How to clear out your wardrobe (for people who aren't naturally minimalist)

Today I am 55 days into my capsule wardrobe challenge, and I have finally, finally got enough emotional distance from the clearing of my wardrobe to be able to talk about it without being overcome by waves of fear and nausea. 

I’ve gone from having clothes overflowing from my double wardrobe, massive chest of drawers and ottoman, as well as strategic piles of clothes around the house (I wrote about the ridiculous amount of clothes I owned here) to wearing just 21 items for the last two months and 35 all year. I’m really enjoying how clear my wardrobe looks now. 

Doesn't it just fill you with a sense of calm?

 I’ve read loads of blogs recently about what a beautiful and cathartic experience an extreme clear out of your wardrobe is.  I’m here to say it wasn’t like that for me.

Those people who felt exhilarated and like their rooms suddenly had more light are potentially aliens and definitely better at this than me. Because when I finished I just felt knackered and grubby, and incapable of taking another decision ever.

For me it was two days of self doubt, punctuated by gin drinking and despair. Followed by about three weeks of revisiting the stuff I decided to keep and reducing it bit by bit.

Everyone says you should start by getting all your clothes out of the wardrobe (& wherever else you keep them) and putting them in a pile. So that’s what I did. I created a small mountain of clothes on the bed which my dog immediately decided looked like the most comfortable place in the house and planted herself on top of. This meant that every time I wanted to look at a piece of clothing I had to negotiate with an increasingly resentful dog who just wanted to sleep on the super comfy new bed I’d made for her.

Anything that had direct contact with Squeak had dogs hair on it which meant that rather than having a keep/ don’t keep pile I had a rather more complicated system of keep, keep needs washing, keep needs dry cleaning, throw away, resell, resell needs washing, resell needs dry cleaning – it was mayhem. And I hadn’t properly delineated the piles so they kept drifting into one another.

Deciding what went in which pile was pretty hellish. Stuff I totally hated, or had holes in was easy, but everything else not so much. It turns out I’ve got a load of things that I had weird guilt about  the idea of getting rid of - Because who in their right mind gets rid of a perfectly serviceable striped t-shirt – even if they do have another 20 that are practically identical? And cashmere, you can’t throw away cashmere, or silk- they are investments – they are supposed to last a lifetime. And things I wore in 6^th form – I must love them right? Otherwise why would I still own them 17 YEARS later?

Long story short at the end of my first attempt at de cluttering my wardrobe I’d got the equivalent of a large suitcase worth of stuff to sell, 2 binbags to throw away, and 2 extra large vacuum pack bags designed to hold a families worth of duvets and pillows of things that I ‘needed’ to hold on to for next year (in case you are wondering there were 11 striped tshirts in that bag – because you know there might come a time when you can’t go into ANY SHOP ON THE HIGH STREET and find one).

So attempt number 1 was a bit of a fail. 

But over the next couple of weeks I got there. What worked for me was two things.

The first was instigating a strict rule – once something went in the sell pile it couldn’t come back out. This just meant I’ve emotionally divorced myself from anything in those piles and have happily started to sell them without looking back.

The second was that I didn’t let myself put any of the stuff I was saving back into my drawers or cupboards. They had to stay vacuum packed and in my bedroom. And those vacuum packs are huge and ugly so that was a hugely motivating factor over the next few weeks.

I grew to hate the sight of those bags, and so finally I made a deal with myself. I was allowed to put aside some clothes for next year, and I’d let myself use two of my drawers to put them in. Everything I wanted to keep had to fit in those drawers, and if it didn’t then it’d have to go in the vacuum pack and I’d have to keep the pack in sight of my bed all year.

Let me tell you it is much easier to get rid of a striped t-shirt when it is a choice between getting rid of it or living with the first thing you see every morning being a plastic and beige monstrosity filled with guilt clothes. 

So those are my clear out tips:

·         Once you’ve decided something can go don’t look back

·         If you have to own storage make it ugly – that way you are motivated not to need it!

Remember if you are having a clear out you can raise money for Contact a Family by selling your clothes on ebay and donating some or all of the sale price. It’s really easy and ebay donate the money for you automatically once the sale goes through. I wrote a helpful how to guide if you want to give this a go.

Alternatively you could just sponsor me to keep going here.

And finally for all you rule checkers here is what I wore on days 52,53 & 54

Take care folks,

Ed x

Capsule Catastrophes - Part 1.

When I decided to do this challenge I was pretty gungho about the whole thing. My assumption was that I’d be pretty bored clothes wise throughout the year, but that besides that it’d be fairly easy.

When I started to plan the clothes I needed I pictured my self doing one of two things, going to work and going to the pub with friends. That’s it. That’s what I boiled my life down to. And leaving aside the fact that actually that description of my life makes me sound like a functioning alcoholic – it’s also just not accurate!

In the last 2 weeks alone I have: gone to work, walked the dog in the boiling sun, taken a long train journey, had a family bbq, walked the dog in the tipping down rain, had friends round for tea twice, made a dinosaur head for dowser day, gone to a conference,  a wedding and the launch of a commission report, enjoyed a friend’s birthday meal, attempted gardening, cleaned the house and moved furniture. And tomorrow I am going to the zoo.

We are 6 weeks in today and there has already been loads of weather, and there will be more. I have a sunny holiday in October, and will head to Scotland in the depths of winter where there is bound to be snow.

And I don’t think I planned very well……..

Here’s what I currently have:

1 pair of summer sandals, 3 pairs of mild weather shoes, 1 mild weather waterproof coat, 2 summer dresses, 4 all seasons dresses, 1 warm jumper, 1 cotton jumper, 4 tshirts, 1 shirt, 2 skirts , 1 pair of jeans.  That’s 21 items in total. Leaving me with 14 items left for the rest of the year. Which sounds like a lot unless we get a cold winter. 

