As the seasons change, spring cleaning is right around the corner. I began sorting through my winter items including; coats, scarves, hats, gloves, and shoes. I’ve accumulated a lot of these items over the years, but as I begin my spring cleaning and minimalizing purges, I seem to bypass my winter items, every time. My goal is to inspire you with my ‘minimalizing process‘ as you begin sorting through your own clothing items. I tried making this process as low-stress as possible.
For a while, I thought I had to go from beginning to end in one go-around. However, after some time and experience, I learned it’s about seeing progress and taking baby steps. The small changes I was making had big effects.
I have some before and after pictures throughout this post to give you a realistic idea of a ‘minimalizing process’. I start with 4 piles and a list of questions.
4 Piles to Try
Whether I’m minimalizing my closet, my coats, or my shoes I have the same 4 piles to guide me.
Keep – This pile is for the items you absolutely love and are confident in saving.
Donate – This pile is for items that are in good and wearable condition but you don’t have a need for (check out the questions below explaining why you wouldn’t keep such items).
Sell – This pile is for items that are also in a good and wearable condition that you would sell. Great places to sell these items are Plato’s Closet, Facebook Market, etc…
Trash – This pile is for items that are stained, ripped, or not in wearable condition.
These 4 piles are great guidelines to keep you organized and confident while you minimalize your items. Some great organizations to donate your items to include: Women’s shelters, Low-Income Families, Churches, Habitat for Humanity, etc… If you’d like to donate to a specific shelter, call your local non-emergency line and ask where you can donate these items. Oftentimes, these organizations do not allow their address to be public.
5 Questions to Ask
There are 5 questions I like to ask myself when I’m going through these items. I try to be honest with myself, which usually consists of me taking out all of the possible “what if” situations. I start by taking all of the items out and putting them in a pile. It sounds daunting, I know. It may even look a little scary. But stick with me, it gets better! I try on or at least pick up each item. Then I ask myself these questions…
Does It Fit Well? – This is asking if it fits now. Not “it could fit, it might fit, what if I lose weight”… does it fit you now?
Do You Feel Good/Is It Comfortable? – Keep in mind, if you are constantly aware of a particular item or if there’s a part that’s bothersome, then it’s not meant for your keep pile.
Is It Damaged or Stained? – If so, are you going to fix it today? No? Get rid of it.
When Is The Last Time You Wore It? – If it hasn’t been worn in over 6 months to a year (without good reason), it’s probably not worth keeping.
If You Had To Wear It The Rest Of The Day, Would You Be Happy/Comfortable? – As strange as this question is, it gets to the nitty gritty. If you wouldn’t be able to wear it the rest of the day, are you really happy with it?
When I ask myself these questions, I find I have a lot of items for “what if” situations or “memory” purposes. I was actively wearing maybe 1/4 of what I owned. These questions made me confident in the items I was keeping while remaining comfortable in what I was wearing. Not to mention I had way more room!
The Process I Tried
For me, this ‘minimalizing process’ was winter items. I had a large number of winter items that I didn’t wear. I started with my coats. My SIXTEEN coats! Who needs 16 coats you ask? Absolutely no one (in my opinion). After going through all of them, I ended up with 8. Now 8 coats aren’t my end goal, ideally, I would like to only have 2. However, going from 16 to 8 is a pretty great start!
Next were my shoes. Again, I had a lot of shoes that I didn’t wear. I started with 27 pairs of shoes. After this process, I ended with 17. I’m nowhere near my end goal of 5, however, I’m happy with the progress.
For some reason, even though I wear the same 4 pairs of shoes, I have a hard time getting rid of them. I use this example so you understand it’s not worth the stress! If you start to get frustrated or stressed, just stop and come back to it later. Whether that be later that day or in another month. This is a process, not a race.
Last were my scarves, hats, and gloves. As you guessed, I had a lot that I never wore. I started with 8 scarves, 15 hats, and 6 pairs of gloves. After going through everything, I ended with 4 scarves, 5 hats, and 3 gloves. I would like to have 2 of each item but again, this is great progress!
My Takeaway
It’s important to be honest with yourself while remaining gracious. I found taking away all of the “what if” situations, cut my items down to half. These guidelines allow me to stay on task and remain honest with myself.
I realized it’s all about progress. The small changes you make result in a big impact. You may not get where you would like to right away, but it’s still a great change. I love to take pictures and look back at the progress, it’s refreshing to see and great motivation
A minimalistic lifestyle is just that, a lifestyle. Once I realized there was no rush, no race to win, and no “one-and-done purges”, I began a more peaceful lifestyle. Living a minimalistic lifestyle is not easy, but it’s very rewarding.
