What magic? The life-changing magic of tidying up, says Marie Kondo. Not traditional tidying, as in putting things away. We are talking about serious de-junking. Marie has us begin with clothes. So I did... Wow. I hauled everything out of my closet, got my coats out of the coat closet, dragged out the drawer things and dumped it all onto our queen-sized bed. It made quite a pile, and quite a sight--with purses, shoes, boots, sandals and bedroom slippers along the edges on the floor.
I had no idea I had so much until I saw it all in one place. Mount Clothesmore. Not to be daunted, I dutifully began a Day of Judgement on each and every piece, as Marie says to do. Now if you have read her book or seen Youtube videos of Marie, you will know that the main way to tell if you should keep something is to ask yourself, "Does this spark joy?" Since I am a color person, I know I must find the color of the piece to be delightsome. Even a gray boyfriend sweater is nice in a cozy way, and it passes the test. Something like a pair of jeans--you know, just navy blue--can win it's way back into the "In" pile because it is Useful (like Thomas the Tank Engine) -- but it may not dig into my stomach, or be uncomfortable anywhere else. Beautiful, useful, comfortable.
It took the better of two days to go through everything. What did I learn? I learned how delightful it is to look into my closet or drawers and be glad of what I have. I learned that it is good if it is not too much. I learned that I tend to like dressy clothes most of all ("church" clothes, party clothes, even clothes I would wear to work, if I worked outside my home), so I gravitate toward those kinds of clothes. I have had more of those than I really need, and less of the regular, everyday kinds of things I truly wear every day. This has got to stop!! I like sweaters and tops more than pants. I very much like shoes. I very much like jackets. And I very much like coats (is that from my Minnesota upbringing, where it was a big deal to always have good winter coats?).
Lessons learned? Now that it is fall clothes time, it is time to actually wear the sweaters I kept (perhaps in rotation), and not be tempted to buy any more. I must keep in mind that it is possible to dress well without a lot of clothes, as our French sisters do. A thought: to go shopping in my closet when I get dressed. Finding new combinations of clothes that are there. If you are an aritisitc person, this can be classified as fun! I realize that I like to buys jeans/pants that are long enough to wear with heeled shoes, but I am getting sick of wearing shoes with heels (thankfully, I just saw an article that says high heels are coming to be a thing of the past. Yes, may that be true!). So, jeans/pants with ballet flats may be a look that is in my future... I have worn clogs for a very, very long time. I still like them, even though they are not so popular nowadays. But, so what? I will keep wearing them, but maybe not buy any more. I did let go of the Dansko clogs I wore for twenty years. Sadly. They had given up the ghost.
I think that the two most important things to know about oneself regarding clothes are 1)what colors you like/look best in, and 2)what is your basic shape: H is straight up-and-down, 0 is round in the tummy, V is broad shoulders, A is wide hips -- and what clothes work well with your shape so that you are proportional. If you have a sense of these things, shopping will go tremendously better (compared with the clueless wandering around I have done so much of, and then wasted good money on things I somehow did not wear later). All this information is on the internet, of course. I think it is worth a woman's while to make these judgements about herself (colors and her shape). Time and money are resources that are sad to waste buying clothes that end up going to the Goodwill.
If you happen to have read Marie Kondo's work, you may have tripped over her personification of material things. She says to talk to your things, thank your clothes before you let them go. I am kind of tight-laced to actually do that, especially not being Shinto. However, I liked thanking Jesus for each piece of clothing. The ones that I let go, I tried to think of what they taught me, and to be grateful. For example, the leopard-print dress taught me not to do too much leopard in an outfit. I did not learn that from the disastrous maternity leopard-print swimsuit I once had, which only made me look like a large, pregnant wild feline. The leopard dress make me look like--oh, never mind. I think I have gotten the idea! I also buy and not wear solid-color 3/4 length t-shirts. They look nice, even. But I only wear the Breton stripe ones. So I just won't get any more, and see if I ever see if I wish I
had one. I bet I won't.
This has been rather meandering, but I would love to hear your thoughts!
Next tidying: books. Hundreds of them. What is a bibliophile to do???
Take care,
Margie
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