New Year, Nothing New

I have an addiction, and I would like to curb it, or at least tone it down a bit. It might sound familiar to some of you. It’s called shopping.

As fashions change, so does my style. I get bored very easily and frankly once I post my look up on my blog and instagram, and wear those _____ more than ten times, it is rendered obsolete. To best explain where I am coming from see above photo. It’s new, fresh, and I want everything in it.

Welcome to 2015. Have you made your resolution yet? Have you broken it yet? Every year, I make a resolution — but most of these high falutin goals won’t make it through the end of January. So, if you’re feeling like your resolutions aren’t going to stick, you’re probably in good company. One of my goals, to read for 30 minutes every night, has been working out and I will try to keep it up. Now, my other new year resolution is to purge my closet of all the things I don’t wear before anything new comes in. I think keeping to a set amount of clothing is kind of daily reminder to be content with what you have, to really appreciate the clothes on your back.

Where to start? Start small by taking everything out of your closet and be honest with yourself whether you will wear an item in the next year, or not.

Here are some tips for paring down your closet

1. Empty your closet. Seriously, take absolutely everything out of your closet and lay it out on your bed. Don’t cheat–taking everything out at once is the secret to style clarity. As you put your LOVE IT pieces back into your empty closet, your style will practically scream at you. But that won’t be the case if your closet is still being muddied with MAYBE pieces left hanging in there. So just take it all out and start PURGING.

2. Sort each item into one of these four piles:

• LOVE IT AND WOULD WEAR IT RIGHT NOW!! Self explanatory. Put it back in your closet.
• MAYBE. This is for items that don’t fit quite right, the color is a little off, have sentimental value, you can’t put your finger on it but you just don’t wear it, or you’re keeping it because you paid a lot for it but you don’t wear it. Put all this stuff in a box and store it in the garage. You can always go get stuff out of it, but you probably won’t. If it’s still in the box at the end of your season, it’s time to say goodbye to it.
• NOPE. Self explanatory. Donate, swap with a friend, or sell it to fund new purchases.
• SEASONAL. Wool coat in summer? Probably don’t need it handy. But you’d never get rid of a staple like that–come on. If it’s not in season, but you LOVE IT, put it in a nice under-the-bed box and store it. You’ll definitely use it in your capsule wardrobe when that season rolls around.

3. Assess what’s left in your closet. You’ll want to have your favorite season-appropriate items in your closet. Now its time to plan + shop. Do you need to downsize? Put a few more items in your MAYBE box.

As a side note, we are creatures of habit. If we start the new year by doing something right, and finding pleasure in getting dressed in a snap, then we should prioritize keeping our closets neat and edited. I have started by renting my clothes on Kookopa and will have a new store up on Tictail by the end of the week.

Happy Monday, happy purging!