Fashion Fast... Duds Diet... Shopping Shrinkage...

Two weekends ago I was extremely bored. Not because I didn't have anything to do, but rather, with the weather cooling off and the sunlight hours shrinking, I found myself trying to avoid the tedium of grading papers, planning lessons, watching Netflix, and taking Munki outside to play (yes, even running around with my pup has grown into a chore). I did on Saturday what I typically reserve for a Sunday nightcap -- planning my work wardrobe for the week. And as I shoved dresses, shirts, sweaters, slacks, etc. across the long railing of my half-wall closet I noticed that a large number of items still had the tags on them.

Curious to see what I had still left unworn, I cleared my bed and began tossing hanger after hanger of items that still bore black and white rectangles against their fabric. In the end I had covered my queen size comforter with nearly two dozen unworn duds. And the common denominator: most of these items were on either end of the "hidden" part of my closet. My closet has "accordion" doors, meaning that the two middle doors unfold to the left and right, leaving about two feet of blind spots of clothes. Even though my closet is color-coded, the left is reserved for whites, ivories, and eggshells, while the left is reserved for black, black, and blackest black, which make up the bulk of my wardrobe. In response to this revelation, I did what I didn't think I'd have room to do: I swapped out closets.

My bedroom is blessed with two spaces for storage: a half-wall closet and a walk-in closet. The walk-in is about 25 square feet (5' x 5') with built-in shelves along one corner and one shelf atop each railing on the left and right. Given that my wardrobe was given its own driving shift during my move last winter, I was convinced that my normal, everyday items would not fit in this "small space." So I left it for special occasion, party, and slightly more fashionable fare.

Someone should have slapped me upside the head for that one.




After three hours of transfer and reorganization, I'd created the closest thing I'd ever had to my dream closet. I'd moved one of my matching dressers into the closet, making it a one-stop spot for my dressing needs. The dresser also gave me a space to put my jewelry. Currently in a Caboodle, my necklaces, earrings, and bracelets were having massive separation anxiety, resulting in two hours of detangling beads, chains, hooks, and stones. But the end result was the disposal of earrings with no match, broken necklaces with no hope of reconciliation, and tarnished, torn, and tattered odds and ends.


Now I have a space where I can see just about everything, making it easier for me to coordinate outfits, not make duplicate purchases, and also seek out the chance to wear EVERYTHING. In the upcoming year I am going to attempt to put myself on a strict shopping diet. When I look at bloggers like Jean and Wendy, I see them repeat pieces but not outfits. Jean even has a post on her blog about how she regulates her spending. And after reading this LearnVest article about appropriately spending your funds on wardrobe updates, I feel more determined to reel in my shopping habit. You can still count on fun fashion flicks on here! Just maybe you'll be seeing a blouse more than once or twice ;-)