the ol' heave ho

I've recently been inspired to again go through my wardrobe in hopes of getting it to a more manageable and usable size.  I tend to whittle away at it a tad each year, donating small boxes of seldom worn items and yet still I find that I have way more than I need (swaps and thrifting, anyone?).  I'm sure in comparison to many, many women out there I already have a small and simple wardrobe, but for me it's just too much.  Too many things saved for "just one more year, and if I don't wear it then I will toss it", and way too many things designated for wear during painting/gardening/sleeping when in fact I almost never find myself painting,  always sleep in the same few things,  and don't wear specific clothes for gardening but instead am generally inclined not to roll around in the mud or chicken poo.  Generally.  Of course there are always exceptions.

I have also noticed the last few times we've travelled that even though I have made it a point to only bring (what I thought was) a small amount of clothing,  I still only wore a handful of items.  My go-to clothes, I guess.  And so my goal with this round of wardrobe management was/is to be ruthless and to dive in and not be afraid to let go of some things.  Shouldn't I be able to reach into my closet and be happy with whatever I pull out?  Why hold onto the articles of clothing that don't fit, aren't comfortable or flattering (although yes, dear, I am keeping all 3 pairs of my beyond comfortable though admittedly very unflattering Thai Fisherman Pants~ no apologies) or haven't been worn for years?  No reason, I say.  Simplify, simplify, I say.

So here is what it looked like, and is still in stages of looking like:

Before: my entire wardrobe (including the dirty hamper and only excluding the pj's I am wearing while taking the photo.... I am keeping those anyway and it is cold) dumped out on or around our dining table

During:  to the left in the first photo is the "keep" pile,  to the right is the "still deciding" pile, mostly outerwear.  That keep pile still looks pretty big to me, but keep in mind that's everything~ clothes for all seasons, outerwear, pjs, undergarments, my few pieces of grown-up dressy clothes.... everything.  Photo #2 is the "get rid of or re-purpose" pile. (though the re-purposing part may prove to be a bit tricky seeing as how I still need to get and learn to use a sewing machine.  It's been a long time since I made shorts and hair scrunchies in 8th grade home economics..... must've been a while seeing as how I made "scrunchies")

Me, halfway through and getting tired of trying things on and making decisions...

And Claire helping to organize, as she always does, but this time by trying on my undergarments.  Hmm.

And I will save the nicely organized "after" photo for when I've got it all nicely organized back in my closet.  Hopefully very soon.  I have decided that an acceptable finished product will be one bin of nonseasonal items in the storage shed, and everything else fitting nicely, with breathing room, in my closet.  I am passing on my dresser (that I currently share with Claire) to Mike as his will become Claire's (and surely it will be full of cutely repurposed former mama clothes living out their second life as adorable pants and dresses for her, right?) when we get her set up in a room of her own in the somewhat near future.  You know, within the next 15 years or so.

One bit that I've learned from dressing a baby and hope that I can apply to dressing myself: pay no mind to the size on the tag and worry only about how it fits.  Simple, right?  Uh huh.

Now off to organize my seed collection, get some started and pass the rest along...