With bathroom decluttering at a stall, I went to adress the closet. I keep meaning to do this, and always get just little spurts done. Ever since I moved in with Jesse, and he kindly relinquished the master bedroom closet, I just dumped all my stuff there. I pluck at it to find certain items that I wear regularly, but the rest is a mess. Sweater stacked on top of capris, skirts hanging under thsirts. It's horrible.
It's not that I have too much clothing. It's the fact that I keep ALL of it, from what I packed in suitcase to come here from Ukraine, to now and everything in between. That skirt I wore in Paris the summer of '97? Here. The jeans I wore to Ukraine? Here. Ugly shirt that is probably fashionable by Russian - IN Russia standards, but that my grandmother gave me? Here. My first ever (and ugly) Juicy Couture skirt? Checking in. The dress that I *really* liked, but didn't fit into, but bought anyway, hoping to lose 10 more pounds? Here. Except, now, I'd have to lose 45 lbs. It's like a penalty for procrastination.
Am I *really* ever going to be 95lbs? Probably not. It's probably not even safe to try given my 5'6" height and sugar addiction. Plus, size 2 of the 90's is a size 0 of today. What they both have in common is that they don't fit a size 6, (8 during "lady times"). There is also a lot of in-between clothes - ones that were too big in college, so I kept them in case I found myself pregnant or just 'fat', that are now too small. Those 'fat clothes' *really* displease me, along with the fact that I considered size 4 to be fat. HAA. ha. Humph.
I have 4 piles going:
-Rag pile. These are the hopeless clothes, that have seen too many campfires and climbed too many fences/rocks. These are also clothes I can not identify or assign ownership to. Or that belonged to an ex. Don't leave your stuff at my house, is the moral of this story. If I don't find it nice enough to wear (BTW, thanks for that shirt you accidentally left at my place, Heather!), these will be cut into rags. Which is awesome, it's about time I washed me a floor. Spot cleaning with paper towel is just not leaving a desired effect. My grandmother would be uimpressed.
- Goodwill pile. This a nice assortment to give back to Goodwill (I DO wish they accepted trades). A lady this weekend's Redlands Goodwill told me that in Phoenix they give you a 20% coupon when you donate. That would be nice. But I'll deal. They give me a lot of neat stuff, they get stuff back. It's like 10 years old, but you can bet I only ever wore it once-twice. Then I had a sandwhich and it no longer fit.
- Ebay pile. Or 'trade' pile. I have an unfortunate amount of 7 Jeans that are in ridiculous sizes. I think I bought them, thinking, the smaller they are, the better they will make my butt look, and have an overall "Spanx" effect. Not true then (couldn't breathe or sit), and definately not true 45 lbs later (won't go past my knees). There's shop called Trade Post on Harbor St that buys, sells, and trades a very limited selection of clothing. Limited in the brands, anyway. I am hoping to go turn in my size 26's for some 29's (31's for lady times). Some other things will get thrown up on Ebay for .99c. A yard sale of sorts, if you will.
-Sewing pile. This is my favorite. It is a solution for the skirt I wore to Paris, and can't quite give up. The Disney sweater that I thought would be cute for camping. But turned out I looked like a hobo wearing mens size L. The million pants I can't wear until hemmed, or dresses that would look cute if they were shorter, or clothing that various people 'donate' to me, ever since I got my awesome sewing machine. I enjoy tearing stuff apart and making it either fit me, or converting to something else entirely. Every once in a while, it might end up a candidate for the Rag Pile, so I can't be BUYING clothes for this purpose, the rejects will do. I also imagine myself making a quilt at some point down the road, incorporating all the "Paris skirt" and "grandmother given shirt" bits. And those awesome sparkly jean pockets.
All these pieces of clothing were randomly strewn about my closet and dresser, contaminating the environment, posing as clothes I could readily wear, but no longer! I freed my closet, and to celebrate I ran out and bought an Express skirt and pants in fabulous vivid green and teal colours at the Huntington Beach Goodwill. Sizes 0 and 2 out, sizes 9 and 10 in. Ha.
The Ebay/trade pile is awaiting a chunk of time I need. Jesse already carted a bag over to Goodwill. Or Salvation Army, we like to mix it up in our 'reverse dumpstering'. And the sewing pile is in a plastic bin on a top shelf of my closet. It is now a sewing BOX. I can dive in there on nights I'm bored for a quick project.
Monday night, for example, I took on the skinny jeans (that I HAD to have during a Bebe clearance in Chicago, that looked horrible as jeans, because that's what happens when you cram a giant butt and tiny ankles into some spandex and call it jeans, Bebe or not. Lesson learned.) and hemmed them into some capri leggings.
The above mentioned Disney sweater also got tackled. It got the sleeves cut off at the seams, two inches taken out of each side, sides sewn back together, and sleeves back on. If I was feeling really creative, I could have also made the sleeves narrower. It would make me look like a hobo even LESS. Another day, another project..
The one side looks better already, see?
I operate with a similar pile philosophy. But be careful with the e-bay and sew piles - make sure you actually e-bay the stuff or sew the stuff so it doesn't just get bigger and bigger !!!
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