One of my mom’s favorite anecdotes for new friends is to harp upon how her eldest daughter hasn’t thrown anything away since she was in kindergarten. I won’t say that this is entirely inaccurate, but maybe a bit exaggerated. So I still own a pantsuit that I wore almost 14 years ago for my 8th grade graduation, but I justify its space in my closet since it still fits. I keep t-shirts that hold sentimental value from when I was younger, but certainly not from kindergarten. I also have a bad habit of keeping clothes that I still enjoy wearing despite how worn down, holey, and threadbare they might be. Maybe I’m going for hobo chic? I would just move into 2 closets when 1 couldn’t suffice. But soon it started to feel like I was the butt of the joke rather than in on it.
Sometime in October I decided to take a small sip of Ryan’s punch and go through my closet. I pulled out almost 200 items of clothing/accessories that were going to be donated to the Salvation Army and another 30 that had to be thrown away. They sat in a pile on my bedroom floor for about two weeks until I packed them into 7-8 large bags and then they sat in the trunk of my car for another week. For once, the hesitation wasn’t born from the thought of losing something that I was giving away but just laziness since the donation site was about an hour away from my town. I was able to tell Ryan that finally unloading my car was a giant sigh of relief.
When I was just about to look to my boyfriend with a giant grin on my face, waiting for his seal of approval, I looked into my closet… Crap. My walk-in closet now looked organized, but still full. Not packed to the gills, but still an abundance of clothing met me each time I opened it. I’m still the butt of the jokes that now include that it’s amazing to think that I, of all people, would be dating a minimalist. I’m certainly picking up the hint when he sends me articles with advice on how to clean out my closet in order to match his lifestyle. I made a dent, but it was of the smallest type.
However, I’m not going to let that change the fact that I did make a dent. I’ve gathered through my own research and Ryan’s teachings that two benefits of a minimalist lifestyle are being more organized since you have less to clutter and loving the things you do possess because you can appreciate them more. My dent was small, but I fulfilled both of these goals and it made me want to push to achieve more of that feeling. I’m also not replacing the clothing that I donated because I’m happy with the items I already have and that’s not something you would have heard be say in the past. I feel content with my small step because I know that it’s just one of many.
I’m looking forward to further dwindling down my possessions so I can feel less burdened. I have my sights set on my spare bedroom next – even I can admit that there are things in there that I haven’t touched in years besides just moving it to each new apartment/house. I’m even going to attempt Project 333 (see my inspiration at the link below) while Ryan is hiking the PCT this spring. While he’s accomplishing one of the biggest goals of his life, I want to tackle a goal that will lead to my future within a smaller space. One small dent at a time.
Link: http://tinyliving.net/2013/06/11/small-living-cleaning-out-the-closet-with-project-333/
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