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I Wore Everything in my Closet

My closet is full of clothes I no longer wear or want to wear. I’m currently a few months post partum so I decided to pack away my maternity clothes and bring out all my normal clothes again. And then they just sat there for a few weeks.. I’ve been really tempted to buy new, cute clothes, but I just don’t feel right about it when I own so many pieces I’m not even wearing. I want all my clothing to be worn and used and loved. And if it’s not me enjoying them, I want it to be someone else.

My closet consists of three types of clothes: I’ve got ‘normal clothes’, athleisure, and maternity. I gravitate towards the athleisure which always fits and is comfortable, however I also find athleisure to be sloppy and lacking personal style. Most of my ‘normal clothes’ have been packed away as I’ve been in and out of pregnancies for the past six years or so. Needless to say, they very much do not fit my current lifestyle, and therefore I do not pick them all that often. And the maternity clothes.. I hate 🙂 .. but they come in handy. So I decided to wear every single piece (of my “normal clothes”) as a challenge to myself. 

So how did it go? The experiment took about 2-3 weeks seeing as I probably had a little under 30 items to begin with. I didn’t have any particular goals to get rid of anything, but by the end of the day some things went straight into the donation pile because they were so uncomfortable. Some stuff I even tried on and immediately put it in the donation pile. I was surprised at how easy it made it to get rid of something just by wearing it. I’ve decluttered my closet so many times, but so many things I just couldn’t bring myself to part with until I actually had to wear it.

How did I feel wearing all my normal clothes throughout the experiment? Well first of all, I’m a stay at home mom currently so although I felt a little silly wearing a floor length velvet dress on a random Tuesday, it wasn’t like I had to be seen by any adults and feel like I had to explain myself. Or go into work wearing something unacceptable. I did, however, feel very put together some days and felt more ready to have a last minute outing or run into someone in the neighborhood. I dislike wearing a real outfit when I don’t have time for hair or makeup. I fear that I’m going to look unbalanced, and that my fancy outfit will make my makeup-less face look that much more makeup-less. Although I still don’t love the look, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. By the last week of the experiment, I felt like I was having to get real creative with some of the outfit combinations. I ended up liking some of them a lot though and I’d never had tried them out had I not forced myself to.

Do I still feel like I need to go on a shopping trip for more cute clothes? Something I realized towards the end of the experiment was that I had all these shirts leftover that I wasn’t able to wear because they were all meant to be worn with high rise jeans.. which I don’t own currently. I really liked all these shirts but I didn’t put it together and they never looked right because I never had a real bottom option to wear with them. So I really got to see what holes in my wardrobe I had and what I actually needed to buy in order to make my wardrobe more complete. Once I finished the experiment, I did go on a shopping trip. But instead of going for whatever was advertised to me, I knew I needed to look for more bottoms (lots of repeat wearing to get through the experiment), high rise jeans, and some shorts/shapewear to make some of my dresses more suited for an active lifestyle with kids. Before I felt guilty for shopping for no reason. This time I felt like I was picking up the missing puzzle pieces which would unlock more outfit potentials and allow me to get use out of the clothing that I love but couldn’t wear.

Would I ever do it again? Yes! I really liked this challenge. I already like the idea of tweaking my closet seasonally, switching things out for the weather, and refreshing some of the basics. I think this is a perfect thing to do before each season to help me be smarter with my shopping choices and also a nice way to declutter. I’m so used to always being in declutter mode, but that’s no way to live. I’d rather have dedicated rhythms throughout the year to declutter. Same goes for shopping. I hate all the time wasted shopping and online shopping, checking out different sites, wasting my time. So I look forward to saving it for after I’ve had a long hard look at what I’m actually wearing and what I actually need. Also I would love to do this again with other categories like athleisure, pajamas, shoes, etc. But I have no problem wearing all those pieces, nor am I in need to make any purchases there. So that’s one for another day.

What would I do differently? I think next time I do it, I might have a little goal in mind that’s more specific when it comes to choosing items to donate. Like have a couple of words to describe my personal style and be willing to part with anything that doesn’t make me feel.. (fill in the blank). Or a goal that’s more practical like ‘donate anything not nursing friendly’.

Final thoughts? This experiment has inspired me to want to make more complete outfits. I realized there were so many things I wasn’t wearing because I didn’t have any pants to go with them. Or some dresses I couldn’t wear without some shapewear to make it more modest when I am moving around with my kids. In fact, it’s inspired my next challenge to myself: to come up with a set amount of outfits and hang them in their entirety so that in the mornings I have everything I need for the outfit ready to go. Can’t wait to share how it goes! 🙂

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