Spring Cleaning Part 1

Spring Cleaning Part 1 – My Wardrobe

It’s that time of the year where it is warm enough to air the house out and the need to declutter overwhelms me. Last night I watched “Minimalism – a film about the important things” and this morning I showed my sons “The Story of Stuff”. If you haven’t watched either of these then I strongly suggest you do. Both films have motivated me to start the yearly spring clean.

I declutter a lot during the year but now is the time of year where pretty much everything in the house gets reviewed and decided upon. Oh yeah and another sign for me was the Garage Sale Trail advert on telly this morning. Yep, a garage sale is also a good incentive.

Why the wardrobe first?

Lately I have found myself thinking that I don’t have enough clothes or that I don’t have matching clothes. This is when it becomes necessary to do a purge as you not only discover clothes and accessories that you no longer wear, but you discover clothes you love and haven’t worn in a while. I also like to do a bit of a stocktake to see if there is anything that I am truly missing. Right now all I can say is that I need a black skirt for work that fits me properly and that is it. Apart from that on item it seems I do have enough clothes after all.

I am aware that many people find decluttering / spring cleaning / purging (whatever you wish to call it) quite the challenge. So here are some tips to help make in enjoyable and meaningful.

Light a candle and put on some of your favourite music. This is what I do to get me in the zone, it helps make things more mindful for me, do whatever works for you.

Take absolutely everything out of the wardrobe. I like to do it one section at a time so it isn’t so overwhelming.

Carefully go through each and every thing and ask yourself these two questions –
“Do I still wear it?” and “Do I still love it?” If the answer is yes put it back in the wardrobe. If not put it in either the donate , sell or throw away pile.

Make your wardrobe user friendly. Make things easy to find. Jumpers with jumpers, dresses with dresses, pants with pants, work clothes separate from casual clothes. Do whatever makes sense to you!

The amazing thing to come from decluttering your wardrobe is that you REALIZE that you do in fact have enough.

Decluttering is not just a process of getting rid of the old so you can replace it with the new. Hopefully it will help us to really think and be mindful of our future purchases before we invite any more STUFF in to our lives.

Note - the drawers and the expanding file in my wardrobe are my office (the whole office!)

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