Note: This is a guest post from Courtney Carver of Be More With Less.
Before I simplified my closet, it was a bigger source of stress than I knew.
It wasn’t just the sheer volume of clothing stuffed into a small space, but all the things the clothes represented. Bad purchase decisions stared me down every morning, reminding me of my debt and discontent. There were the clothes that didn’t fit me anymore (my body or my lifestyle) reminding me I didn’t really know who I was, or what I wanted.
Then there were the items I purchased to feel a certain way or to be perceived a different way. It took me awhile to realize it, and even longer to admit it, but I had countless negative emotions tied up in my closet. Facing them every morning wasn’t a positive way to start the day.
If you can relate to my stressful closet scenario, or you are overwhelmed with closet chaos for other reasons, consider this 3 step process to end closet chaos.
1. Discover the true cost.
Remove everything (and I mean all the things) from your closet. Put everything on your bed. Add all clothing, accessories, jewelry, and shoes from other locations of your home too. All of it.
If it’s on your bed, you’ll have incentive to end closet chaos by bedtime.
Next, take a look at what you’ve amassed over the past few years or decades. It helps to see it all in one place. If seeing all of your stuff like this is a complete shock, you’re welcome to move on to step number two.
But if you need more shock value, go a little deeper and try this …
Put a price on each item. Make a list of each item and the actual price you paid for it. If you can’t remember what you spent, estimate. Add up the cost of each item until you have a grand total. Next, estimate your hourly take home pay and divide the total cost of your closet collection with your hourly take home pay.
For example: If you have $2500 worth of items in your closet and you take home $10.00 an hour, divide 2500 by 10 and you’ll find out you worked 250 hours to buy the clothes and other items sitting on your bed. That’s a little more than six 40-hour work weeks. It took a month and a half to earn the items on your bed and that doesn’t count the hours and weekends lost at the mall or online shopping for everything.
Using the example above, ask yourself what you would do if someone handed you $2500 right now. Would you buy all the stuff back or make different decisions with your money? What if you could trade those 250 hours of time for something other than the stuff from your closet? Would you spend the next 6 weeks working to buy back all the stuff, or would you spend the time differently?
Those answers will help you understand the true cost of what you’ve purchased, and the lesson will stick with you when you consider future purchases. At least it did for me.
2. Put your favorite pieces back in the closet.
Choose the items you wear most frequently and fit you the best and put them back in your closet. Leave the clothes you don’t like and aren’t sure about on the bed. Take a picture of your simplified closet. Each morning when you open your closet, think about how it feels to see more space than stuff. Celebrate the idea that you get to wear your favorite things every day.
3. Box up the rest for a few months.
Take the left over items on your bed and box them up. Put them out of sight. Instead of giving them all away and worrying about not having enough, put a little space and time between you and the excess. See how it feels. Ask yourself if you miss anything. Do you feel lighter? Happier? Less stressed? After 60-90 days, if you haven’t missed anything you boxed up, give it away. Otherwise, revisit the stuff you packed away and make a decision. Let it go, bring it back, or take another 30 days to decide.
There isn’t a right or wrong decision here. The distance you put between you and your stuff will help you decide based on actual wants and needs instead of emotional connection.
For a deeper dive into understanding what enough means to you, consider minimalist fashion challenge Project 333. Dress with 33 items or less for 3 months. You can find the rules here.
Once you end closet chaos, your mornings open up, you spend less, and you will begin to find confidence in who you are instead of what you wear. You can apply this 3-step process to any room in your home, or collection of items you think may be excessive.
Instead of using this process to feel guilty, or upset about what you’ve spent, or how much time you’ve invested in working for things you might not even want now, smile. With these 3 steps, you’ve redefined your purchase process, eliminated stress, and reminded yourself you can choose to own less stuff, spend less money, and reclaim the time and energy you previously devoted to stuff.
Smile, because now you can start really living.
***
Courtney Carver will help you find your way back to love at Be More With Less. You can find her on Facebook too.
Lisa Gail says
My mom and I just did this and she had a yard sale and made a lil over $600.00 !! We usually just donate the items but she decided last fall to have a yard sale and she made $500 last fall and then last week made the $600. We will donate what doesn’t sell !! We sold the clothing cheap too – highest price was $2.00 !!
