Title -This Girl’s journey or a lighter look at the convenience decluttering brings to your life… and….does a blog really have to be over 2000 words in 2017 when in 2012 just 500 words was acceptable. I also ponder are all the little words such as; is, at and or; counted as a word? And will the little in between words count towards my ramblings – ensuring I hit the 2017 Blog words target of over 2000 words. Are you wondering how I know this amazing fact, well it was on the internet of course!
The internet is full of amazing facts; there are loads of amazing people who are tapping away imparting their own unique words of wisdom for us all to read. (And now I appear to be one of them) If you have a question, any question, or you see something, or you hear something, could be on TV, in a magazine, even at a talk at the WI…..
We can look up anything online the World Wide Web – So is it the web of evil – or not? Well you see the trouble with the Internet is it is easy to begin to mentally consume and believe ALL of these written words. These thoughts, the thoughts of another person, someone we don’t know, not always a trained professional, but what they tell us seems to make absolute sense, it smacks something in our minds, it makes sense to us…..
Just a few years ago (well it seems like not that long ago to me!) this information may have been only available to read in a book and the chances are we may never have read it. We probably only got to read limited titles and topics, the books the library or perhaps WHSmith’s or Waterstone’s would have in stock and anything special had to be ordered and often you waited weeks for it to arrive!
If you got the book from the Library, you sort of knew, it would be a tried and tested book sort of endorsed. But it wasn’t instant was it; sometimes we had to wait weeks, even months! I remember the anticipation of getting that call to say ‘The book you wanted was in – finally!’ Of course then we would have to plan a visit to collect said book. Actually I remember those days with such fondness and the real excitement of collecting a book…..However, sometimes the information available was very limited or you didn’t connect with the content; not so with the internet its kind of the worlds new Bible.
We all know the internet and social media opened up a massive new and exciting way to stress ourselves out! What’s not to like, it’s free mostly and besides personally; I like looking through lots of information, having a brief peek; and finding inspiration…..but I have to be careful not to get sucked in and realise in what seems like no time an hour has passed…
Inspiration
I enjoy Instagram more and more, it’s a super interesting look book and the interaction is less wordy than Facebook, plus I don’t feel obliged to trawl through 36 photos from someone’s holidays! Instagram suits me it’s more like surface dancing and pacey. Also, it’s very clever and starts to know and understand the stuff I like and it has also begun to share new things with me it thinks I will like! And this is great because it opens up my mind to other information and things I probably wouldn’t bother with or go looking for.
Often I am looking at style and ways to create a look in a less expensive way; Fashion trends for clothes and interiors; and inspiration and new ways for reworking items I already own. These are my keepers, items and things I have identified for the moment as my stock classics, things I won’t part with. This transfers to clothes or stuff and things like ornaments too.
I also find lots of inspiration for my garden, for making things; I love creative projects. I find that Instagram is the perfect place to record your images and for creating a showcase a sort of look book of your life and family or your interests, hobbies and travels. Like that or not it is convenient and there is that word – Convenient!
I’m going to use decluttering and restyling in fashion as an example…….
At this precise moment because of things that happened in my life, I came to a realisation, had a moment whatever you want to call it, I needed a change a shift and I big one – I’m not talking changing the colour of the paint in the bedroom (actually thinking out loud, that is quite a big thing!) no, no I wanted more than this I wanted to change my life significantly!
So I did, I left my job, a good job with good money, a job that afforded me to have and to do pretty much what I wanted to…… and over the years I had done exactly this the result of which was I bought quite a lot of stuff.
I bought stuff to make me happy, I bought more stuff because I was sad, I bought more stuff because I was probably a bit bored and even more stuff because I loved a bargain. Sometimes I bought two or more of all the stuff because I thought I loved it so much, I bought loads and loads because I could. I loved that shot of happiness I got from the purchase, that addictive buzz and I loved ‘Adding to my collections’
I bought clothes of course…shoes and boots, underwear, decorative Interior items too many to even begin to list, crockery and glasses, makeup, too much food on special offer cleaning products, garden plants, garden junk, hobby things, arts crafts materials….I also purchased website names, I’m very entrepreneurial and always had an idea brewing it might be the next big thing – you name it, I would want it.
I also got free stuff, out of skips or stuff dumped on the side of the road; I would stop and ask builders if I could have old water tanks, even burnt out cars offered me sculptural melted molten treasure. I saw the creative potential in every single thing I clapped eyes on. Have you heard the saying ‘one man’s junk is another man’s treasure’……I re wrote this to say; Anyone’s junk was my treasure!
A bit of a moment
We decided to have some building work done at home; super excited I drooled over Elle Home, Instagram, Pintrest and Houzz. I bought all the house magazines. I dreamt of sitting in my beautifully restyled and tastefully coordinated home this included me lounging in gorgeously soft stylish lounge wear from the White Company…..
Did I mention I’m organised? I decided I would box everything up securely to keep it clean and dry and put it into storage – so I did this before we even got our planning permission!
We lived without all our decorative items and most of our clothes for over a year! So, we had none of our stuff out (except the TV in a storage cabinet and some chairs) I began to realise we didn’t need most of the items I had stored in the boxes and interestingly if you asked me to list the contents I couldn’t have told you half of it!
