The KonMari (Marie Kondo) craze has come back into popularity at just the right time for me. I started this method several years ago when The Life Changing Magic of Tidying came out, but I never finished it. I continued folding my clothing in the KonMari style (unless I was too lazy and they sat in the laundry basket until I was ready to fold them). Either way, my drawers have been nice and folded for years.
I decided to start completely over with the clothing category, which is the first category of belongings you are supposed to sort through. Clothing is supposed to be easy to determine what sparks joy. What I have learned is that I don’t really have many clothes that actually spark joy for me. That being said, I’m also doing a shopping ban this year which means I will not be replacing my wardrobe unless I have to. I was able to pick out things I like better than others and getting rid of things I hadn’t worn in years was relatively easy.
Here’s what I started with
It’s crazy to see everything there on a queen size bed. How can I possibly have had that many clothes when I feel like I never have anything to wear? Part of what you see are my work clothes. Those definitely do not spark joy but I can’t get rid of them either.
I was able to get rid of 44% of what you see on the bed. Those 173 items are all being donated to a local thrift shop.
Which means I kept 56%
I think I still kept too much, but I also still feel like I have nothing to wear. One thing I noticed is that I have kept sweatshirts that used to bring me joy but now actually make me sad. I have a collection of sports related shirts and sweatshirts that I got after a friend of mine was killed. I wore them to remember him and at first that felt like a good thing. Now it just feels sad. Wearing a neon yellow and green shirt isn’t going to bring him back and I definitely don’t need those items to remember him. I think when I am done with my shopping ban I want to buy some long flannel shirts to go over my t-shirts instead and get rid of a lot of my sweatshirts.
Another thing I’ve learned about myself is that I could wear grey, all shades of grey….maybe even 50 shades of grey, for the rest of my life. Grey and bright colors are by far my favorite, everything else I would gladly get rid of.
I reorganized what I ended up keeping and got everything all folded and put away nice, once again. There’s a lot of room in most of my drawers now…except for the sweatshirts drawer. I’d love it if I wasn’t always freezing cold no matter what the temperature is.
I don’t think I’ve ever had less items hanging in my closet (the entire right side is work stuff). Nor have I owned less shoes than this since before I was 16 and worked at a shoe store. Fun fact, at one point I owned more than 100 pairs of shoes.
In a perfect world I would own a lot less clothing. I have a feeling I will get rid of even more in the coming year.