The joys of a minimalist closet

Part 2

'When I look in my closet, I don't see lack. I see freedom.'

When I reached my 30-pound weight-loss goal, I went shopping with my daughter but didn’t buy anything. I did try on some jeans and shorts to try and figure out my size. I was down three sizes, but I wasn’t done yet. I had just reset my goals and had 10 more pounds to go.

So I continued wearing the smallest of my large clothes as I had been doing throughout my weight-loss journey. Of course, this meant my wardrobe had shrunk considerably, but I found that I liked having a lean wardrobe.

On the first anniversary of my weight-loss journey, Oct. 17, 2013, I had lost 38 pounds and was two pounds shy of my goal. I celebrated by cleaning out my closet. It was also my birthday month, so I bought two new outfits in size small. These were the first additions to my closet since I had started losing weight.

As I began removing  all the clothes that were now too large for me, my thoughts went back to the summer I had tried to trim down my closet to twelve days of outfits. Now that I had so few clothes that fit, I could have that closet that I still longed for. Since I was not working outside the home, I decided to apply a rule of 5’s to my closet. (For a working wardrobe, I would have a rule of 12’s.) No more than five skirts, five dresses, five blouses, five pairs of slacks, five jackets, etc. And one more thing…before I bought and added anything to the closet, it had to pass the “love test.” I mean, I really had to love whatever I bought. It wasn’t going to take up space and become lost and forgotten. My wardrobe would now be like my iTunes playlists. All the songs are loved, not just liked. Anything I took out to wear would be something loved and special to me.

At first, it was a little difficult to pack away so many “good clothes” to give away. But as I kept going, it got easier. It took about three days to clean out my closet. I couldn’t believe how much stuff was crammed into such a small space. Instead of 12 pairs of pants that I had tried to have at one point, I counted more than 20 pairs. No wonder, I couldn’t find anything when I was getting dressed.

When it was done, I had three pairs of pants that I could wear: two from my new birthday outfits and an additional pair of khakis. While going through boxes, I found a pair of medium pants that I loved and added them. I kept four skirts that were size large but smallish with elastic waistbands. I found three large tops/blouses that were also smallish and with the two new tops with the birthday outfits, that gave me five tops. I didn’t have any dresses. I had two jackets that still worked and they stayed. For my knit shirts, I made this modification to my rule of 5’s. I would keep five shirts in white with varying sleeve lengths and up to five in pink. Other colors would share the rule of 5’s.

This rule of 5’s was going well until I got to my hoodies. I counted eight and loved them all. I have always loved hoodies. Although all of them were size large, they still fit in a comfortable way.  The only thing to do was keep out five and pack away three. That’s what  I did, and that’s still working. I just change out the colors occasionally.

My workout clothes, shorts and everyday tees are kept with my sleeping clothes in a dresser.  I kept all my large pajamas, because they are comfortable and I love them.

It’s been more than two years now, since I cleaned out my closet, and it’s still a minimalist closet. I love having just a few clothes. When I look inside my closet, I don’t see lack. I see freedom. I’ve gradually taken out more of the large sizes and replaced with small sizes.  For the past three winters, I’ve had one dress and four skirts. I’ve learned to make new outfits with these four skirts, using different tops and accessories. 

Last summer, I had four dresses and five skirts. I never felt like I was wearing the same clothes over and over. I’m always getting new ideas for interchanging skirts and tops and accessorizing my dresses.  I’m still applying the “love test” when I shop and before buying anything for my closet.  

After reaching my weight-loss goals, I have to say that having a minimalist closet is another huge achievement for me. For me, maintaining a bare but preferred wardrobe ranks with maintaining my 40-pound weight loss. I do love living light.

~~~B~~~