2017 Wardrobe Resolutions

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Well I was going to start this post with how I tried and failed at the resolutions thing last year, but looking back at my blog I actually first attempted this in 2014. Uh...oops?

Disregarding for a moment the possibility that I might actually be incapable of sticking to a resolution, let's discuss where we are. I haven't read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up or The Curated Closet, but you'd have to more unplugged than I am not to have caught wind of the slightly minimalist trend that's overtaking parts of the blogging community (I do follow Un-Fancy though, so maybe that counts?). I've already come to the conclusion that I'm not built for minimalism in the traditional sense, so instead I'm trying to find a balance between having a closet bursting at the seams and one that's got nothing in it because for the month of November I decided the only thing I wanted to wear were skinny pants and sweaters. Make sense?

I don't have a name for my personal style. Sometimes I want to look like Atlantic // Pacific and sometimes I want to look like Junebugs & Georgia Peaches (with less novelty patterns). I'm not going to get rid of all the blazers I own just because I look at them hanging in my closet and feel uninspired. I work in an office. Currently I'm getting away with wearing some totally inappropriate shit because my company loves me, but there will come a time where a blazer is the better option and I don't want to buy anything new because in a fit of pique I made the wrong choice.

So where does that leave us?

(Other than sorry for the word vomit.)

1. I want clothes for the life I live now, not the one I have in my head. Despite how wonderful it looks in pictures, I don't need a coat (or hunter boots) in every color of the rainbow. It's just not feasible fiscally, or necessary. I don't live to blog, I blog because I enjoy putting together cute outfits and sharing that with my friends. I want to find more joy (gag) in the clothing I own now, that fit my life, and donate/sell pieces that don't jive with that vision.

2. I want to take every other month as a clothes buying breather, to assess where I am. I'm much better at moderation than denial, but I have some goals for the year that require stricter budgeting than I usually do and I think it'll be a good opportunity to look at what I have instead of looking for more. I'm especially prone to this during seasonal changes, and I'm going to leave myself an out obviously, for pieces that fall apart that need replacing, but I'm going to try. January is a no-buy, and while it's been difficult to change my mentality, I'm going to try and stick to it - even if it's just to prove to myself that I can. 

3. Unsubscribe from mailing lists that stress me out. I've actually been doing this for a while, ever since Un-Fancy brought it up on her blog, but I wanted to emphasize it here because it's been such a joy to get less and less crap emails every day. Also, I feel significantly less pressure to not let a good sale pass me by when I don't even know it's happening, lol.

4. Figure out why I don't want to wear what I have - and figure out what I want instead. I like
options, so I don't want a uniform per se, but if it's 30 degrees outside and I don't want to wear any of the way-too-many sweaters I already own, then I want to understand why. I don't want to punish myself for falling out of love with pieces after a year or two, but I want to distinguish between temporary dissatisfaction and a long-term decision that something needs to go. Right now the system involves me randomly pulling things out of my closet when I've decided I don't want to wear them, putting them in a pile on the floor, and seeing if I care later, lol. Very scientific I tell you.

And that's where I am right now. I don't want to get in a vicious cycle where I beat myself for buying something in the wrong month, but I like the idea of a general awareness of my actions. The world inside and outside the US will still likely go to shit this year but I can try and control this area of my life and hope for the best.


Tea Gal said...

With the move I'm taking the time to really, really clean but you did so much good for me when you helped last time. What can I do to lure you out to VA for another session?

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