My First Five Items

Today is the day...day one of a 365 day purging project. My biggest fear is that I will run out of things to donate or dispose of before the 365 days are up. Logically I know this is an unrealistic fear. Even if I ran out of things in the house, I have a single car garage filled with things I haven't looked at or used for years :/

So, I decided to start in my closet today. I share a small closet with my husband, and my clothing frequently encroaches in his clothing's space. I decided if I haven't worn an item in over a year, it was time for it to go. I felt really good about it, until it was time to actually pull the clothing out of the closet, off the hanger, and drop into the official donation bag. I did it, I found five items I hadn't worn in over a year and quickly dropped them into the bag. Interestingly, only one of the items was purchased by me, the other four were given to me by a friend who has great taste in clothes and the pocketbook to support her great (and expensive) tastes.

So here is today's list:

1) A black and white dress I bought to wear to my college graduation 4.5 years ago.
2) A cream colored sweater that I never wore because light neutral colors wash me out
3) A black and white floral print blouse with an off the shoulder collar.
4) A black and white polka dotted A-line skirt - super cute, but too small :(
5) A black sweater with a ruffled edge - again super cute, but too small

I realized, as I was looking at my clothing, that I have a hard time parting with the great clothes from my wealthy friend. I have never been able to afford the brands she has generously handed down to me, so some part of me wants those designer's names hanging in my closet EVEN IF I CAN'T WEAR THEM. Quite a kick in the teeth to realize the power those names have over me. They're just clothes, and I need to get over them.

I plan to accumulate a week's worth of donations before taking them to my local thrift shop. It would be wasteful to make a trip there every day to donate five items.

I am already thinking about tomorrow's items. I may continue with the closet purge, or I may find five things I can throw away. I'll sleep on it and let you know tomorrow.

Happy New Year!