Spring Clean Closet Style.

Number two on my list of 10 things to do this spring (can be seen here) has been complete! I had a friend over, I tried on clothes, I sorted and organized and folded, we debated and in the end, the night was a success. I managed to purge about two garbage bags full of clothes that I  either do not wear, are worn out and have seen better days or that are simply no longer my style.

The end result of clothes to get rid of, plus another bag in the storage room.

I had clothes that I have had around since high school, so it was about time that I start to get rid of somethings. I feel refreshed in getting rid of so much, I am looking forward to hopefully making a few dollars off of what I am getting rid of and I am happy that I can now finally close my drawers. I finally think I have control over all of my clothes and I am thrilled.

With cleaning out my closet came a lot of emotions I was not expecting as well. I found clothes that I love, but have not worn in over a year simply because they no longer fit. This is serving as encouragement as I then started boot camp three days later, so I now know that I cannot give up until these clothes fit again. I so badly want them to fit again, so I am going to try my darnedest.

When cleaning the closet I followed a few simple criteria for choosing what stayed and what left. 1) Have I worn it recently? (past year?) 2) Do I love it? I feel feel good wearing it? I feel like if I have something I do not love in my closet it will not get worn simply because I have items that I do love. 3)Does it look worn out/could it be replaced easily/cheaply? This is a big one. If I have clothes that I wear all the time and that are falling apart, and I can buy new easy at any store for under 10$, why in the world am I keeping the holy tank top? So I did get rid of a number of clothes that over the year I will most likely replace with similar items. 4)Is it sentimental and could it be repurposed? For me this is a big one. I have a number of shirts from sports teams and events that mean something to me and therefore do no wish to get rid of. They are shirts that I would wear to the gym or on a day when I do not plan to leave the house, but who needs 30+ of these kind of shirts. I decided to rid my drawers of them and make a t shirt quilt (inspiration here.) 5) Do I need this? Is this improving my life in someway or helping me reach my goals? This is a big category. In some ways it is what helped me justify keeping my compression shorts because I have a goal to get in shape and for keeping a number of my dress pants because I would love to have a real job one day.

Following my criteria I was quickly able to decide what to keep and what to let go. For the most part it was easy to part with most of my clothes as I bought it all on sale and a lot was well loved. For other items however it was harder, mainly because they were splurg purchases I only wore a number of times because I remembered that I looked ridiculous and could never pull it off. As well a number of items that are appropriate for a 17 year old high school kid are not so appropriate for a 25 year old married lady, so those had to go (also did I mention that at work at least once a week someone asks me what high school I go to?).

In the end I am so happy it is done and I think I will do it again at the end of the summer as I kept a number of items to see if I will wear them this summer. If I do not, they are gone and it will feel great. I highly recommend doing this. It opens up space and makes you realize what you can buy and what you need to walk away from, for me it is dress pants. So this spring as you are doing your cleaning, do not forget the closet.