KonMari-fying My Wardrobe: What I've Learned

Spring has sprung! You know what that means: spring rain, spring flowers, and...spring cleaning! I don't know about you, but I have my work cut out for me in that last area.

Have you ever heard of the KonMari method? It's a different approach to decluttering that's really taken off in the last few years. Rather than going room-by-room, you gather up everything in a certain category (clothes, books, knickknacks, etc.) and as you sort through each category, you get rid of every item that doesn't "spark joy." Unfortunately, it doesn't work on bills. (Heh.)

I tried the KonMari method on my wardrobe this past weekend, and it was a surprisingly enlightening experience! Here are some things I learned.

1) My wardrobe had taken over my house. At the beginning of the weekend, all of my dresser drawers were stuffed full of clothes. I also had a laundry basket overflowing with clothes that wouldn't fit in said drawers. And a flat plastic bin of clothes under the bed. And a big plastic tub of clothes in storage. And a pile of clothes in the toddler's closet. And a box of clothes in the baby's closet. And then, just when I thought I had located every item of clothing I owned, I remembered that I'd recently done laundry and had another pile of clothes in the laundry room! My clothes were drowning me! My goal was to have my entire wardrobe fit in my dresser and my (half of the) bedroom closet by the end of the weekend. A daunting task, but I was up for the challenge.

2) I'm a pack rat. I'd been holding onto things I hadn't worn in years because "I might need them again someday," like the clothes I wore to work when I was an admin assistant. I've been a stay-at-home mom for almost three years now, and I have no idea when I'll go back to working outside the home. I currently have no need for tons of slacks or dress shirts.

3) I'm too sentimental. One word: T-shirts. (Or is that two words...?) I had collected T-shirts like a pile of souvenirs from places I'd been or things I'd done. But when I was honest with myself, I didn't like the way some of them looked, nor did I like how some of them fit me. The same was true for a lot of clothes that had been given to me by other people; I had been holding on to things I had no intention of wearing, just so I wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings.

4) I'm kinda hard to fit. My bottom half is considerably larger than my top half. I put a lot of tops and dresses in the discard pile because they were too tight at the bottom and awkwardly loose on the top. I'm also only 5'1", which means that I have both a short torso AND short legs, so there are certain styles that I just cannot wear. For example, a mid-calf-length skirt that makes my legs look about two inches long. That does NOT bring me joy...!

5) I love color! Before deciding on the KonMari method, I briefly considered doing a capsule wardrobe instead. A capsule wardrobe, as I understand it, is a few basic pieces that can easily be mixed and matched to create several different outfits. But it seemed like I'd end up with nothing but neutral colors if I went that route. If neutrals are your thing, more power to ya, but I knew I'd be bored to tears if that was my wardrobe.

What's left in my closet: a good mix of

neutrals and bright colors, solids and patterns.

6) I have embraced my age. I turned 30 a few months ago, and I really, truly love it. As far as personal style goes, I finally know who I am and what I want (and what I don't want), and I'm proud of that. This made purging my wardrobe really easy because I could look at certain items and say "This is too 'young' for me." Also, some things that looked good on me in my 20s don't look good on my 30-year-old, mother-of-two body; I was more than okay with letting those things go and embracing a wardrobe that's more appropriate for my current stage of life.

7) Decluttering feels so stinkin' good. Remember how I said I felt like I was drowning in clothes at the beginning of the weekend? Now I'm floating down a lazy river. :) I feel like I still kept a lot of clothes, but now they all fit in my dresser or my half of the closet; they're not spread out all over the house. (Mission accomplished!) The best part, though, is that all of the clothes I have left are ones that I love to wear.

If you've used the KonMari method on clothes or any other category, I'd love to hear about your experience. I can't wait to tackle other categories; I'm on a roll now!