This is Part 2 in a 3-part review of The No Brainer Wardrobe by Hayley Morgan. If you missed the first post, which is an introduction and Step One, you can read it here.
Time for Step Two: Purging Your Clothes! Here’s what inspired me to take action and organize my crammed closet—at once. I found this dress on sale.
It has polka dots, which make me smile, so I couldn’t leave it in the store. But I couldn’t jam it in my closet, either. It needs some space to hang and breathe and look cute. So here goes!
First, writes Hayley, take everything out of your closet so you can see what you actually have in there. Then start sorting.
Keeping in mind what I learned from identifying my core wardrobe of go-to clothes, as well as figuring out what doesn’t work well for me, this process turned out to be far less complicated than I imagined. The pile of clothes that I continually pass over began to form.
(My cat Emily is definitely not part of the reject pile; she just thought it was a great place for a nap.)
And grow.
My core clothes and others in my favored colors stacked up in the “keep” pile, then I hung these back up. Here’s the top and bottom of the finished closet, cram-free.
What I learned from this:
Motivation matters. The bottom-line motivation for the No Brainer approach is making time for more of what I have a passion to do in life. I have tried cleaning out my closet using methods such as counting how many items I own and the one-in-one-out rule. Nothing has motivated me as much as being able to focus more on reading, writing, photography, hiking, visiting with friends and family.
Bag up the reject pile, then wait a bit. I felt freer to choose the reject pile knowing I was going to give myself time to rethink decisions. I grabbed a faded red sweat jacket out of the bags the next morning and I’ve worn it several times since. It’s okay to have second thoughts. So far, I haven’t missed anything else that left my closet that day. I couldn’t even tell you most of the items that are gone.
If I don’t feel good wearing something, it doesn’t need to stay in my closet. This week I wore a purple top (love the color) that is almost new, bought on sale (a good deal) that made me feel frumpy. Instead of keeping it, I’m going to wash it and pass it on to someone who will enjoy wearing it. This goes against my thrifty mindset, but I’m learning to lean towards what I actually like wearing instead of wearing everything I purchase until it’s worn out. I would rather have fewer items I love than a crammed closet.
Your turn! Set aside a bit of time and try this and let us know how it goes!
Coming up:
Part Three — Purging Your Shoes
To order Hayley’s book, just click the cover image. Note: This book has been such a help to me, so I signed up to be an affiliate. First time I’m trying this because I believe Hayley’s suggestions will help you, too!
