MindShift - Thrift Stores

Thrifts store shopping is my family pastime. I finally accepted this when my parents came to visit a few years ago for Mother's Day and we had an hour to kill before lunch so we made a bee-line for the nearest Good Will and all came away with bags of treasures. It's in my blood.

Recent Thrift Store Find
Dance shoes! Score!

I've been working hard to pursue more minimalism and mindfulness in my possessions. The other day I took a couple of bags down to my local Value Village, and as per normal took a lap around the store to glance through coats, dress and shoes. I noticed for the first time that I was looking at the racks differently.

I've trained my eye, over the years, to pick out quality of material and construction on the rack. I hone in on the wools, silks and linens, and then consider if it would look good on me, match anything I own, or be a fun addition to my wardrobe. I arrive at the dressing room with a pile, and dive headfirst in, ruthlessly eliminating things that don't fit, don't work or I just don't like. I almost always come away with a handful of new treasures.

This time, as I cruised through my favorites, I didn't feel that same excitement wondering what new find would present itself to me. I instead found myself wondering if it went with the color palette I was focusing on (instead of the collect them all approach to color). I considered if I had any holes in my current wardrobe that I need to fill (I'm looking for a sport, high quality winter coat that I could wear hiking or out doors.... but not much else). In the past I would have simply wondered if I had anything exactly like it.

Rather then grabbing interesting colors and patterns I found myself thinking, "I don't need this, I have plenty of shirts like that, I wouldn't wear this, I have nicer dresses then this already".

It sounds like a subtle shift, but I quickly finished my lap, unimpressed, and left the store without a single purchase.

Tiny first steps for long lasting change.

Culling the 'Hoard'

One week ago I did a massive culling of my huge collection of clothing.  I've always been a bit of a clothes horse. My family past time is second hand shopping. We pride ourselves on finding unique, high quality items at very small costs. This has led to quite the 'hoard' of items, each awesome and unique in their own way.

Home made skirt, vintage look

thrifted shirt, scarf, coat, shorts...

thrifted boots, skirt I've had
since the 90s, shirt bought in
 Paris, hand made hat

I am highly invested in fashion too. I definitely use my clothing as a way to express my identity. I take great pleasure in matching outfits in eclectic ways, and mixing aesthetics to make an impact when I enter a room.

Vintage wool skirt,
 thrifted belt and top.

Thrifted tights, shoes, scarf,
Hot Topic skirt

With Elena at Oregon Country Fair.
Jolie Coquette Playsuit,
thrifted accessories,
hand made hat (not by me)

But over the years my collection has burgeoned to the point of a horde, where on laundry day, I don't have room to put everything away. I couldn't make outfits or utilize the awesome pieces I had because I could barely find anything in my overflowing drawers and closet.

I've been through the purge and grow stage many times before, and this time I am taking a somewhat different approach.  Awhile back I read the Life Changing Magic of Tiding Up book that so many people are crazy about. I loved it, and did a major culling. It jump-started me to the idea that perhaps I need to keep things in their space more. My ex-husband is the sort of person who keeps anything that may be useful, and anything that he's remotely sentimental about. I tend towards these qualities as well, but especially when I established my own apartment, without him, once we split up, the urge to push back against the urge to keep everything hit me really hard. But sparks of joy weren't enough to control the coursing river of my fashion binging.

More recently I've been reading and watching a number of videos about minimalism. In particular I've been enjoying Break the Twitch, which focuses more on minimalism as a filter or frame of mind, rather then a specific system of rules. I also discovered Into Mind, a blog and book about applying the ideas of minimalism to your closet and creating a curated closet that fits your needs and lifestyle that is purposeful and purpose-driven.

I purchased Anushka (of Into Mind)'s book, and am utilizing it some as a guide curate my clothing.  I'm currently focusing tracking what I actually wear each day, and getting rid of things that don't fit my body, my lifestyle, my fashion sense, or my standards for construction and materials. While I distill what it is I currently wear and like, I will develop a sense of what I want to move towards, if I decide I need to make changes to the status quo. (The answer there will probably be yes!)

Two tubs for storage on the top, 5 bags gone on the bottom.

With the help of my dear friend Elena, I managed to rid myself of 5 bags of clothing. I also had a tub for off season clothes, and a tub of sentimental clothing to be stored.  Here is what worked this time.

• Don't think too long on any one item. I found if I could decide right away, I wouldn't talk myself into keeping something I didn't really want. 
• Don't force yourself to be binary! Have multiple bags for multiple purposes. I sorted clothes into: keep, toss (aka bring to clothing swap or give to charity shop), off season (summer), sentimental, and Oregon Country Fair memorabilia. I eventually lumped the sentimental and OCF clothing together in one place to be stored and eventually made into a quilt. 
• If in doubt, put it on! Sometimes just seeing a piece of clothing on my body that I hadn't worn in awhile was enough to remind me why I either did or didn't want to keep it. Maybe it's itchy in a weird way, or has a funny length. Maybe it feels cozy, or looks amazing on, even though it's not much to look at on the hanger. 
• Go through it all! I dumped out every drawer and removed every single hanger. I had to look at every single piece, and then really react to how much I really had. Seeing how massive my clothing collection was really helped me to let go of items. 
• Clump similar pieces. Put button ups, sweaters, long work pants, etc. all in piles by similarity. You may have repeats of things you don't realize. It's ok to have more then one of something (I have multiples of black and white striped shirts, red/orange pull over sweaters, dark skinny jeans, and khakis), but you should KNOW you have multiples. If you have several of the same item, it's also a good indicator that it's a mainstay of your current wardrobe. 
• We looked for items I didn't own, but that would allow me use more of my wardrobe. For example we brainstormed, and realized that part of why I don't wear many of my t-shirts is that I don't like the look of t-shirt & jeans, but if you add a classy blazer, or put it with a skirt and tights, I like it better. So I decided I needed to add some blazers to my wardrobe and see if that helps me wear my t-shirts more. I also decided to get a turtleneck to wear under a beige wool dress that I loved, but was both itchy and too close to my skin shade!

  

  Burgundy tights and turtleneck under wool dress.

What's my next step? 

1. Plan a time to go through other elements of my 'Look'. We did clothing, but not hats, shoes or scarves. I also need to go through socks and underwear and dump anything that's falling apart. Since the weekend of the great culling I also made time to go through my toiletries, make up and beauty products. 
2. Continue to document my daily outfits. I'll do a summation post at the end of my two week experiment. 
3. Continue to collect images of outfits that inspire me from Instagram, Look Book and other fashion sources. These should be truly wearable outfits, not high fashion. 
4. Boil all these elements down into a style that is absolutely me. 

   

   Newly organized and cleaned out closet

What other places could I look for inspiration either for the crafting of my curated look, or to continue to apply the attitudes and ideas of mindful minimalism to my life? 

What other rules should I consider as I continue culling the horde/hoard of possessions?