Tackling the Wardrobe

I recently reread a Faith and Family magazine article about the ways that clutter steals your peace. I was already convinced of the need to declutter the house, and have been periodically pulling items from the various piles to trash or donate, but reading this gave me a kick to methodize my approach a little more aggressively. My clothing is my starting point in this particular drive. I did a quick survey of my wardrobe situation and decided I would purge 81 pieces from my wardrobe. I will not say how I came to this seemingly random number, but I will say, first, how scary high this number seems and, second, how easy it will be if only I stick with it. I really don't like to give away things because my ever-changing, childbearing shape regularly takes me through the whole spectrum ranges of the sizes in my closet. But the clothing in my house has really become, shall we say, less than optimally manageable, as in every season I accumulate a few new things and don't make room for them by getting rid of an equal number of old. 

Last year, Hallie Lord at Betty Beguiles posted a guide for slimming down your wardrobe, and I thought at the time that I didn't need it. Truly, I think I really wasn't ready for it yet, being less than two months postpartum—but I am now. So I have a goal, and my only other parameter is to do it as quickly as possible without distracting from the other demands of the days—end of school, summer planning, ROW80, a few family plans to prepare for and decisions to make and enact. You know.

In the meantime, how would you like to join me? It's been a while since I posted anything on decluttering, but I'd love to hear from those of you who find this to be an issue too. And I'll let you know when I'm done. I plan to follow up with another low-pressure decluttering project very soon.


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