The Numbers

This post is part of a series detailing what I learned from reading Marie Kondo's book TheLife-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and how I'm applying that to creating a simpler, more focused closet of clothing. Check out the "Marie Kondo Monday" tag to see all posts in this series...

A few disclaimers before we get started in on those numbers:

- I will never have it together enough to have everything clean and actually put away all at once so it was a challenge to get these numbers. They may be a few off because of that and I'm just going to have to deal with that. 

- These numbers don't include loungewear, workout clothes, and sports team tees and hoodies because I view that as its own separate humongous challenge.

- I still have to finalize what I'm keeping and what I'm getting rid of in my out of season shoes. I did a quick mental count though after looking at the bin they're in and that quick count is at least accounted for in the numbers listed.

Ok, now that we're done with those details, phew! The main thought that goes through my head when I'm confronted with those numbers is that it makes me a little bit sick to my stomach. It's hard to believe that I had 576 items, and that's not even including purses, belts, and scarves. Yikes! I'm a bargain shopper through and through and even though I probably didn't pay full price for anything and many items were thrifted, that's a pretty large dollar amount, especially when compared with my Academic Advisor salary. I very much enjoy the work I do and think it's valuable, but advising as a profession has a pretty lousy salary attached to it unfortunately!

The total number of items kept still felt high to me and I'm sure Marie Kondo would've likely looked at me like I had 3 heads if she was looking at those numbers with me. But I'm still counting this as a win. I went from out of season clothes and shoes taking up space in 2 other closets in the spare bedrooms to a situation in which just out of season shoes need to be stored elsewhere, and then currently shorts and a handful of really summery dresses and skirts are in the spare closet. The book taught me to think a little more critically about what items feel good to me and are worth keeping, and clearing out the clutter revealed the types of pieces I rely on most and should focus on. Who really needs their favorite tank top from 2007 when you probably haven't worn it since that year, or 4 or 5 pairs of plain black dress pants when you can't remember the last time you wore a pair? For the record, I kept one pair just because I believe that one should always have a job interview ready outfit on hand!

I'm keeping the series going, and next Monday I'll write about my list of replacement pieces that were identified once a lot of that clutter was cleared out. Thanks for reading!