Top tips to turf clothes
2011-09-15 08:35
Georgina Guedes
An unholy confluence of circumstances has seen me demolishing my outhouses to build an office at the same time as the birth of my new baby and the arrival of spring. This has necessitated a cleanup and turf out of gargantuan proportions – especially since the demolished outhouse was a repository for all the detritus of our existence.
There is no greater source of clutter – in my case anyway – than old clothes. More than half of the boxes stacked up in the storeroom contained the wardrobe of my personal history. When I opened these boxes to begin the clutter downsizing, I was astonished that I had felt it imperative to retain these garments.
Crop tops, jeans four sizes too small, T-shirts from Mr Price that were never that great to start with… They’re all there. And what’s really sad is that at the time of packing them away, I did a clean out of sorts, so these were the things that my younger self absolutely couldn’t bear to part with.
I am now tackling the job with a sharper mind and more brutal eye. I haven’t missed these things in the five years they’ve been in the storeroom; I can probably live without them. As I’ve gone through the process, I’ve identified some of the excuses I have given myself for keeping all this junk, and I’m now going to share them with you, to help you to achieve the same levels of incisiveness.
1. You will never again fit into those tight pants you used to wear when you were sixteen. It’s not even about fatness (although it could be as well); as you age, your skeleton kind of relaxes outwards. Your bones won’t let you back into those clothes.
2. Even if by some miracle of exercise, dieting or metabolism, you’ve maintained your sixteen-year-old figure, at some point you’re going to have to acknowledge that you don’t look good in those skin-tight clothes. It’s not just about weight, it’s also to do with appropriateness.
3. Yes, clothes come and go out of fashion with the changing of the seasons, but it’s not really worth clinging to a pair of platform shoes waiting for the fashion gods to flip the switch on that particular style again. Let them go.
4. There are classics, but they are few and far between. Don’t fool yourself into believing that every item of clothing that you own is in some way special. Keep an LBD, a leather jacket and a good pair of comfortable jeans – other than that, turf away.
5. You love shopping. Hanging on to clothes to save yourself the “agony” of having to go out and buy yourself new ones at some future point is inane. You’re robbing yourself of one of life’s great pleasures.
6. You don’t have to wear clothes until they are tattered or held together with safety pins to have got good use out of them. Even if they’re as good as new, if you haven’t wanted to wear them in two years, you’re not going to want to wear them ever.
7. If you’ve had a time in your life where you’ve worn outrageous clothes – rave pants or velvet ballgowns – you might be inclined to hang on to such things because one day, your daughter will love you. You’re right, she probably will, but this doesn’t mean you have to hoard everything from that fashion era. Pick a couple of the most outrageous items and chuck the rest.
8. You will never alter that dress that doesn’t quite fit.
9. Let go of sentimentality. Sure, it’s sweet that that particular summer dress was bought for you by your first serious boyfriend for your first Christmas holiday together – but you have the photos to remember him by, the faded fashion can go.
10. There are people out there who are not as privileged as you and could do with all this stuff you don’t ever wear. Send it to the charity shop.
- Georgina Guedes is a freelance writer. You can follow @georginaguedes on Twitter.
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