The motivation behind my decision to change life (my closet)
as I know it is that I hope someday in the not too distant future I will be
forced to share my closet with a member of the opposite sex. This member of the
opposite sex happens to be my wonderful boyfriend however I still stand by
using the word ‘forced’. I would prefer he move in and use the perfectly fine
closet in the guest bedroom. Apparently it doesn’t work that way and you are
supposed to share everything, including the master closet. This of course was
news to me as I grew up as an only child and never had to share anything.
The predicament I was in was that I designed my master
closet when I renovated my condo. The design carefully took into consideration
the exact number of shoes and Louis Vuitton bags I owned plus those I intended
to purchase in the foreseeable future. Also carefully crafted into the
plan was hanging space for my collection of dresses and plenty of room for my
sweaters and t-shirts. No shelves to spare for my jeans and sweatshirts either.
What I did not include in the design was sharing all the space 50/50 with
someone ELSE. The first lesson I learned was that 50/50 was never going to happen,
so I set the bar high and my goal was 70/30. Relationships after all are about
compromise right?
Below is how I got from before to after and what I am
claiming to be 70/30 real estate.
I did my best to compartmentalize my life (my closet)
because let’s face it – there are days that I need to channel my inner rock
star and this requires knowing right where my blinged out jeans and skull
t-shirts are. For those of you who don’t know me that well… this is not a joke.
Yes I own multiple pairs of jeans with ‘bling’ on the butt and more than one
t-shirt with skulls on it (perhaps even one with skulls and bling, whoa).
In another compartment went all my work stuff. This was
because not every day do I want to be dressing like an IT Auditor. Ok to be
honest, I hope I never actually dress like an IT Auditor and if I do please
stop me. You get the point though – there needs to be a compartment for black
express pants and cardigans (slight gag). Joining the real world was an
awakening and I too had to break and add the dreaded cardigan to my wardrobe. I
realize it is perfectly normal (and looks great) to wear cardigans while not at
work, but that is just not me. My non work sweaters have a bit more spunk to
them than three quarter sleeves and six identical buttons.
Here are the sanity check questions I asked myself for every
piece of clothing:
·
When was the last time I wore this? If it didn’t
make it in the wardrobe rotation this time last season, good-bye (tear)!
Is it from a store I still shop at? This was a
tough question, but I forced myself to seriously consider items from stores I
no longer shop at (American Eagle, A&F, etc). They only made the cut if
they were super cute and timeless (which most items did not fit this
description and were super trendy… goodbye!).
Does it still fit? This was also a tough
question, every item in my closet still ‘fit’ but as I’ve gotten older (and I
can’t believe I’m saying this) I like my pants a little higher, a little looser
and my shirts a little longer. Those items that didn’t fall into those fits were
gonners, goodbye!
Would I buy it again? These items were definite
keeps, I have this black puffy North Face vest that I’m in love with. I bought
it years ago and would buy it again every season if it wore out. No one could
convince me to part with it.
Yes, No, Maybe-SO? The Yes pile obviously went
back into the closet. I didn't feel like a reasonable decision maker about the
Maybe-SO pile so I've set it aside for a second opinion.
The no pile- the out of style, slightly worn, I
can’t believe I own this items went into a pile for Goodwill. The other items
were split up between the following:
Poshmark: This is an amazing site (and App) that allows you
to create a ‘closet’ to sell your gently used items. The App makes it super simple to post pictures and
prices and even shop in other people’s closets. There is a flat shipping fee
the buyer pays and you print a shipping label straight from your email and send
the package. Poshmark handles the transaction piece to it and you pay a 20% cut
for the service.
thredUP: This site (and App) is awesome because you don’t have to wait
for your items to sell. You order a Clean Out bag, fill it up with clothes, send
it back to thredUP with free shipping and
they give you $$ for items they want to purchase. They then in turn sell the
items on their site so you can get great deals on other people’s stuff too. You
get up to 40% of the resale value in cash.
And because there was no way I was going to get rid of 30%
of the stuff I owned (and still liked but rarely even wear)…. I took one for
the team and put stuff in the guest bedroom closet!
Sincerely,
Chardonnay
What’s in my glass…
Why Chardonnay? Because no woman should ever attempt to clean out her closet without a glass, or two of wine! I uncorked my first bottle of Chardonnay from Moldova tonight
and it was amazing. This bottle is definitely up there near the top of my $20
and under list. I picked up this Chateau Vartely on one of my ‘grab a bunch of
bottles with anything labeled Chardonnay under $20’ trips to Corks and Kegs.
Now if only I had a cheese plate to go with it…
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