What other ways could I come up with to help people sort through their closets, to determine what should stay and what should be let go of?
Well, my challenge to come up with ten categories was easily achieved. I zoomed past ten and found myself getting up to 30 categories. These categories range from the very practical to the (cough) charmingly esoteric, and my intention in pulling them together is to give you a range of choices.
If you are currently culling the items in your wardrobe, choose 1, 2, 3 …. as many of these categories as appeal to you, to help you decide what you’ll keep, and what you’ll let go of. You can use all 33 if you like – it may just take you hours to apply it to a handful of clothing items.
The whole idea with this list of 33 ways to cull your closet is that you are in the drivers seat – you get to determine the basis on which you decide what is working, and what isn’t, in your wardrobe.
Don’t just head into your wardrobe and start sorting. Without some overarching thinking, some strategy, some criteria on which you will assess each item, you’ll end up confused, fatigued and even more frustrated than you were before you started.
Have a look at these 33 ways you can cull your closet:
1. Timeline Past: how long has it been since I have worn it?
2. Timeline Present: am I currently wearing it?
3. Timeline Future: can I imagine wearing this item again in the future (near or unspecified)?
4. Memories: do I have happy/pleasant memories of wearing this (which are either significant in their own right, or mean that I will wear it again in the future)?
5. Practical: do I wear it?
6. Fit: does it fit me?
7. Feeling: how do I feel when I wear it? At the least, does it make me feel good or bad, fabulous or frumpy, when I wear it?
8. Visual: how do I look when wearing it?
9. Touch: how does it feel on my skin and my body?
10. Condition: what condition is it in? Does it need repairing, or revamping and upstyling to make it wearable?
11. Versatility: how many other things can I wear with it?
12. Variety: does this piece add variety and interest to my wardrobe?
13. Personality: does it feel like “me”? (how do I know?)
14. Sentimental: does it have a connection to something significant or meaningful in my past?
15. Care: what is it like to care for? Does it require special cleaning?
16. Attractiveness: do I feel attractive when I wear it?
17. Energy: what happens to my energy when I wear it? At the least, do I feel energised and ‘up’ when I wear it, or do I feel enervated and ‘down’ when I wear it?
18. Storage: is it easy to store or does it have special storage requirements?
19. Money: did it cost a lot of money and therefore I feel I should keep it, or was it so cheap it feels easy to dispose of?
20. Proportion: does it have the right proportions for my particular body?
21. Line and shape: is the line, shape and construction of this garment right for me?
22. Colour: is it the right colour right for me, or at least is it in the right ‘colour family’ for me?
23. Texture and fabric: do I love/enjoy the feel of the texture and fabric of this garment when I wear it?
24. Pattern: do I enjoy wearing this patterned garment, and does it feel like ‘me’?
25. Access: is it easy to access, is it in plain sight and easy to reach?
26. Logic: does it make sense to keep this?
27. Emotional ‘weight’: does it feel lighter or heavier to keep this item, or to let it go?
28. Magic: I don’t know why I keep it, but I’m happy waiting for something to happen so I can wear it again
29. ‘Enoughness’: does it feel like just enough, not enough, or too much if I keep this?
30. Uniqueness: is this piece unique in some special or meaningful way, that means I should keep it?
31. Lifestyle: does it suit the lifestyle I currently have (not a previous lifestyle, or a potential future one)?
32. Obligation: was it given to me and I feel obligated to keep it? (and is this a good enough reason to keep it)?
33. Gut instinct: What’s my gut instinct when pondering this item – let it go, or keep it?
No comments:
Post a Comment