Reclaiming Your Wardrobe!

Hello lovelies,

This afternoon I'd finally had enough, and I decided it was time to get my wardrobe back into working order. This is what my wardrobe was looking like to begin with. Yup, just like that. With everything all crushed in, and everywhere. If you look closely, you'll notice that there's even a couple of pillow cases jammed in there, along with a novelty flower The Boyfriend bought me back when we first started dating. Something had to be done! *cue action music*

So, with the help of this fantastic guide to wardrobe taming, and a $29.95 hanging cupboard organiser, I got to work. I pulled everything out of my wardrobe, and dumped it onto my bed. And I mean everything - shirts, pants, jumpers, tops, hats, scarves, belts, tights, skirts, dresses, etc. Then, I sorted everything into piles of "things I wear" and "things I don't wear". My main tip for this stage is - be ruthless. Sure, you might love the idea of that turquoise kaftan, but if you bought it a year ago, and it's still sitting in your cupboard with the tags on, then it's a "thing I don't wear". I then organised my "things I wear" pile into different types of items (eg. t-shirts, skirts), and my "things I don't wear" pile into things that need mending, things that don't look/fit right, and things that I don't know what to wear with.

Time to start reorganising! I'm starting with my "things I wear" pile. I whip out my $29.95 hanging cupboard thingy, and stick it in there. Ah, how clean my wardrobe looks with no clothes in it! (Note, I decided to leave the novelty flower, because it makes me smile every time I go to get dressed!) I sort my t-shirts into piles of dark shirts with graphics, bright colours with graphics, light colours with graphics and plain t-shirts. Then I fold 'em, and put them into the shelves on the hangy thing. I decide the big space at the top is the best place to put hats, and scarves, tights & various accessories make their way into the drawer. (I also took pictures of the things I put in the drawer so I can stick them on the front and always remember what's in there, but I can't put them up yet as I have no coloured printer ink!) Everything else from the "things I wear" pile gets hung up, and put neatly back into the closet.

Now, since I'm feeling positive after handling the pile of things I wear, it's time to start on the "things I don't" piles. The things that need mending get taken to my sewing room, and I decide that I'm going to get rid of all the things that don't look/fit right. Which just leaves me with the "what the hell do I wear with this?" pile. Since I'm trying to do this all in one night, I don't really have time to do what my guide suggests - wear one of these items each day and then take notes on how I feel, if I can imagine wearing the item with other things, and whether there is something else that could make the item more wearable. So instead, I pick up each item in turn and ask 2 questions: "can I think of at least three other things in my wardrobe that this would go with?" and "Is there any way I can change it to make it go with more items?" If the answer is yes to at least one of these questions, I hold onto it. If I come up with two no's, then it's bye bye baby. I'm being particularly ruthless this time, and cutting free a few choice items that have been hanging around in my wardrobe because of nostaligia (eg. a top my boyfriend really likes that is now too big for me to wear), because they were such a good buy (cue, ill-fitting jeans for $10) and because I "keep meaning to wear them" ( if you haven't taken the tags off after a year sister, you ain't gonna!). Check out my huge "to get rid of" pile.

I feel like I'm on the home stretch now! One more thing I do is throw out all my old wire hangers - I'm new to this, and have only just learnt how horrible they are for clothes. Then it's just organising the things I have deemed worthy to remain in my wardrobe, and hanging them back into my, now extremely alluring closet. I do take the time here to do something my guide suggests - identify trends/patterns in my buying habits. The main thins I notice here (and they're really not so secret) is that I own far more pairs of pants than dresses, and far more t-shirts than pretty much anything else in my wardrobe. I also own lots of crazy hats, especially knitted ones. I don't think there's really anything too wrong with this - I do however make a mental note to stop buying up on t-shirts before I end up with one for every day of the year. I also buy lots of dark colours, but that's really just down to personal preference, and the fact that I think I look better in them. And with this final flourish, my quest for a clean wardrobe is complete. I can rest again, happy in the knowledge that it's going to be far easier for me to pick a kick-ass outfit in the next few days.

I know that clearing your wardrobe seems like alot of work (and it is!), but there are so many good reasons to give your wardrobe a proper clean out. First of all, you can find everything easily again, which makes getting dressed in the mornings much quicker! I find also, that cleaning out my wardrobe, getting rid of things I don't like/don't look right/don't fit actually makes me wear nicer outfits, because I have a clear mental inventory of what is actually in my wardrobe. Just after a clean out is when all my best ideas for new outfits come to me! Taking control of your wardrobe will also (hopefully) give you a sense of accomplishment, and just plain make you feel good. Plus, if you're savvy, you can sell the things you don't wear on eBay and make a bit of extra moolah to help pay the bills, buy a nice dinner or just go towards your next shopping trip. Anyway, if looking at my nice organised wardrobe isn't inspiration enough, then I don't know what is. You can do it!

Until next time, xo.