Give yourself a pat on the back you have done an amazing job clearing out and decluttering your clothes, how are you feeling? Do you feel amazing when you go to your wardrobe now. Think back to how things were when you first started. If your like me you had a wardrobe and drawers full of clothes but the reality was you were really wearing only a handful of them mixed and matched with different accessories and that’s all you need, you don’t need loads of other clothes in your wardrobe or drawers waiting for that one day you might wear them because you know what, they have been hanging and sitting there for years not worn.
Step 2 Accessories – How many do you really need?
Hats, Scarves, Necklaces, Bags
Lets start with Hats – get them all out and put them in one spot you may have more than you think, now how many do you really need ? well probably not many. I do have several and they are all used I have a wide brim hat for the hot summer days at the beach, a peak hat for casual wear, a straw hat, and a holiday hat that rolls up and is perfect for taking away, then I have a beanie for cold winter days. This may sound like too many but they are all used and all serve a different purpose. I did come across two berets that I got while living overseas. I don’t wear these any more but have decided to keep these and put them in my travel treasures box. I have a travel treasures box with souvenirs from places I have been, during my declutter this box is going to get a makeover I am going to print of a world map and mark the places I have visited and make this into a real little treasures box that I can share with my son. This may be something you would also like to do. Back to hats, I should point out my husbands hat collection which consisted of at least 30 possibly more hats. He is a tradie and the majority of these hats were given to him by companies he does work for promoting their business. I used to lie in bed at night staring at the mountain of hats piled on top of his dresser. I gave him a basket that fits perfectly into one of those ikea cube shelving units which we have in our bedroom. I put all the hats on the bed and asked him to please just keep the ones he was going to wear, oh and the ones he wanted to keep must fit into the basket. He did well and I no longer have to look at a pile of hats.
Sometimes the journey to declutter our lives can seem too hard and that’s why we don’t do it even though we want to, even though we are frustrated with the number of things around us. We make excuses, it’s too hard it will take too long I don’t know where to start and so on. The truth is, it is hard it is time consuming it won’t be done in a day or a weekend it takes time. But you have to start, start at the beginning start with the clothes, then the accessories. Even now that you have decluttered your clothes you may get frustrated or overwhelmed when you look around at all the other items in your home that you have to sort through, but don’t get disheartened remember this is probably how you felt when you first opened your wardrobe or drawers of clothes and look how far you have come, you can and you will do it because I am here to help you along the way.
Now the scarves – do as you did with the hats get all your scarves out in one spot it’s the only real way to see how many you have. I have gone through my scarf collection which proved to be pretty easy, I used to wear lots of scarves to work as well as on weekends but nowadays I wear a lanyard to work so find wearing a scarf a nuisance therefore I don’t need as many. So I have halved my collection and now own 6 four winter and two summer/holiday scarves.
Bags – this was a tricky one I am talking all bags, backpacks, tote bags, handbags, reusable store bags, suite cases oh my goodness. I started with the suitcases as we travel overseas we have two light weight suitcases one large and one medium, this allows us to take both on an overseas trips and often just the larger one on an interstate trip. They also fit inside each other so this saves on storage space. Obviously how many suitcases you need depends on the size of your family. I also kept two small hand luggage cases, and two smaller travel bags. Sounds a lot I know, the small hand luggage cases are both used to take on board the plane when we go overseas, they are also the perfect size to use for just a weekend away. Sometime when my son and I pop down to Dromana for a weekend we each take one of the hand luggage size suitcases with our clothes and we each take one of the smaller travel bags, which I put my makeup books and other bits in, my son puts his Ipad books and a few toys in his smaller bag. This way things are easy when we get the beach, he is not rummaging through his suitcase of clothes looking for his toys, books and so on. We also have a backpack which we take away on holidays for any day trips we do. I will do a blog post on travel tips at a later date, for now back to the bags. Handbags, I have one handbag that I use every day, and again I have a travel handbag that I use when flying anywhere, I also have two clutch bags one black and one bronze. I found that I did have too many of those reusable bags the kind you get in cotton on when you buy something and the money goes to charity, so I have got rid of some of them and will make sure I always have a my roll up eco bag in my handbag so don’t have to buy more bags.
Jewellery – here I am talking costume type jewellery, I have an assortment of necklaces and this was a hard one but when I put them all out on the table there were certainly some that I have not worn in years and some that I know I will not wear again. Remember good storage you may have all your necklaces tangled up in a box and that’s why you never wear them so think about better solutions to store them. Maybe hang them up or buy a container with individual compartments to keep them separated. If you find you have too many and have them in different places tell yourself you are only going to keep the ones that will fit in the place you are going to store them and no more.
As I reflect on my journey so far I am feeling happy with what I have accomplished so far I have now decluttered my clothes, my husbands clothes and my accessories & bags.
You may now feel the need to purchase more items…but before you do here are the rules I have given myself.
If for example you had to discard your favourite black T-shirt or that favourite pair of jeans because they had a stain on them that you couldn’t get out, then yes you can replace them.
If you are out shopping and you see a gorgeous top that you just have to have, ask yourself why you need it. Chances are you will have something in your wardrobe that is equally as nice, if not are you willing to get rid of a top you have already? For example I have a black vest, however I have recently seen a gorgeous Kathmandu vest that has a hood and is warmer. If I decide to purchase this then I will then get rid of the black vest I already have, after all I won’t need two and I am of course going to want to wear the new one with the hood. Its fine to replace items that are old or warn out. Its also fine to buy the gorgeous top that you have seen which looks lovely on you and is going to bring you joy every time you put it on. But it is not fine to go and buy 30 new items because you have just sent 30 items to the OP Shop.
We are currently in winter and I am happy with my winter clothing collection the base of my winter wardrobe consists of jeans, grey cargo pants, black pants, black tops, grey cardigan, Kathmandu jacket and scarves to accessories, plus a couple of other blouses that can be worn to dress the look up a bit but still look casual or wear with black pants when going out. This is a mix and match collection, and though I say it is my winter collection probably half of the items can be worn in other seasons as well.
Take time to reflect as you go on your declutter journey. I still find even after decluttering my clothing that I come across the odd item that I wonder why I kept it and decide to get rid of it. I had kept a couple of old jeans for gardening or those messy type jobs and a couple of old tops for the same reason. I have just started a pottery class with a friend and we were told to wear old clothes. On the night of the pottery class I put on my first pair of old jeans and decided they were too hideous to wear to the pottery class and really why had I kept two sets of old clothes in the first place I really only needed one set after all so there went two more items to the op shop.
So for now I would just say take it a day and a time do it at your own pace and your will get there.
x I Love That
Next we will move on to the linen cupboard.