But I know it is time. I need to call an Invention. To get straight to the point. Be very very brutal.
I need to call an intervention on myself.
I have a wardrobe full of clothes that are well past their use by date, of clothes I am keeping until I fit into again.
I have clothes that I swear I will sew the hems up or buttons on to, that I will repair and wear again.
All these clothes swamp my drawers to overflowing and they drip out encouraging me to wear them, especially the really comfy ones. The trackie pants I wore when pregnant are so comfy now still, but lately I have been wearing them out of the house, not just to get to the gym and back, but to the library, the shops and the park.
What is that about!!
Considering Popps is now five, the work suits I am waiting to fit into are pretty much out of date
I have clothes I bought while I lived in Ireland that I have kept because I loved it there so much and even just looking at them makes me happy. One of those tops I can barely get an arm in let alone over my head (Miss Meg will remember Goldy Top, we shared this top to wear out on special occasions!) I will never throw Goldy out, but do I really need the other stuff still, my gap jeans with the ripped knees (still my most fav jeans ever) I can't replace them, ever.
All these clothes make it look like I have a few options to wear, but I really don't.
It is time to get the bag and throw it all out.
I know I should. I know it shouldn't be so hard.
But I am going to struggle...what if I one day need it again?
So help me out bloggy readers, how do you force yourself to throw out the old comfy worn out clobber and accept your new post baby, post twenty something body at the same time?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Happy to skype you through it, Clairey ... you've taken the first step. Acceptance. Now it's time to pour a glass of wine and get those garbage bags ready.
ReplyDeleteSentimental things can stay but in space bag away from your every day stuff.
If a piece of clothing doesn't make you feel bloody fantastic when you wear it, ditch it.
Trackies can stay but in a "home" drawer only.
Once you've done the cull, you'll have a clear list of what's actually missing and you can use this list to re-stock over the next 3-6 months.
Rule of shopping - only buy it if you love it! LOVE it. No ifs, buts or maybes.
... here endeth the mini blog post ... go forth and cull!
Thank you Nikki.
ReplyDeleteThere will be some ditching and if I need to skype you I will let you know. A home draw sounds good...as long as I can keep it to one drawer!
I did this only a couple of weeks ago... Only mine didn't go out, because I'm going to need them when I lose the baby weight you see (the fact that I do most of my shopping at op shops or hand made stores negates the "out of fashion" rule - my clothes were probably never really "in fashion", LOL).
ReplyDeleteThere they sit in their dark garbage bags on top of my wardrobe... waiting... waiting. One of my friends, always a realist, told me I need to pass the bags on to her before they go to the oppy - but I won't need to - I'm going to fit them again - I AM!!!!
PS Because it makes you smile is a good enough reason to keep anything I say!!!!
As a bit of a sentimental old fool I have made myself a rule. I am allowed to keep 10 percent of the pile of things I feel really attached to (but know I don't need). Works for me :) Goodluck with it!!
ReplyDeleteI have the opposite problem to this - I throw out everything and anything that I haven't worn within the last year. And then end up wishing I hadn't. I can't hoard, I hate clutter, so I throw stuff out instead.
ReplyDeleteI've learnt now to do it in a two stage process. Stuff goes into a garbage bag and is stored away, then if I don't miss it for a few months, it goes to the Salvos.
Lately I've began to throw out anything that either feels uncomfortable when I wear it, or looks ugly/frumpy on me. I've donated most of work clothes simply because I no longer am/want to be that person. I will never wear suits to work again.
ReplyDeleteAnd simply because I don't have a lot of money I don't buy much new stuff, so it's sort of balanced out. Oh, and having next to no storage space in my wardrobe has been a great help.
I use two strategies Claire, one is less painful than the other:
ReplyDelete1. I force myself to wear that outfit or piece of clothing out to a place where I care what people think of my appearance (ie: to work, out with friends etc, not the supermarket!) and if I don't feel fantastic in it, it goes in the Salvos pile. Spending the day feeling like a frumper is enough incentive for me to get rid of it..
2. Move house! Painful yes, and an extreme measure just to rid yourself of excess clothes but each time I move house, I do a HUGE cleanout. .. there has to be something positive to come out ouf moving house!!
Oh ms Dru, the frumpy day has happened once to often lately. Hence my whole intervention.
ReplyDeleteThere needs to be a lot of shopping happening now.
I am semi-ok about the whole culling of the clothes thing. (What my problem involves is the Cross Shopping where I buy stuff and bring it home and look at it and go "WHAT was I thinking?" Or sometimes the what was I thinking moment occurs a month or so later when I go to wear it...
ReplyDeleteI do the two stage cull as well. I cull everything into two piles... the "good" stuff (what was I thinking stuff) goes in one pile; the other goes straight into garbage bags. After a few weeks, op shop for them. The good stuff - well, the last lot got donated to an organisation that collects work suitable clothes for unemployed and under priviledged women called "Fitted for Work". That way, I feel like someone who really needs that size too big/small, way too short/daggy lengthed for me skirt will get some benefit from my temporary lapses of sanity.
In a couple of years of doing the bag and wait method, I think ONCE I have retrieved something from a garbage bag!
Oh it is so liberating! I love a good wardrobe clean out, I have one at least every season. My advice: be brutal, honest and do it quickly! Don't hold back :)
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a fool proof tip for surrendering those clothes but when I'm going through my wardrobe I often think 'if I saw myself down the street wearing this what would I think?' I know we shouldn't judge by clothes etc etc blah blah but I shame myself into getting rid of some!
ReplyDeleteGood luck, tis a hard thing to do...
I did this at the start of the year (and blogged about it). Be kind to yourself and get rid of the out of date stuff, the too tight stuff. You'll feel so much better for it. It weighs you down, and makes it hard to keep on top of laundry/mending/shopping. And no more maternity clothes. You can still be comfortable without being frumpy. :)
ReplyDelete