Minimalist: Clothes
This was a hard one for me... minimalism and clothes.
I love clothes, I love shoes, but I don't use more than 25% of the clothes I own. This was definitely one of my first tasks when I embraced minimalism. Minimizing my daughters clothes was even harder because of the sentimental value attached to her stuff, but I would say, my clothes was second to that. There is the added layer that we live somewhere with 4 seasons and I have to make sure I don't get rid of clothes I might need for next summer!
I started this journey with two, 4-drawer dressers and one side of the walk-in closet just for my clothes. As you can see in the image, the drawers are pretty large. The clothes I owned was overflowing out of those drawers. I started by literally pulling all the clothes out of the dressers and onto my bed. Then piece by piece I only put back in the dressers what I wanted to keep.
My the end of that first round, I was able to empty out two drawers.
A few weeks later, I decided to tackle my closet. With the help of my husband I was able to get rid of half of the clothes in my closet. Things I asked myself during this process:
-When is the last time I wore this? If it was 6 months or more, I should donate it.
-Will I be using this in the next 6 months? I had to really be honest with myself with this one. If the answer was no, then it needs to go.
-Why am I keeping this piece? Sentimental value? Just because? I had found the dress I wore the day my husband and I got engaged, and I had never worn the dress again (that was like 10 years ago). I truly had no reason to keep it.
Then I went back to the dressers a week after going through the closet and was able to empty out another drawer, for a total of 3 drawers!
The best part of having less clothes is that laundry is much easier. Not only was I able to empty out almost an entire dresser, but I was also able to empty out one entire side of the closet. My husband went through the first phase of his clothes and we were able to fit both of our clothes on one side of the closet. Moreover, by donating clothes, you are helping others.
I hope this was helpful in explaining how I got through some of my clothes and what the process looks like for us. Im happy to answer more questions, so feel free to message me on Instagram: @moderhippie_val
