A little while back, I saw this trend going around on Youtube where girls would try on all of their clothes to determine what to keep and what to give away. They said it took them hours to go through all of their clothes because it could be a pretty time-consuming activity if you’re a clothing hoarder, like most of the girls I watched on Youtube.
Because all classes have shifted to online, I moved back into my house with my parents. Things have been pretty boring as of late, so I figured I might as well give this closet purge a try.
My Experience
To start, I had to do a ton of laundry in order to have all my clothes available for me to try on. I have a fair amount of clothes, so I can avoid doing my laundry for weeks at a time. Once I washed up all of my dirty clothes, it was finally time for me to tackle this challenge.
I turned on my audiobook to make this process a little more exciting. I didn’t know where to start, but I figured that my winter clothes would be a good starting place. I went through all my sweaters, sweatshirts, and about half of my pants. It took me way longer than I expected. I also got way hotter than I expected. Maybe it wasn’t my best idea to try on cold-weather clothes during spring.
I could only do so much for one day before getting bored, so I decided to continue on the next day. This day’s mission was the rest of my pants and all of my shorts. The problem here is that I buy the same pair of shorts in multiple colors, so I kept trying on the same thing over and over again just to see if I liked the color. In hindsight, there definitely was a better way to go about this, but I clearly felt like working harder, not smarter.
At the end of day two, I lost all my motivation to continue. I thought I made some good progress, but after assessing all the clothes I still had left to go through, I realized I barely even made a dent.
On the third day, I went through all of my dresses, skirts, jackets, and dressy tops. After having two days of experience, I was able to get into a bit of a rhythm. I bought a lot of these clothes back when I was in high school, so it was pretty easy to decide what I still plan on wearing versus what were things I no longer need in my wardrobe.
Once again, I lost stamina, so I had to extend the process to a fourth and final day. I saved the biggest section for last: all of my tops. It was really hard to decide what I wanted to keep and give away here because a good amount of my t-shirts are from high school and different events I went to, so they have sentimental value. I had to be extremely critical when making my choices. I said goodbye to some of my favorite t-shirts, but somebody else will get some use out of them now.
The Results
After going through all of my clothes, I have many pages of clothes ready to be donated once the stores open back up again. It feels great to have more space to buy new clothes to add to my wardrobe.
In conclusion, I have absolutely way too many clothes. I’m also a very indecisive person. I had trouble deciding what I should keep and what I should donate because I kept trying to convince myself that I might need a certain top or dress for a very specific occasion that I will probably never even attend. However, I do think the process has helped me learn to be more decisive. I gained a better idea of what kinds of clothes flatter my figure and the clothes I’m more likely to wear. Now, I’m able to have a more defined style. The clothes I decided to keep will help me have a more cohesive, consistent look.
If you’ve got a little extra time on your hands soon, I would definitely recommend doing a major closet purge. You’ll feel accomplished once you’re finished and you’ll be able to donate your clothes to those in need!