Even if the winter is mildish I’ll still need: a warm coat, a winter hat, a scarf, a pair of gloves, a pair of winter boots (with decent tread for if it’s icy), 2 more warm jumpers, 2 long sleeved t-shirts and another pair of trousers/ jeans.

These will take me to 31 items. And I need a dress to wear to Bob & Laura’s wedding. So all in 3 items left to play with, Oh and I have a stain down one of my t-shirts. What is they say in the army that proper planning and preparation prevents…….oh dear.

(my general hopelessness and misery is always alleviated by donations and bids on my ebay sales – so if you feel moved to cheer me up please do)

Stats watch - Month 1

I know you've all been dying to see the whole month in one shot, with some very niche statistics... no? Oh well - brace yourselves because I'm doing it anyway!

So between 23rd May & 22nd of June:

I've worn 19 items that is 54% of my allowable clothes.

Most worn item so far is my sandals with a massive 19 wears so far - this means I've worn them for 61% of the challenge, and that they are already clocking in at a very reasonable £2.36 per wear (not including all the times I wore them before the challenge started).

25 of us have donated a total of £920 plus £210 in gift aid, that is an average of £45.20 per person! Thankyou you generous generous people!

The biggest single donation so far came from the lovely Sean Davies ( as a tax on not naming his firstborn after me I think!) - Seans contribution alone would cover 2 workshops on something like benefits, behaviour or sleep for 20 parents each. 

You are doing a brilliant thing here people keep it up.

So what will month 2 bring?

Well......invites are going to go out for the first event, I'm going to go big on ebaying, there will be my first ever vlog (that's going to be stilted and awkward) & (with a couple of friends) I'll be setting up some craft sessions for autumn.

If you haven't sponsored me yet, then please do - even if you decide you'll donate the equivalent of buying me a pint (or a pie) every month it will all add up.

There are other things you can do to support fundraising that will cost you NOT A SINGLE PENNY!

Sell some stuff you don't want on ebay - I wrote a guide here.

Raise awareness of what Contact a Family do - or of my challenge by sharing my facebook posts, tweets and the blog itself. Add me to your google circles (this is new to me but I'm told it's important).

And tell me what you think - here on the blog comments. Do you want to dare me to do something silly & are prepared to pay to see evidence of it? Fine make your offer. This is for charity & a charity I love and care about, so (within limits) I'm open.

We're £1k down but there is 2 more to go & frankly whatever we raise will be put to good use.

Thanks for being part of team #clothesoffmyback. I genuinely am supremely grateful for your support!

Normal service will resume tomorrow with a blog on how to make a hat from flowers! 



                                                           More posts

Minimalism (post one of a possible - not very minimalist- thousand)

Minimalism. It’s not something I know a lot about really. I’ve always assumed minimalists were either neat freaks (please don’t allow your child to spill anything on my white rug) or those amazing glamazons who dress entirely in monochrome and accentuate their ski- downable cheekbones with a severe low ponytail.

 

Somehow in my head I’d got minimalism confused with Elle décor . I’d made it all about consuming and showing off rather than essentially travelling light.

But since deciding to do this challenge I’ve been doing a lot of reading – mainly of blogs from other women who have committed to wearing less. And none of these blogs talk about only having high end designer gear – none of them try to dictate a set style, and many of them have an environmental or emotional attachment to thrifting and clothes recycling. 

These are women who have decided that by allowing themselves to consume everything they were losing a bit of their identity and so wanted to give themselves space to consider what they actually liked. And limiting the number of purchases they made helped them clarify this. Some bloggers talked about how their massive wardrobes distracted them and took up headspace they couldn’t spare, and minimalising the number of clothes they owned just gave them that extra space they needed for thought.

I’m not going to try to cover what all these amazing women are saying in this one blog. I’ll probably point you in the direction of a couple of the ones I love over the course of the year. But for today I’m just going to focus on one into -mind. I’ve become a little obsessed with this blog over the last couple of weeks.

I started just reading the stuff about style – I really like the way Anuschka poo poo’s dressing for your size, or picking a fashion label to describe your style but instead asks you to think about what shapes you like (she calls them proportions – here), and what colours you enjoy. Reading her blog made me feel much more like I was starting on an adventure than robbing myself of creativity (which I was a little worried this challenge would). It also made me much braver in sorting the ‘save for next year’ vs ‘sell for charity’ piles. I realised I own lots of clothes that are about who I was at another time, or who I was pretending to be. This year with less to choose from I’ve become more picky about comfort, and about things that are important to just me ( pockets – I’m taking about pockets here – I am approximately 200% happier wearing something with pockets than without). 

I’m also at an age (aren’t we all) where I’m trying to get the balance of my life right, work out where I want to be and what my priorities are. And this is why I really love what Anuschka does. Because the blog isn’t just about fashion. It’s about living slower, changing daily habits, and identifying what you care about. Last week I did the 50 questions to evaluate your last year exercise, and found it really helpful. So helpful I sent the link to a load of my friends and bored Jo’s lovely mum Rosie about it over dinner on Saturday night. 

 

 (thankfully she’s brilliant & still seemed cheerful after listening to me banging on. Here we all are after dinner - Rosie is third from the left and heroically still awake)

 

So I’m excited about minimalism now & seeing this year as a journey. I’m bored of feeling guilty about all the stuff I own that I don’t need and I’m really lucky this challenge allows me to get rid of things while supporting a cause I really care about. Far be it for me to advocate you all buying more stuff at the end of a post on minimalism, but if you want to shed some money you can donate here, and if you want a new frock I’m listing 4/5 a week for charity here.

Hope Monday was good to you all. Travel light.