To start my journey of living a more simple life, I thought I would start with the place where I could definitely give away most stuff: My closet. To give you a little insight into my situation: I have (had) an overflowing wardrobe in my room at my parent’s house and also a full one in my flat. I still very often believe I have nothing to wear (tell me one woman who doesn’t). I guess three quarters of the stuff I owned I never wore. So I started throwing out.
And throwing out and throwing out. The pile of clothes I didn’t want to wear and have lying aroung quickly grew (you can see the pictures above, and I still have lots to wear!). At first I thought I would list how many things I gave away (how many bags, t-shirts etc) but when I saw the amount of stuff in the end, I thought that would be quite a pointless way of spending my time. I put it all in bags, gave it to the local charity shop and got on with my day.
+ Things I hadn’t worn in two or more years (I actually already put those in boxes – which were sitting in my wardrobe).
+ Items I would never fit into again or which never really suited me in the first place (looking at old pictures can be quite the eye-opener sometimes).
+ Things I didn’t like in the first place and couldn’t really remember why I bought them at all. Somehow I always keep the things I had never worn in my life (or maybe one or two times) the longest because it is so obvious that they were a waste of money. Now I know at least what NOT to buy.
+ Things I maybe wanted to alter someday soon. Truth is – I will never get around to doing stuff like that.
+ Things I was still wearing. Obviously.
+ Things that still had some kind of sentimental value (like band t-shirts or my prom dress).
+ Higher quality pieces (sometimes I splurged!) like genuine leather bags or nice dresses.
It was hard. Although I don’t really understand why – they are just lifeless clothes after all. And afterwards I felt so much better. Refreshed somehow. And all the time I was thinking: You are never buying anything new again. Of course, that’s neither realistical nor fun, so here are some basic guidelines I have set myself for the future.
+ I actually won’t buy anything new until mid-August (our London trip, I can’t go to London and not buy anything, sorry). Instead I will write down everything I would like to buy and then see if the wish still exists in a few months.
+ Before buying something new, I will think to myself: Is this something I would like to give to my future-daughter? I really love looking through my parent’s old stuff, and I want my daughter to find real treasures. Pieces that are memories of a certain time and not just objects.
+ I will choose quality over quantity. And one-of-a-kind, timeless pieces. There are certain items people have worn in the sixties and are still wearing today. And I will look for great Fair Trade fashion. I’m already in love with the People Tree collection, if only I could actually afford it!
+ And in my last Simplify post, Morgan commented that she always gives away one piece of clothing every time she buys something new. That will not only keep your closet smaller, but will also keep you away from mindless shopping (since you have to give away something you owned before!). I’ll try that out as well.
What are some of your tips to cleaning out and giving away? I would love to hear!!
I always organize everything into two piles: donate & keep. The “keep” pile usually goes to my cousins, the “donate” pile…well it gets donated! lol
I loved this! I, too, try to simply as much as I can. I find it just makes me happy… and a whole lot stressed when they aren’t such a mess.
My closet… oh man… compared to some women, I don’t have a lot of clothes… however, to me I feel as though I have too much. Which is weird b/c I donate more than I buy! I just think that with each year… the number of clothing I think is proper, becomes less and less acceptable. In other words, I feel like with every 6 months time, I need to purge my closet.
And man, when I do. It feels good. :)
ah love this post! I have been meaning to clean out my closet and donate my stuff too. there’s just too much in there that I don’t actually wear all that often. love the tip about thinking whether or not I would want to pass it on to my future daughter! these days I try to buy clothing a lot less and make sure I’m buying something of good quality that was made in an eco friendly way.
Love this! I adore your style lady!!! I am so glad you’re trying it out =)
Oh dear you’re the second blogger I’m reading that’s doing this! Maybe it’s a sign? But I’m always afraid I end up regretting it haha but maybe I should just do it!
I just did this very thing and made it a goal to cut my wardrobe (which was sparse as is) down by 50%. I managed to cut it down by around 43%. We’ve been simplifying over the years and have learned so much, and recently we decided that we are going to buy an RV and live in it full-time, so we are selling pretty much everything. :)
Hanna’s Places is a green lifestyle magazine written by Hanna Ulatowski. It’s all about slowing down in a fast-paced society and finding ways to live a more sustainable, simple lifestyle.
July 3, 2013
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) for me, I have a little sister who just LOVES for me to clean out my closest a couples times a year! But these are some great tips!