To know me is to know I have an affinity for what I will refer to as minimalism. I love blogs, books, and shows on how people live with less. Tiny houses look like magic to me and I absolutely want to touch every item and see if it sparks joy. And yet I live in pretty big house with a lot of stuff that apparently sparks joy, so I try to do so with an eye to wards the excess and a vision board that may or may not include living in a shack on the sand with a lot less of all of this stuff.
I cleaned out a lot of stuff when we moved three years ago, and yet my stuff has a way of multiplying like a mogwai dropped in a pool. I’ve tried a few approaches to this and last May when I was changing out the shelving in my closet I decided to set a 1 year time limit to wear everything in my closet and turned every hanger backwards as a marker of things unworn.
A few things to know:
- All of clothes except coats and scarves are in my closet
- I do not have any clothes in my bedroom, I don’t use dressers
- Most of my clothes hang, some (like underwear and yoga pants) are in baskets or on the shelves under my hanging clothes.
- Out of season items live in the baskets on the top of my closet, and those baskets were not exempt
- Everything had to be worn – sports bras, leggings, jeans, scarves. I didn’t hold the rule to jewelry or shoes.
I worked hard to wear things – especially things that didn’t have a “match” or were dressier than my life usually requires. I did buy new things, and they lived by the same timeline. If they were worth buying they had to be worn by May 1st. Over the last year there were countless times I would put something on and instantly know I didn’t like it anymore. Bodies are not static, and neither is fabric. Sometimes things lose stretch or otherwise didn’t hold their shape, a few were truly worn out, and a few maybe never fit in a great way and might have been picked up in retail therapy sessions. When I had a recent history of wearing so many things I loved, that showed up more clearly. I did a last run through as the month of April drew to an end and when May 1st arrived I donated more than a few items. I also elected to give a few things one more year. Here’s where it landed (after the final donation).
- 9 dresses didn’t get worn. I got more comfortable as the year went on wearing what I wanted and not worrying about being ‘overdressed’ so these are getting another year.
- 4 skirts – same as the dresses. I love the skirts, and wish I had worn them so I’m giving them another run through the seasons.
- 1 basic black blazer and 1 white button down. The last relics from my office job, I tried them on and both are still awesome in how they fit and I absolutely want to wear them. I think I forgot I could have worn them with jeans, so they get one more year.
- I did not wear the Poison tank top that is signed by Bret Michaels, and it is not going anywhere. It sparks joy just by existing and I love seeing it every time I look at my clothes.
- 1 pair of pants I bought in the fall and somehow didn’t wear before the weather changed and they require cooler weather. I still love them so they getting another winter.
- 2 scarves. It took me a minute (a chunk of this year) to figure out my way back to wearing more than a t-shirt and jeans as my default uniform so I’m giving these a little more time.
Everything above is getting a tag on the hanger and then one more time I’m rolling everything backwards and starting over. If I’m not using something in 365 days, I’m happy to release it back to the wild world while it’s still vaguely in fashion instead of holding it hostage in my closet.
This past year showed me how many aspiration items I had in my closet, far more dressy things than I had places to wear them. Faced with the choice or wearing it or letting them go, I wore the sparkly purple dress. I wore the silk skirt. I wore the vest my mom had made so many years ago. I wore the things I had been ‘saving’ for later, saving for unknown future events and instead I declared them the perfect choice for the events that were occurring.
I may like the idea of minimalism, but what I deeply love is what is nestled deep inside of that space – the idea of utility. I am not concerned about having things, I am concerned about using things, about getting value from things. I hope in the way I live my life that I use the things I am keeping. Those things took energy to buy, usually in the form of the energetic exchange that is money I worked to earn. And every thing I have takes daily energy to maintain. I keep my things in a house, they are in spaces that are cooled or heated to a fairly steady temperature, they are kept free of dust and dirt. When I think not just of the cost to buy an item, but of the time I spend keeping the item – I need to check in and make sure it’s worth it. At this moment I can say everything in my closet is worth keeping, at least for the next year.
Journal Prompt: A professor once had my college class write several pages on “utility”. With far more ease, explore in words how you define the value you get from the things you choose to own.
Physical Prompt: Take 15 minutes and turn every item on a hanger in your closet backwards. It will probably take less time if all you do is flip hangers – so don’t get distracted! Step 2 – Set a calendar item for 1 year from today to check in on the things you have not worn.
If the ideas of simplicity found in this post speaks to you, my “100 Things” journey and other related ideas can be found in the posts below:
- 4/27/26 – What to do with 100 e-books
- 2/28/26 – 8 is Enough
- 8/27/26 – Just Use It.
- 8/29/23 – 100 Things: Books & Time
- 7/11/23 – 100 Things (Part 2)
- 4/3/2023 – 100 Things (ORIGINAL POST)
All content I share here, elsewhere on my websites and in social media is created by me, Alison Gurevich – and not AI or other sources unless otherwise specifically attributed. This includes all photographs, writing, and ideas. All rights reserved by Alison Gurevich. “It’s Been a Year (Closet Update)” was originally published to www.breathtomotion.com on May 5, 2023. When you find typos or grammar errors, celebrate humanity and enjoy a little song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3wKzyIN1yk (Human by Rag N Bone Man).