My mom and I both recently read the book The Year of Less by Cait Flanders. By “recently” I mean I finished it about two days ago.
In it, Flanders sets up a shopping ban for herself for one year. That didn’t strike me. I occasionally splurge, but honestly– I’ve got my budget pretty tied down right now. What did hit me was that in addition to buying nothing (or next to), she also got rid of things. Like 70% of her current belongings.
Oof. This one hit me. I have… a lot of stuff. I thought I’d kept it pretty paired down during my 20s because of all the moves I made, but somehow, sitting here in the home I own, all of my belongings that were strewn across states sometimes are all sitting in my possession. I have spent a lot of money on things I do not use.
So today, I made a pile. I really only went through wardrobe stuff, because when I got to my spare room that holds everything else, I got really intimidated.
So from my closet(s), hanging rack, dresser, and other shelf full of clothes, I pulled things I haven’t worn in a long time, if ever. I ended up with something like 5 dresses, 7 pairs of jeans, and 4 jackets. *And a partridge in a pear tree* I didn’t count the number of shirts, because I’m not even sure I can count that high.
I’m still left with an inordinate amount of clothes. For example, the category I have most of is “sleep shirts.” Which translates to “t-shirts I would not wear in public but are still nice enough to be worn so I wear them around the house and and night and stuff.” I don’t even know how to get rid of these. But I have nearly an entire draw full.
Next to tackle is what I call “Spare Oom” (Narnia reference). It holds everything from the day I moved in (October 2017) that didn’t immediately need placed to keep a house. So far, I pulled some papers to be thrown out and a Brita pitcher, a clock radio/iPod player, and an alarm clock to be donated along with the clothes. I don’t even want to think about what else is in the boxes that I’ve forgotten about. And don’t get me started on shoes.
Should I keep the red strappy high heels, for example? Have you ever done a huge purge? Read Flanders’ book? Felt an urge to GET RID OF STUFF?
A Big Small Life 