Fun fact about me: As a girl who doesn’t love shopping, I have a lot of clothes. A LOT of clothes. I feel like my closet is overflowing and fully stacked with outfits and shirts and sweaters that I never wear. On top of that, I hardly ever shop on my own. My mom is often generous enough to take me shopping once a year, which is typically when I restock on clothes. I’m twenty-six years old. I love my mom, but if I’m only buying pants when my mommy takes me shopping, am I really an adult?
Let’s be clear: I drink celery juice and love chicken fingers. There’s a happy medium to keeping my adult self tethered to my childlike sense of wonder and innocence. I can enjoy a pair of workout pants from my mom every once in a while, but if I’m counting on an Old Navy run with her to give my closet a refresh, without throwing out the old stuff, I’m making a mistake somewhere.
I’ve decided my happy medium will occur threefold:
- Determine my style.
- Purge my closet.
- Buy the essentials.
Then, I can go shopping with my mom only when absolutely necessary, and buy items that will stay with me for at least two years worth of usage. No more fast fashion!
Minimalism is praised as the environmentally and economically sound choice for fashion more often these days. Think about it: if you buy cheap quality clothes, you’ll replace them sooner rather than later, inducing an endless cycle of mottled tee shirts and leggings with pilling in the thighs (just me? Probably not. Thighs like maple syrup, thick and sweet, a thank you very much). If you spend the extra money on clothes you know you’ll wear, multiple times over, you’ll spend less money in the long run.
Financially speaking, I tend to keep in mind when buying items of the financial practice of considering each dollar on an item is a use. If I’m going to wear a pair of workout pants thirty five times, then yes! Pay $35 dollars for the yoga pants!
I was inspired to go minimalist (or at least, guided to the idea) by these two videos from Keltie O’ Connor. Both detail her tips and lifestyle as someone with a minimalist wardrobe. According to her, she can fit all her clothes into two boxes, and she owns roughly five pieces of furniture. Imagine having that kind of freedom to pack up and go at a day’s notice! All she needs is a pickup truck with one of those extendo-carts. Aaron and I needed three car trips and a rent truck to move from our last apartment to our current one. It makes you think.
In this video, she offers up five tips to get the wardrobe you want:
1.Research online of what your ideal self looks like.
2. Write your ideal self (what does she do? Who are her friends? Where does she live?)
3. Based on your ideal self: What does she wear?
4. Devise a checklist of what she has. GET SPECIFIC.
5. Clear out the closet of what she wouldn’t wear.
6. BECOME THE SELF: buy clothes only she would wear.
She stresses that step five is tough. Minimalizing your wardrobe takes time to get used to, and it’s not an overnight process! Paring down to the essentials takes time. I couldn’t agree more.
In this video, Keltie goes into the purge process: pick a date to “purge” your wardrobe. Dress for it (like your ideal self), pull everything out of your closet, divide it into piles ranging from “love it” to “donate it” to “sell it” to “recycle it.” Make it a peaceful day, play calming music, light a candle if you want! It’s a freeing feeling.
I’m excited for this new experience. I’m going to purge my clothes on Saturday, July 18.
There are quite a few good ideas scattered between these two videos, but here’s two that I’m using to inspire me:
1. Pick five to seven words to describe your ideal self.
Mine are:
- Powerful
- Confident
- Feminine
- Alluring
- Smart
- Comfortable
- Cool
2. Pick a color palette of colors that go well together.
My chosen colors are:
- Black
- White
- Grey
- Burgundy
- Green
- Pink
The goal is to not go outside of this color palette, and I’m game: with a few exceptions. My ideal self has a killer red dress for fancy occasions. I may not wear red a whole lot, because it’s a bit too loud for me on a regular day. There’s a time and place for red. It’s fancy occasions, where Batman might show up when Bruce Wayne suddenly vanishes.
Stay tuned for my “Purge” experience!