Clothing

A significant amount of storage in our place is dedicated to clothing

 It's that time of year....down come the bins full of summer clothes--and in the case of the boys, BIGGER summer clothes--to be traded out with the too-small items, sweaters, fleece pants, and Levi's we won't wear again till fall.  

This was a crazy idea. 

If I sound excited, don't be fooled.  It is one of my least favorite chores around here.  With the sprouting children, I have to do it about every three months, and faithfully put it off till the last possible moment, when they are running around sweltering in sweatpants, or shoving themselves into tight, stained T-shirts.  It can be quite an undertaking, especially when the boys are helping!

However, while getting out my own summer gear last week, I was down right thoughtful about the process. I credit this to two developments: our new, microscopic closet, and, a greater understanding of myself.

First, I discovered I had bagged up a nice little pile last fall to go to the consignment shop.  Way to think ahead about trading!  However, this required me to both iron and introduce my two year old to this modern appliance, which I did on the front porch--I'd recommend an outdoor ironing tutorial to anyone.  It's what got us through the chore.

I've decided to give myself the "closet challenge."  Over this summer, I will try to wear each item in my closet, to test its mettle in my current life.    If something is the least bit uncomfortable, high-maintenance, weird, magnetic to dog hair, stained, or just plain wrong--it's out.  I expect to have very little left by fall.  And then, I hope to slowly re-build what I will call--at the risk of sounding like a total weirdo--"my collection."  Because that is my goal--rather than have a bunch of clothes I consume at random, I'd like to collect what will really work for me for the long-term.   I wore a dress yesterday, to great community surprise.  Evidently, it's a keeper.  Today I got lazy and put on my same-old yoga pants.  They are keepers--but, I already knew that.

I found a great blog by a woman who calls herself Miss Minimalist which outlines how to create your "capsule" of only ten items of clothing. Here are hers:

 (You can check out her philosophy at: http://www.missminimalist.com/2011/03/the-minimalist-wardrobe-aka-the-10-item-wardrobe/)

Obviously, those shoes wouldn't work for me.  Can you picture me chasing two strider bikes in those?

Wish me luck!