Coming Clean II: Getting Rid of EVERYTHING

Well, not everything but I definitely made a huge dent. Allow me to explain why this is relevant to self-care and my last post.

Before that though, I just want to give a sincere thank you to all of you for the positive response on my last post and for all of you who shared you stories with me. It felt amazing to get all of that off of my chest and to see that so many of you had similar experiences.

Back to the topic at hand: I’ve said this before on the blog, but I believe that our physical surroundings are a representation of our inner being. Meaning that decluttering our surroundings can help us to relax and declutter our minds.

I moved a few months ago and I didn’t finish setting up my room until a few weeks ago. As I was setting up my room I realized that I have a lot of unnecessary clutter. I started to feel anxious as I was looking at all of the clothes, shoes etc that I have been collecting over the years. I decided it was time to do a major over-haul and get rid of everything I didn’t need anymore or no longer used.

At first I was a little reluctant, because it seemed like an unpleasant and daunting task. I knew it needed to happen though so I developed a system that worked for. I want to share with you that system so that when you decide to downsize, it can be less daunting for you.

(Yes, the picture above is me lying on a pile of my clothing. I was trying to find a fun and creative way to show what I was doing, this is what I came up with *shrug*)

Step 1: Pull All of Your Clothes Out

 

 

Take all of the clothes that you have and put them out in front of you. On your floor, your bed etc. I did this so that I was fully aware of everything I had and so that I could make sure that I wouldn’t miss anything.

 

 

 

 

Step 2: Separate The Essentials

Put all of your “must-have” clothes in a pile by themselves. Your “must-haves” are things that you wear constantly, you absolutely love, or things that you may not wear everyday but serve a very specific purpose. For example, my black velvet Guess? cocktail dress. I don’t wear it everyday, but anytime I need to look put together, or I’m having a night out, that’s the dress I go for.

 

Step 3. Get Rid of Duplicates.

When looking through my wardrobe, I realized that there were a few things that I had extras of that I didn’t necessarily need. I was very into lace tops for a while and while looking through the pile, I found two tops that looked pretty much identical. I decided to keep the one I liked most and put the other one in the giveaway pile.

Step 4: Make a “Maybe” Pile

 

 

Some pieces of clothing I couldn’t decide whether or not I wanted to keep it. So, I made a pile just for that. You can put them aside and come back to it later when you’ve had some more time to think.

 

 

Ideally, all the clothes you have left after this will be clothes to give away. BAM! Wow, look at you! You downsized! *trumpets blaring*

Okay, honestly, this was much harder than I expected it to be. Right in the middle of cleaning, I became overwhelmed by all of my clothes glaring back at me. I was reluctant to give up some things and I realized it wasn’t because I liked them, it was because I wasn’t sure what my life would be like without them. Here is an example of the kind of thoughts that ran through my head, “But what if six months from now I want to wear this and it’s not there?” (Gianna… seriously?)

I realize that this is ridiculous, but it goes to show how we can make something so insignificant SO important because we are afraid to let go.

The real lesson of this experience came to me when I finished putting my room/closet back together after cleaning. All of the clothes I had decided to keep seemed to fall perfectly into place and I didn’t feel overwhelmed anymore looking into my closet. I went to bed feeling like I had taken more weight off of my shoulders.

More and more I am learning that when we learn to trust and let go, everything falls into place sooner or later. Obviously, cleaning out my closet isn’t the answer to everything, but I have found that it is the little things we do that have to biggest impact in the long run. Clean out your closet. I’m sure you’re holding on to things that you don’t need any more.

Thank you again for all of your support.

Stay Fabulous

-Gianna