Quart into a Pint Pot

De-cluttering and generally sorting things out seem to be quite a hot topic in the blogosphere at the moment.  Shoestring had a very interesting blog post on this subject the other day, and it got me wondering about my latest de-cluttering and sorting out session.  My latest passion for down-sizing my wardrobe came about (I think) for two reasons:

1.  The arrival of hot weather after several non-summers in the UK gave me a good chance to re-assess my summer clothes - and I was rather taken aback to find just what I'd accumulated and how many items I was unlikely to wear again.  Some of the items I didn't like any more and some of them were just a tad too tight on me now - ahem!!

2.  I was really lucky to come across a fantastic lot of clothes in my size at a recent car boot sale.  After spending the princely sum of £4.50 on nine items it now feels like I've almost got a whole new wardrobe.  (Check out Sharie's recent Wardrobe Challenge posts to see what lovely clothes she's managed to find at car boot sales.)

I sold what I could on ebay (there are some perks to being a 'plus' size - the larger clothes tend to sell really well on ebay) and this morning took a further bag of items to the local charity shop.  My wardrobe is looking a lot more organised, although there are still a frightening amount of clothes in there, and I'm still debating what to do with one or two items.

I haven't gone through any of the winter clothes as yet, I'll leave that until the autumn when I can decide better what I still want to keep and what can go.

I also had a 'eureka' moment about the teetering piles of books in the bedroom.  These piles were getting seriously out of hand and finding two more books at last week's car boot sale was the final straw - something had to be done.  I'd been bemoaning the fact that I had nowhere to store them in a bookcase when I suddenly realised that there was quite a lot of space in my 'Amazon' bookcase in the dining room.  This is where I keep all the books I've got listed for sale on Amazon and their numbers have dwindled a lot recently - partly because I've been selling quite a few and partly because I've been de-listing items which are no longer worth selling.  A quick rearrangement of the shelves and I found I could easily fit in all the books from the bedroom floor.  Why I hadn't thought of this sooner heaven knows, but at least the penny dropped eventually.  Now all I need to do is get the hoover out and clean up the frighteningly dusty patches where the piles of books once stood!

The house still seems to be groaning at the seams with 'stuff' but I begin to feel I might, at last, be making a positive dent in it all.

Comments

[sharie]

Thanks for the mention Elizabeth!
Its a good idea to reassess your wardrobe every so often and isn't it fun shopping for the new wardrobe secondhand?
Good for you ebaying them. I don't blame you. I chose to cs mine but thats cos I'm scared of ebay!
Now, when are you going to show off your new purchases?

Hmm , know what you mean about the house groaning at the seams. I have too many books too. Isn't it great ;-)

[Joanne]

I too have a groaning house! Today I pulled out a huge storage bag that holds clothes that no longer fit me (some I've never worn because they were too small and I couldn't take them back - charity shop buys!). My SIL was telling me yesterday that it's been ages since she's bought any new clothes due to money problems. She is a few sizes smaller than me so I bagged up 2 huge carrier bags and 1 smaller bag of clothes she might like and donated them to her. When I spoke to her earlier she told me that quite a few items are going into her wardrobe! So not only have I cleared a small space in my bedroom, but I feel good that I could help her out. It's a great feeling! Now I have to sort out some little boys clothes that my kids have outgrown to give to a friend who's hubby has been out of work for 6 months. Blessings all round :) Thanks for a great blog post :)