Tag: spring cleaning

Beginning my clutter overhaul

In many ways I would like to think I lead a fairly minimalist lifestyle. Five years ago, my husband Chris and I downsized from our house and moved into a smaller apartment. Before we moved we significantly reduced our possessions and spent many weekends taking stuff to charity shops and to the tip.

Nearly 5 years on and the clutter is starting to build again… I’m not overly keen on spending time ‘tidying up’ as there always seems something better I could be doing. So I have to be in the mood to have a sort out…

Well… I’ve made a start today! The first bit of decluttering I’ve undertaken this year began with a clothes sort-out. As this ties in with my ‘capsule wardrobe‘ challenge, I’ve put the details under that heading.

As well as finishing off my clothing declutter, I also need to focus on the following:

  • Sorting through my paperwork (tends to build up however hard you try to reduce it)
  • Sorting through my books (I now buy Kindle books but have quite a few books that I haven’t even looked at for 5 or even 10 years…)
  • Sorting the kitchen cupboards (checking everything is in date and fit for consumption)
  • Sorting the freezer

So, as mentioned above, I’m not entirely new to the concept of minimalism and de-cluttering. One of the main reasons for doing this is just to keep life simple. Sorting through heaving wardrobes trying to find something to wear is stressful and I’m keen that my life is as stress-free and easy as possible.

Decluttering isn’t just of the material nature… I’ve got my meditation classes starting next Tuesday in order to do some mind de-cluttering!

 

 

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First step: getting rid of unwanted clothes

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Clothes to get rid of

Its Easter Saturday today which means a long four day weekend and the perfect time to start making some progress towards a capsule wardrobe!

Wikipedia explains the official term capsule wardrobe was coined in the 1970’s by somebody called Susie Faux with the idea being you create a wardrobe with a few essential pieces of key clothing that don’t go out of fashion.

Like most things, you can take this type of phrase and adapt it as you wish. My reasons for creating a capsule wardrobe are as follows:

  • Reduce the stress of too much clothing clutter
  • Create more space in my wardrobe
  • Only keep clothes I actually wear

With reference to the third point above it has been said that the 80:20 rule often applies to clothes and I found several web articles on this. The idea is “many people wear only 20% of their clothes for 80% of the time”. I think this is a fairly accurate description of the frequency of the clothes I wear!

I’ve made the initial attempt at de-cluttering my wardrobe… I think I still have a few more things to reduce before I can official say I have a ‘capsule wardrobe’ but I’m pleased I’ve made a start today!

These were the basic rules I applied to my clothing de-clutter:

  1. Get rid of anything that is too big – now that I’ve lost nearly 2 stones since 4th December 2017 I don’t want to keep anything that is too big ‘just in case’. I need to get it into my head that my current size is my size and that it is a permanent thing and not a temporary state. So after trying multiple things on I’ve sifted out various items of larger clothing that now look ridiculously baggy.
  2. Get rid of old and tired looking clothes – and faded and generally clothes that are past their best. Some of these items of clothing have hung around in my wardrobe for a couple of years and are just taking up space.
  3. Just keep a small number of ‘indoor’ clothes – like the old pair of jeans that you wouldn’t want to wear if you are going out but are OK to wear around the home. You only need one such pair! And maybe a couple of tops…
  4. Get rid of clothes I haven’t worn in a while – I don’t want to put a time limit on these as some only get worn on certain types of occasion. For example, I may not have worn my strappy sandals for 12 months but that doesn’t mean I won’t wear them in the summer. I think this just needs a bit of common sense and maybe re-phrasing to ‘get rid of clothes I am not intending to wear ever again’…

So I still have my shoes and underwear to go through but already I have a nice big chunk of space in my wardrobe!

And I need to start thinking more carefully about how I’m going to apply the idea of a capsule wardrobe which I think is something more than just getting rid of a few clothes…