Happy New Year, and all that jazz. With the end of 2009 came a bit of a hectic schedule for me, and a general lack of interest in the beast that is the internet. I focused more on the things in my life I could touch, taste, do. I baked, I sewed, I worked... I pretty much became a 1950s housewife, minus the hair rollers and floral swing dress.
Now, with the start of a new year and new decade, I feel awake enough to fit everything in within the 24 hour tick-tock. The catalyst for this new lease on life? A freshly sorted and culled wardrobe. Yes, I figure if my clothes can now fit in my 'robe without busting through the cracks, and crawling into my boyfriend's (small) section, I too can organise myself to fit everything.
The wardrobe cleanse is a must for all of us who think we never have anything good to wear, yet who can't close the drawers or doors on their bulging clothes piles.
Benefits:
1. You'll discover items you'd forgotten about at the bottom of your piles, and look on them with fresh eyes, and a renewed appreciation. If that fails to occur, those items belong in the Salvos bag.
2. You'll be able to see your outfit options in one glance, as long as you have folded and organised properly in the cleanse.
3. Everything in your life will seem more manageable, somehow. Like magic.
What to do with your discards:
1. Bag them and drop at your local Salvos or Brotherhood. Then smile each time you walk past the op shop and see you trash in the window, ready to become someone else's treasure for approximately $8.
2. Sell designer items on eBay, or on CocoLee's fashion marketplace (cocolee.com.au) if they are relatively new and in good condition.
3. Organise a swap event with some friends of similar size and style. You may pick up a new staple item in exchange for your discards.
4. Stuff everything into suitcases, and your boot and hit the Camberwell market in Melbourne (or equivalent). A stall will cost you a small fee, and you'll have to get up with the sparrows on a Sunday morning, but there's always a crowd willing to pay a few bucks for your moth-eaten jumper, or last season's jeans. See sundaymarket.com.au
5. For the home-sewer, try turning your unwanted pieces into something new. Old jeans into a bag, or cut-off shorts? An old skirt into a tank etc. You've got nothing to lose if it turns out worse than something Brynne Gordon would wear to church. The item was trash to begin with!
Get cleansing, you hoarders. It is perfect catharsis for the new year, and the summer months.
LL x
