Who in their right mind decides to tackle a full closet overhaul during the holiday madness? Apparently, me.
By early December, my drawers and closet were bursting at the seams, and I had absolutely no idea what was buried at the bottom. Something had to give, and I knew I wanted to start the new year fresh.
Most people only wear 20% of their wardrobe, leaving 80% untouched.
I recently heard this, and as it turns out, I am no exception! The mystery of the 80% untouched started to gnaw at me, especially as I kept reaching for the same six shirts week after week, stacking them on top of a growing mountain of neglected clothes.
So, one day, I snapped. I pulled everything out of my drawers and closet (a little recklessly), only to quickly realize this would take much longer than an afternoon.
Over the next few weeks, I sorted through it all, keeping only what I could actually wear for the next year. I mixed in some of the AB method with a sprinkle of Marie Kondo’s “Does this spark joy?”
The average adult makes between 33,000 and 35,000 decisions every day.
I’m skeptical of that number, but it makes sense when you think of all the little decisions: “Should I work out today?” “10 push-ups or 20?” “What’s for dinner?” “Can I substitute for cilantro?”
Now, throw a closet clearing into the mix. Suddenly, you’re faced with questions like, “Does this top make me look like a wise, mysterious intellectual or like I failed out of Hogwarts?” or “Do these pants accentuate my curves or just remind me that my love handles are a thing?”
Do those mental gymnastics every five minutes for five hours. No wonder people avoid it! It’s like being stuck in an existential crisis with a pile of clothes. But somehow, I powered through… and survived.
Once the purge pain was over, I was left staring at a giant pile of clothes, thinking about something I once heard:
All of these clothes used to be money, and all of that money used to be mine.
I think you know the drill: $10 here, $50 there, it all adds up. I recently read that $10,000 a year is just $27 a day.
When you break it down like that, it’s wild to think about how much hard earned money ends up quietly tucked away in the corners of our homes—thousands of dollars in small, seemingly harmless $20 purchases, now stuffed in drawers and piled in closets, gathering dust and doing nothing for us anymore.
But for me, it’s not even just about the money. It’s also about how all this time and energy that used to be mine too. Every time I buy something, I’m potentially adding more decisions to my plate: Will I keep it or get rid of it? Do I photograph it and list it online? Do I argue with an internet stranger over a $10 discount for a random sweater? Do I figure out where to donate it so it doesn’t end up choking a beach in Ghana somewhere?
That’s when it hit me: The reason there’s so much “organization porn” on YouTube is that so many people are unconsciously stuck in this endless cycle of buying, clearing out, and reorganizing every year.
If I’m going to spend hours of my life on something, I’d rather master the perfect soufflé than watch someone reorganize their overflowing sock drawer for the 700th time again.
So, I decided a new approach, one that could break this cycle and keep me from ending up in this same spot 18 months from now…