The Great Closet Cleanout

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My friend, Sarah @ And Twins Make Four, has started a closet purge using these five rules:

1. Only keep what fits and flatters. (Exceptions: maternity clothes, nice dresses that may fit once the babies are weaned)

2. Only keep what is worn regularly. (Exceptions: special occasion clothes, maternity clothes, seasonal clothes)

3. Only keep what fits with my current role and lifestyle. On a regular basis, I wear simple cotton t-shirts, button-down shirts, jeans, sweaters, and simple skirts or dresses for church...

4. Only keep what is reasonably modest. I am still figuring out what my exact standards are for modesty... Eventually, I know I need to come up with something specific, but for now, I'm going to try things on and see how I feel in them.

5. Only keep things that go with at least one other item. If I need to purchase something to make it wearable, that new item must go with at least one other item. This one is a bit complicated, but I know I need to have a rule like this to combat unnecessary expansion.

I feel inclined to join her in her closet purge because since having Charlie not only has my sense style but, it has changed by my body as well. Things that used to fit well now fit strangely in ways that I don't think will change any time soon, especially since I have reached my pre-pregnancy weight. In addition, I am no longer working full time so, I don't need ALL of my 9 gazillion work clothes. I could probably do with fewer exclusively work outfits and keep things are more versatile. Namely, I will keep items if they can be paired with casual items to be worn on a day to day basis OR if they can be paired with items that I can wear to church. 

One of the places where I am struggling with the purge is with my bathing suit collection. (I say collection because I have close to 10 bathing suits.) I have put a lot of effort into selecting bathing suits that are modest and flattering. Despite living 2 miles from the beach, I don't think I will need 10 bathing suits. How do I decide which ones to get rid of? How many do I get rid of? 

I have decreased my skirt collection despite the fact that I wear one to church just about every weekend because there are some that require slips and things that I don't have time to deal with anymore. Anything that requires multiple steps to put on is on the chopping block. 

As a result of this purge, I have noticed that I have quite a few shirts that have holes in them mostly tiny little ones from being old. My favorite shirts that fit perfectly are MANY years old (pre-college days) and realistically it is just time to replace them. The scary thing is I never even noticed the holes until I started to look at things closely. I can't believe I was wearing clothes with holes in them! 

I will be donating most of the clothes I am getting rid of to St. Vincent de Paul. I am hoping to sell some of them however, the local consignment shop doesn't have an appointment until January. I don't really think that it makes sense to keep a whole mess of clothes around just to maybe sell them. Any other suggestions are always welcome! 

I still have to go through my sweaters, shoes, and purses BUT I've made a nice pile to get rid of/sell so far!