with the arrival of spring, the high temperatures here in vermont are consistently settling into the 50s and 60s. and with the new seaon comes the opportunity to remove winter clothing from my closet and from my life. if i didn’t wear it this winter, why would i think i’m going to wear it next winter? instead of just putting into a box marked “winter clothing,” i prefer to put it into a box marked “goodwill donations” or “garage sale.”
in reality, we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. i read a great piece of advice from oprah.com this week to help identify pieces of clothing to clear out : hang your clothes with the hangers in reverse direction. as you wear a piece of clothing, you will return it to the closet with the hanger facing the correct direction. at the end of the season (or 6 months if you live in a mild climate), take notice of the clothes you have not worn and promptly discard. you just may be surprised at the number of articles that are only taking up closet space.
if you are in the habit of changing over your closet to match the season as we do in my home, this is a perfect time of year to give it a shot.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been doing this for several years, except I use blue plastic hangars at the beginning of the season, and gradually as the clothes are worn, washed and rehung on white hangars, I become aware of the clothes that have not been worn by the color of the hangar. Works every time
BYW, my journey to become minimalist started 8/19/09 after I found your blog site. I have already filled quite a few boxes with the things I have removed. Thanks for this blog.
I find it easier to re-evaluate clothing when it’s coming out of storage. Last weekend I tried on all my summer clothes as I took them out of the “summer” box, and was amazed/disgusted at how many really didn’t fit or weren’t flattering. Out, out!
I also have thin plastic discs on my closet rod that let me know what month I last wore something in. Since 1/1/10 I’ve been always replacing clothes on the left, and adding a new disc at the beginning of each month. It’s not so hard to get rid of a shirt if I realize I haven’t worn it this year at all and still don’t feel like wearing it.
Hope my volume of comments is okay… I’m reading all the way through from the beginning.