but couldn’t possibly fit into at this moment. Also, as I do that I’m putting away my sweaters and other winter clothing that does me no good as the temp has risen to about 80 and stayed there. So far I’ve got about 10 articles of clothing sorted into the keep pile. Sad.

Where did all this crap come from? I’m sure my friends and family have presented me with articles of clothing they no longer found useful over the years…but why? I don’t even fit into half the stuff hanging in my closet. I’m going to tackle it one day this week, I’m just a little frightful of what I’ll see in there once I start pulling stuff out. Also, I’m not going to have any clothes left after this. I should take a before and after picture of my closet. Eek.

My closet (and laundry hamper) is FULL of clothing I haven’t worn in over 2 years! :-(

Yet whenever I go to toss things in the “Goodwill” pile I somehow convince myself that I will 1) wear it within the next week or 2) can’t bare to part with it because it is SO pretty/useful/hard to find etc. etc. Then I proceed to ignore said item(s) until the next time I go to toss out old clothes and the same rationalization again occurs.

Not really sure how to break the vicious cycle other than having someone else come over and get rid of the clothes for me… any volunteers???

I just have to do my laundry more often than every 4 to 6 weeks:)

This will be much easier once winter is over and I don’t have to worry about layering and keeping clothes that are warm, whether or not I like them or they fit.

I don’t plan on staying another winter here in Minnesota, if I can help it. In the summer practically all I wear are tank tops and the occaisional jacket on cooler days. I want to go somewhere where the weather will be like this for the majority of the year.

Filled a garbage bag with clothes I don’t wear anymore today. Will most likely fill atleast one more bag, haven’t finished going through all the clothes yet.

Going to let a couple friends look through it, take anything they want and then donate the rest to Savers or something.