A few days ago I finally read one of my older emails I had kept to get back to. When I read Barbara’s article about Wardrobe Capsules, I just about flipped. Of course! It was the perfect solution to my too-full closet. Barbara can be found at SimplifyDays.com although the article on Wardrobe Capsules can no longer be found.
Culling
I drove to Home Depot that very afternoon and purchased a tall hanging wardrobe box and began pulling alllll the extra things out of my closet: old clothes, wrong season clothes, accessories like belts and scarfs, purses, shoes, cat toys, boxes of “I’ll put this away later” and so on.
It was a liberating experience, except that now everything is piled on top of my bed as I sort and cull. The cats think it’s great to play King of the Clothing Mound, but I sat down for a good half hour and just looked at the chaos. And then it came to me.
Epiphany
I don’t always buy clothes for who I am. Sometimes I buy clothes for who I wish I was. Stylish, professional, trendy with my own quirk. I love all my clothes and I actually do (sometimes) wear most of them. But if I’m completely honest with myself, I’d be perfectly happy wearing jeans and nice blouses the rest of my life.
So what’s the deal? Well, for on thing I’m plus size and dammit all it is very very hard to find plus sized clothes that are actually cute, trendy, fashionable or flattering. Sometimes I would buy things that I liked just because it was so hard to find things I liked on me, even if I never planned to wear it.
The Solution
What to do? Well, I’m culling a lot. If I haven’t worn it in a year and/or don’t really like how it looks on me, out it goes. I’m sending a lot of things to ThredUp to sell because some of the things I’m culling have never been worn! I’m also donating several things to my local Discovery Shop, which benefits the American Cancer Society. And, of course, I am creating wardrobe capsules so that I can have less clutter in my closet.
Now granted, I live in Southern California, so we only really have two seasons to dress for: hot, and hotter than the sun. Even so, there are times when it’s cool enough that I don’t want to spend time looking through T-shirts and short-sleeved blouses and sun dresses. Instead I want long sleeve shirts and dresses with sleeves. It’s brilliant really to have two wardrobe capsules I switch out. And when it comes time to switch wardrobes, I’ll have forgotten what I packed away, so it will feel like Christmas all over again!
I’m grateful for the revelation about my closet, but even more so about who I have been buying my clothes for. Wardrobe capsules will save me a huge sum of money in the future!
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