Decluttering: Clothing

And so it begins...........

I don't expect to declutter a lot from each of the categories, but it'll be a start and with my not buying unnecessary products this year it should reduce in size any way.  I'll also keep and eye on what I'm actually using and get rid of anything I thought I would use but haven't.

The amount of items I have in the clothing category is a suprise to me in its size. It might be smaller then many people's, but it's still a lot larger then I realised when I started. (I also need to apologise for the quality of the photos in all of this series as a lot of them were taken in the evening.)

Bags | Purses | Wallets

Getting rid of.

I've been going through these on a regular basis so I didn't expect to get rid of many.  However I did actually manage to get rid of half but being very realistic about what I actually use.  In the end I only kept a family heirloom and two bags I use all the time.  I didn't include my work bags in this as I use them all the time.

Clothes

Getting rid of.

I started by getting rid of all the clothes that were off colour (even if I loved it), misshaped, and didn't fit anymore.  Then I got rid of the items I no longer wear or hardly ever wear at all, but just liked to keep in my wardrobe. There is still a lot of items, way more then I need, but I wear and love all of them so I'm keeping them for now.  If I stop wearing any item this year I'll send them off to charity as I only have good quality items now.  I really won't need to buy anything in this category this year.

Undergarments

Getting rid of.

I pretty much use all of my underwear, despite having a lot, so I knew I wasn't going to be getting rid of many things.  That being said, there were a few products that I've stopped using now and have sent to charity or binned.  This is another area in this category I won't need to buy anything for this year.

Shoes & Beauty Products

I didn't have any products to get rid of in these two sections.  For the shoes I'd already decluttered all the ones I don't wear when packing up my things in the first place.  I've also already been getting rid of my beauty products through my project pans and project use-ups so I didn't bother going through these.

Accessories

Getting rid of.

This is most definitely my largest category.  Unlike clothes and shoes that rarely fit properly, accessories always do.  It's also the category that I have the emotional attachment to as these are usually items I was given as a gift or which I collected on my travels.

Getting rid of.

It was quite a bit more difficult for me to choose what I was getting rid off from the category, but in the end I just pulled out all the items I haven't warn in a long time and which didn't have any particular memory connected to them.  And then quickly put them in a charity bag so I couldn't change my mind.

And that's it for this category.  The largest one is done and now takes up less room then before.  Even though I have specifically decided to go on a no buy here, I also know this is going to be easy to do as I've already found my style and have everything to fit this.

Decluttering: clothing & shoes

About a year ago I went through my wardrobe and got rid of a number of things that I just didn't wear anymore or that didn't fit at all.  I've never really had a particularly large wardrobe, but I still felt that there were a number of things that were taking up useful space that I easily get rid of.  Since then I have been getting rid of things here and there which were worn out and couldn't be fixed.  I had thought that there wouldn't be anything else that would go and I started packing up my items ready for my move to my new job, but as I was doing this I realised I have a number of items of clothing that are specifically for the administration in an office job I'd been doing for the last few years and not the outdoor getting wet and muddy job I was going to.  While I knew that I would want to keep a few pieces that I loved (and it's good to have a couple of nice clothes), I also knew there there were a number of items that I had just because they were office appropriate.

So I sat down and went through them, getting rid of a pair of black trousers (which didn't really fit properly anyway), a couple of tops that I would only ever wear in an office and which either didn't really sit on me properly or were too short for me know, a couple of cardigans, and a cami which I wore under tops but which has such skinny straps that my bra would show through.  I also decided to get rid of a long sleeve top I had brought as a layering piece but which was so thin it didn't do anything, a woolie hat that was so tight it gave me a headache every time I wore it, and a scarf I just didn't love anymore.  I'm not really into wearing high heels anymore either so I got rid of my last pair of really high ones and a pair of ankle boots which only really work with my work stuff.  There other items are just ones I realised I had duplicates of and didn't actually use.  There are also a couple of items (not shown here) which are vintage and so I'm going to try selling them.

This definitely isn't the largest decluttering of clothing ever (I know that other people have multiple bin bags full usually), but it was a good reminder to me that I could still be holding onto unnecessary stuff because I'm not really thinking about how much I use them.  Clothes are pretty easy items for me to get rid off as they don't tend to have any sentimental feelings attached to them, but there are other items which I tend to me much more attached to (predominantly jewellery) even though there may be absolutely no reason for it and I think the reason I've been letting myself hold onto them is because I haven't had to move in a while.  There's been no need or incentive to keep the items of products I have to a minimum.

A number of my products will need to start going into storage soon and that isn't exactly a cheap process, so storing items that I don't use or which don't hold any special meaning really does seem like a waste.  As I'm only going to be able to do this over the weekends it'll have to be a little bit done here and there, but I'll keep myself accountable by posting the decluttered items on Instagram.  It's time for me to start being just a little bit more brutal about what I've been holding onto.