I'm sure we can agree that most of us in the West aren't lacking in the amount of clothes we own. The opposite is more likely. This is something that I've started noticing in the past years, especially when it comes to my own wardrobe. I thought about it so much that last winter I decided to stop shopping for a year.
It turned out to be easier than I thought. It's important for me to confess that I've never been a big fan of shopping, but even so. If I needed something and I didn't have it, I looked through my closet and realised that more often than not had it after all.
Think about the amounts of clothes you have in your home. Maybe make an estimated count, then compare that to how many days there are in one year. How many of your clothing items are you even likely to use during the year? Here is a little tips for you to see how much of your wardrobe you actually don't even use.
Go to your wardrobe, remove everything that hangs and put it back in but this time reverse the way your hanger usually is.
When you've used a dress or a shirt or whatever you have, put it back in but this time insert the hanger in the "normal" way so you can easily see which clothes you have used and which ones you haven't. If you do this for a couple of months you'll get to see what you never use (even though you for some reason insist that you do) and which clothes have been lucky enough to see the light of day.
The clothes that are hanging on the hangers in the wrong way can you give to a charity shop or to friends or maybe you can redo them so you might want to use them! We all have our favourite items of clothing and those are usually what we wear over and over again.
I've experienced that I feel liberated when I get rid of things. In today's society we get the impression that we need to accumulate more and more stuff and clothes to be satisfied. But if you have a few extra clothes in your wardrobe, does it actually change how happy you feel? By doing this little tricks you can discover how much (or little) of what you own that you actually use. Maybe someone else can get some enjoyment from it? A friend of mine gave me one of her beautiful scarves because she received it from an ex-boyfriend. She would never use it, but she thought it was too pretty to just be lying in her closet, so she gave it to me.
Next time you go shopping, have a little think. Do you really need something new or can you save the environment a bit and use what you have?
Have a look in your closet, there might be hiding a couple of treasures you've forgotten about.
Love,
Tone