Amy@MoreTimeThanMoney says
Wow, that’s a lot of clothing. It makes you realise the value of stuff that’s just lying around.
joan mc kniff says
Brought up by depression era parents, I bring my unwanted clothes to a good consignment shop. Anything she doesn’t take, I bring directly to Goodwill. Once it leaves the house, even that great silk blouse-how could she not want it?, it doesn’t come back home.
My sorting is slower as I had so much from several overseas assignments. I take a huge armload of clothes on hangers, put them on sorting rack. Some things go with just a look. But anything I think I want to keep, I try on first. Does it fit well, look good, feel comfortable? Is a near duplicate of another item?
Donna says
I do so want to start this process and being so overwhelmed with stuff that I can’t seem to start
rosie says
Start small. I wrote about some tips for that here https://rosieleizrowice.com/2016/06/16/minimalism-decluttering-and-discarding/
John says
I went through my closet and donated everything I don’t wear to the Goodwill. It felt great. Until my wife asked where the Christmas sweater she bought me had disappeared to! Thanks for your thoughtful post!
Eve says
So much wisdom here. A few years ago I decided to get rid of all things in my house that didn’t fit my new way of thinking. I did exactly like this post says & never looked back. I still have a small pared down home after all this time. Once you see what it does for you mentally, you never go back. Things literally can weigh you down. I feel free to choose only the things I love or need now.
One thing I learned that was surprising was how much huge furniture I had. I got rid of coffe tables, end tables that were never used & replaced them with plants. My guests have always headed to my kitchen so we just never used the tables. Freed up space which is another thing I learned. Negative space is so important.
Aaron @IncomeHoncho says
I have a problem with getting rid of my clothes, they all tend to add up after each year until i run out of space. Need to go donate hehe, thanks for the tip!
Angela @ Setting My Intention says
I “konmaried” my clothing, but I suspect there is still a bit that can be taken out – the “just in case” items. I need to put those in a box and see how I feel after awhile.
Brittney Murray says
Wow! #1 really caught my attention. I never thought about do the hour to hourly wage break down but that’s a real eye opener. I have been on a minimalist journey and it has change my way of life and thinking tremendously.
Thanks for sharing
Daisy Chain says
Quote from Thoreau “the cost of a thing is the amount of… life which is required to be exchanged for it”.
Inge Kempen says
Thinking about what I paid for all that stuff is my big problem.
I now feel that I have to sell it to get part of the money back.
Or lose weight to fit in the smaller sizes.
I am stuck.
Judy says
I love this Courtney! I’ll give it a go…
But any suggestions on work clothing? I have to dress nice for work…it’s micro-managed and they really do expect and notice clothing. It’s an important part of my job. It’s hard, and being a minimalist, I find it very discouraging. I hate having to purchase new things—but I have a closet full of unacceptable work attire.
Worst part, I can’t afford to dress the way they require me to :(
Ditzler1 says
Check out thrift stores like Goodwill & Salvation Army. They have a serious amount of work appropriate clothing, some of it still brand new with the tags on it, for about 90% less than what you would pay elsewhere. You can build a great wardrobe and not feel as bad about acquiring more. You are helpful charity, reusing items, and saving yourself some money at the same time. And bonus, you can drop off things you don’t need in the same trip.
Judy says
Thank you!!!
Shannon says
I totally agree with Ditzler1, Judy. When I was in the process of losing 40 pounds for better health, but had to wear nice fitting clothes to teach in, I bought all my inbetween sizes clothes at Goodwill. I spent less than $40 and had a whole closet full of nice name brand clothes. Then when I reached my goal weight, I took all those size 10s right back to Goodwill and donated them back!! It’s a win-win for everyone. I thought of it as renting a closet of clothes for 6-8 months for forty bucks????
Judy says
Thank you, Shannon! :)
Susan says
What a great idea, Shannon! I’m going to try that while I lose weight. Thanks for the suggestion!
Naomi Alexander says
I’m with you on this one, Judy. If I didn’t need ‘work’ clothes (I’m a secretary) I’d live in my yoga gear (I go to yoga classes three times a week but I also lounge around at home in those clothes!) and I’g away with having a couple of pairs of jeans with a few nice tops (for socialising). My husband manages to be a ‘proper’ minimalist (one pair of jeans, a few T shirts – just like Ryan Nicodemus) but he works from home.
Judy says
So true :)
Debbie says
I also box things up for awhile before I donate them. I put them in my storage building which I call my halfway house because they are halfway to being given away.