Closet Revamp: Why I’m Tackling My Inner Bargain Demons
Weekends spent with dad were usually full of afternoons rifling through the bargain bin at our local bookstore or scoping out the latest deals at his favorite deep discount department store. He taught our entire family the thrill of the hunt, and the possibilities to be found in the word “Clearance” or even better yet.. “Liquidation.”
I learned how to bargain hunt, how to find the greatest deal at the lowest price, from my father. And it’s maybe one of the best gifts he ever gave to me. Whether its hopping from thrift to store to thrift store, or website to website to compare the cheapest prices, there’s no denying the exhilarating high of a good deal. But there has always been an evil side to this gift..
Because I’m a quasi-basic chick in America, the majority of my shopping efforts have always centered around clothing. No surprises there. In the last decade, my wardrobe has seen at least hundreds of iterations. I’ve owned well over 75 pairs of shoes, had purses for every day of the week, and even at one point owned 15 sleeveless black dresses…
There’s really no excuse for living like this, other than the simple fact that I happened to get everything for really, really cheap. And sure I’ve managed to stay on top of trends and pretty much always look (mostly) cute. But I’ve also gone into credit card debt over my obsession. I’ve used shopping as medication for depression and bad days at work. There was a point in my life a few years ago where I knew I needed to slow it down.
Since getting married two years ago, I definitely spend a lot less of my free time shopping. Not to mention we moved into a pretty small house with very little storage space. This has forced me to gradually get rid of about a 1/4 of my wardrobe, and store about 1/2 of it in our attic.
As we’ve prepared to welcome a new member into our family, I’ve been reduced to fewer and fewer places to store my stash.
Taking A Minimalistic Approach
So I’ve been thinking, what if instead of looking for more creative ways to store all this crap… I decided it’s time to simplify?
A ton of people I know have been using The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
But for me, a woman of many different looks and personalities for different days of the week, I knew I’d need to do something a little more focused on establishing a “style” for myself that would make me choose items in the future based on who I am rather just on how reasonable the price tag is.
That’s when I heard about this book, The Curated Closet.
I’m going to use it through my journey over the next few months to shape and simplify my closet.
It seemed like the perfect time as I transition out of maternity clothes in the next few weeks and back into my own wardrobe. I’m ready to simplify my life, get serious about my style, and not let bargains rule my world.
Let’s get started!