I had a plan; I knew exactly how I wanted my wardrobe, my clothes and shoe storage to look. Yes! It was like the perfect dressing room; Carrie Bradshaw meets Lisa Vanderpump….well in my head it was. The reality was something very different, you see I had a smaller size house with an abnormal amount of clothes and shoes, (you could call it a collection) and a very and I mean very, very limited space to try to fit it all into! Yep yep yep, I was going to cull those clothes, I was going to cut those babies back to the bone… all those shoes and boots, all 57 pairs…. Not including trainers and my dog walking boots (do they count they are in the shed and garage ….technically not included, in my head)
Yessssss! Bursting with exuberance, I had read all the decluttering tips I could find and I had read snippets from that nice lady called Kon Marie or is it Marie Kondo (actually back then it was quite confusing and not wishing to be caught out by the hard-core minimalist brigade I find myself rushing her name in public conversations, not wishing to say it incorrectly!) I had searched the internet for tips…….and it spoke the words of the devil, it told me I only needed what I used….but the shoesss and the bootsss they are my friends ……aren’t they? Actually they are not – they are the leaches you can’t see! The silent evil sucking my money and all the love I have for them – from under my very nose!
Whatever, I can’t let go of it all, not now …not yet. It is a process of elimination you see and as I snatch a sideways glance at the unsuspecting items. I feel sorry for them, for they do not know that soon most of them will succumb to the 3 things they all fear …..The bags of doommmmmmm!
I am experiencing mind flashes of Andy in Toy Story, do any of these unsuspecting garments have a personality, do you think they, the clothes and shoes that is, come to life when the bedroom door is closed? I have visions of my full length gown (bought for a song, for a ‘bit of a do’ that never was) dancing around the room…its reduced price tag sailing gently behind it as it swishes around. I discard the thought quick smart…..and force the ridiculous visions and accompanying music firmly from my mind!
On to the task at hand – So, I set aside a day without interruption. I took everything out of the wardrobes and cupboards and draws, and I put it all on the bed. It was a veritable mountain, I couldn’t see over the pile of clothes and the floor was littered with shoes and boots. But then came the sorting step – and that is always the most difficult to do, and where most of us struggle to varying degrees – that is what the next tip said would happen. Why do I find that my clothes are difficult to sort through? They are beautiful… I sit and ponder this further (did I say I am a procrastinator….) then realise I am unsure whether you can ever get to the point where you can completely switch off emotion when decluttering and sorting your things, for me especially my clothes….. Don’t even ask me about the shoes Nooo stop or I will definitely cry!
So finally I put 3 black bin bags on the floor – The bags are labelled because that’s important.
Charity/Give to friend’s (who are circling like sharks ready to feast on my stuff)
Repairs/Alterations/Clean
Keep
So, because I am about to try on most of my entire wardrobe I think it is important that the clothes are given the best chance of staying in the circle of love. So I have prepared for this, I am wearing my good bra the one I had professionally fitted and my seam free knickers. I have 3 types of shoes at the ready, a pair of heels, flats and boots.
I also have my phone at the ready so if I need a bit of extra help I can snap a quick shot into the mirror and ping over a copy to my trusted friends for a 1 to 4 vote, anything less than a 3 goes, no remorse. 2s have the potential to be redeemed BUT only if they are in good condition and worth making the effort to alter to fit you better – be brutal I silently scream and don’t hang on to items for the sake of it or because of some emotional pull. I have promised myself …..If I really can’t let go today I’ll put it into a bag and store it in my garage. I will make a diary note for 6 months ahead then give the bag to charity…because I can pretty much guarantee I probably won’t remember what is in there anymore ……
So back to the clothing cull I was in the middle of…. I realise as I begin to try on and sort through the mountain of clothing it becomes easier and I am actually am enjoying this. I begin to recognise types of clothing that I don’t want I feel the emotion leaving my decision making and I am learning to see a new me emerging.
I found that taking a photo is also a really great way to catalogue and record ‘a look’ that you really love, even if you dismiss the actual garment because it’s old the fact that the fit is flattering is worth capturing the shape and the way it makes you feel, ask yourself really, really how do you feel;
1.Great 2.Rubbish 3.Okay
We are aiming for ‘feeling great’ and nothing less is good enough for you! Also the photos you take will show you, what not to buy in the future. Make an album on your computer or in your phone, you can revisit the album to remind yourself if you find yourself beginning to slip back into old habits. If you don’t have these tools then go old school and make notes baby! Think about this – Sometimes, to just have a picture of the dress or thing, you may find you don’t want or need the actual thing anymore as the photo memory is enough. Maybe its never going to be a convenient time to start the process, but just pause before you stop yourself from feeling lighter and happier this year…. you may be interested to know I achieved it, I have success and last year on eBay
My sales totalled at £3439.
Banana Republic Green Dress Size L Size 14, your fastest sale,
was completed in just
20 minutes.
You sold Stunning Art Nouveau statue posing Jester or Clown for £175.
That was a big win!
You were among the top 10% of
sellers in Clothes, Shoes & Accessories.