Minimalism: Clothing Sorting Complete!

Both my closet and dresser (except 2 drawers) were overly full. Taking out clothing from either would often require me pushing & pulling or dealing with other clothes falling. Here are some before pictures:

Per my Minimalism – Clothing post, KonMari recommends sub-categorizing and sorting in the following order:

1. Tops
2. Bottoms (pants, skirts, etc.)
3. Clothes that should be hung (Jackets, suits, dresses, etc.)
4. Socks
5. Underwear
6. Bags
7. Accessories (scarves, belts, hats, etc.)
8. Shoes

I unintentionally went slightly out of order because I didn’t refer to the list every time I finished a sub-category so this was the order I actually completed with a few shots of my piles:

1. Tops (shirts, sweaters, tanktops)

2. Bottoms (pants, skirts, shorts)

3. Dresses

4. Pajamas
5. Swimwear
6. Socks, Stockings, Tights
7. Underwear
8. Accessories (scarves, gloves, belts)
9. Jackets/Coats

10. Shoes
11. Bags and Purses
12. Hats (last because I realized I forgot to do them with the other accessories)

It took me approximately 12 hours over 2 days to complete. This is probably the only time I am thankful I do NOT have a walk-in closet because if I did I’m sure I’d likely have a whole lot more to sort through. Full disclosure though, I still have clothes in Los Angeles (not a lot), so I will have to do the same process with those there also.

Initial thoughts: It was tiring physically, mentally and emotionally but fulfilling and freeing once I was done sorting. I actually completed clothing and I am proud I was able to complete it quicker than I anticipated too!

Physically – a lot of bending over, reaching and carrying piles here and there caused back pain, which I am already prone to and suffer frequently from. After about 4 hours straight I had to lay down for about 45 mins to ease my back pain. I realized I would need to take breaks often during this process.

Mentally – it was more than I expected, having to make a decision every minute or having to spend a few minutes on one item trying to decide was A LOT to think about for several hours in a row. It may seem simple enough, but deciding over and over and struggling over several items was hard over time. TIP: chances are if you are hesitating, it does NOT bring you joy at least not anymore. I found the items that I struggled with typically fell into one of two categories 1) it was a piece that I absolutely loved…at one time, but not as much anymore 2) it was a piece I didn’t wear often enough to make me feel I got my money’s worth and while I liked it, it took me some time to get to the knowledge and acceptance that I didn’t LOVE it either.

Emotionally – there’s a lot I felt facing piles upon piles of clothing one after the other. Shame for what I thought was too much consumerism with a touch of hoarding – I’ve joked in the past about being a shopaholic, but it’s hard to truly face it under these circumstances – seeing a huge mound of clothing taking my entire bed. I know I’ve worked on this over the past few years and am no where near as bad as I used to be, but I think I still have a little more ways to go. I was disappointed in my past decisions coming across some items that were between 1-4 sizes too big for me that I bought simply because they were a great deal. Frustration for not being able to make quick decisions on certain items. When it took several minutes, I would start to become irritated with myself for not being able to make what should be a relatively easy decision. Why couldn’t I immediately tell if I felt joy for this shirt?! Guilt for putting an item in the discard pile because I barely used it. Guilt for putting something someone had given me as a gift in the discard pile. Purely negative range of emotions when I came across a very few select items that had been given to me by some of my ex’s or I had bought to wear specifically for one of them. I was quick and happy to put those to the discard pile, believe me! Disbelief as I came across several items that I’ve held onto for over 15 years, many of which were no longer my style – and yes even a couple that were 20 years old which I’ve had since I was in college. Sadness for coming across items that I do enjoy but haven’t worn in so long because it literally got buried in my closet/drawer and I forgot about it. When I came across some of these, I found myself actually thinking, I can’t believe I forgot about this, I want to wear this again soon! Stress for seeing my discard pile grow – I really have that much stuff that doesn’t bring me joy?! but at the very same time stress for my keep piles not shrinking as much as I thought should be the right amount.

I did stop several times to pray, to apply more “Clear the Clutter” aromatherapy and to fill my diffuser with Purify to help keep me on my course. Overall, it was not as difficult as I thought it would be, I anticipated it would take me 15-20 hours for me to get through my clothing, but I was able to make decisions faster as time went on.

During the process I created a few maybe piles which I took the time to put the article of clothing on after I finished the rest of the pile. Some I would put on and immediately know, a couple others I kept on for longer as I continued the process to really see how I felt in the item. Emotionally, trying on my maybe pile was a bit of a downer also since there were some that no longer fit me in the way I liked as I’ve gained some weight from when I first purchased it. I have low self-esteem in general and seeing my muffin top didn’t help. But there were moments where I thought to myself, several testimony’s I’ve read from people who’ve gone through this process have eventually lost their excess weight and I hope to be one of those people too!

I kept my tv and music off during the process as instructed and I know that helped keep me on course. I used to go through this process with the tv on and I would spend an entire weekend and never have I once successfully finished sorting through my entire closet and dresser drawers in one weekend. However, I had wondered, if I played music, would that somehow have affected my process? Say there was a song playing that I loved, which put me in a happy mood, would the item in my hand that maybe didn’t truly bring me joy have been tossed in the keep pile because the joy from the song was displaced onto the item mistakenly? Or since I feel like I can be more productive with music playing in the background, would I have completed the process in a shorter amount of time? I guess I will never know since I kept the music off.

Below is the final count of items that I am discarding with a picture of all it packed up (2 large suitcases, one small suitcase, duffle bag and a few shopping bags, which did take me a few hours to pack up (sorted to donate to a few different friends and goodwill/salvation army vs. some I will try to sell – name brand purses mostly):

• Tops (30 shirts, 2 cardigans, 4 sweaters, 30 tank tops)
• Bottoms (22 pants, 13 skirts, 10 shorts)
• 14 Dresses
• 6 Pajamas
• 1 Swimwear
• 20 Socks, 6 Stockings, 2 Tights
• 20 Underwear
• Accessories (10 scarves, 1 pair of gloves, 4 belts, 2 bathrobes)
• 8 Jackets/Coats
• 12 pairs of Shoes
• 4 Bags and 8 Purses
• 5 Hats (last because I realized I forgot to do them with the other accessories)

The after pictures of my closet will have to wait awhile since the process calls for discarding everything first, meaning everything in my entire house before dealing with the storage of what is left.  Plus I haven’t actually tried to fold the KonMari way yet.  But I can say there is empty space in my closet and every drawer in my dresser easily opens!