As we continue the 31 Days to Make Cleaning a Habit series, we have one more habit that relates to our clothes…
31 Days to Make Cleaning a Habit – Habit 6
Evaluate and Eliminate Clothing Daily
Have you ever looked at your jam-packed closet and said to yourself, “I have nothing to wear!”
If so, you’re not alone!
There are all too many people who have closets full of clothing that don’t fit, don’t look great on them, don’t coordinate with anything else they own, needs to be hemmed, altered, etc. Instead of looking and feeling great in their clothes every day, they hang on to old clothing. Sometimes it’s for for sentimental value. Other times it’s because there’s a glimmer of hope that they’ll one day fit again.
My husband and I have a motto: Evaluate and Eliminate. We usually say this in reference to our daily priorities and schedules. But today, I think it can apply to our closets!
Habit 6 is a challenge to evaluate your clothing daily…and then eliminate often.
Here are some guidelines to follow when determining what to eliminate.
First, get 2 small boxes to put in the bottom of your closet and label them “donate” and “alterations.” Then ask yourself the following questions when picking out your outfit each morning:
- Does the clothing make you look and feel great?
- Is it in good shape?
If you answered “no” to either of those questions, put in a sell or donate box.
- Does it need to be altered?
If you answered yes, then immediately put in the alterations box and schedule a time to alter.
- Do you need something to complete the outfit?
If you answered yes, then immediately take note of what you need to purchase on your next shopping trip.
I’m personally in the process of streamlining the amount of clothing I own because it just seems ridiculous to own a closet full of blah clothing. If I’m going to have something taking up valuable space it my home, I want it to serve a unique purpose. So, my goal is to have every piece of clothing I own make me feel fantastic.
What about you? How do you feel about the clothing you own? Do you have too much? Too little? The perfect amount?
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iDreamOfClean
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m in transition right now with getting rid of pregnancy clothes and being in that inbetween stage. So I’m wearing what I can right now, but once I lose this weight and I will, I want to get some new things that are more fashionable than the mommy frump that I feel right now! I have weeded out a lot of clothes recently so I have lots of room for newer things soon!
My problem is not my clothing…it’s my three boys clothing. It’s so hard to tell what they’ve outgrown until its on them (because children’s clothes sizing sucks). And my older two are so close in age that my middle child pretty much takes my oldest’s clothes once he grows out of them…almost. There’s periods where the oldest has a growth spurt and the youngest doesn’t have his yet where that doesn’t work. Those “between stages” clothes are so hard to manage.
Oh how nice it was to clean out my dresser! I have (had) 2 drawers full of nice comfy tshirts that I never wanted to part with. Most were memory shirts from different places or my sons rec team shirts, that I didn’t want to part with. Finally today I came to the realization that we have pictures of these events, and this old tshirt is not the actual memory! So I chucked them in the donate box! I’m so proud of myself. And my husband got an itch too while I was doing mine and got rid of a lot of his old clothes too!
Now to the kids’ rooms. I have the same problem as Gale with this one… Ugh! :)
on the rec team shirts i’ve heard of taking the picture/design part of it and putting them in a frame or shadow box, if it was a truly special team or something like that. I’m thinking about doing that with some of my old softball shirts from when I played years ago (yes i still have the shirts….but no they don’t fit)
I am in the process of this right now. All my office clothes are from at least 8 years ago. Since I am not working I have been going through the closet every morning when I get dressed and remove at least 5 things to sell/donate
I came across these on Pinterest. I’m on day two of the laundry (which I am doing as soon as I get home from work and before I go to teach my workout class in the evening … morning will just never work) and making my bed (which I’m ashamed to admit was never a habit I got into as a child or an adult). This post struck a chord today … I was putting my laundry away (pat on the back) and noticed that I had 4 big sweatshirts from my university track and field days, which all have exactly the same logo and that I love but are taking up so much space! I think tonight might be the night! Thanks for the posts!
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