Rather than entering the topic of whether I think celebrating monarchy is weird (to say the least), I wanted to share an (unusually maximalist) snapshot of my Kingsday pop-up stall!
 |
| our improvised Kingsday stall |
This was my first year selling things on Kingsday (yes, I'm slowly becoming Dutch...) and it was really fun! Everyone is out on the street and you sit in the sun and drink wine and chat to people and next thing you know six hours have gone by and hey, you've even made some pocket money -with the additional benefit of decluttering your wardrobe.
I thought it was so cool how my old, unwanted clothes found new, (hopefully loving) owners. If that's not the perfect way to do a spring clean, then I don't know what is.
Even if you missed the chance to sell your clothes on Kingsday, you can always take old clothes to the local charity -for me, it was not so much about making money anyways, but rather about getting rid of unwanted stuff and make my wardrobe more zen... :) I'm the kind of person who struggles to part with clothes, but this time I tried really hard to let go of the things I wasn't wearing, and stop telling myself I "might wear them if"... There's many elaborate guides on this topic, but I needed to come up with simple rules that I could stick to.
 |
| Kingsday madness -I wore vintage top, trousers and sunglasses, &other stories sparkly socks, and adidas trainers |
Here are the five rules of thumb that helped me decide what to keep and what to give away
-Ask yourself: does this fit properly/can it be (realistically) made to fit? If not, get rid of it. There's no point in keeping that blazer with the too-wide shoulders -you won't suddenly become wider.
-Accept that some colours don't work on you -no matter how pretty the garment.
-If you barely ever wore something but keep it in hopes that you will someday, don't (except for formal wear, obviously). There's probably a good reason -and it usually has to do with comfort, whether literal (too-tight jeans anyone?) or metaphorical (I don't like the idea of my dress occupying half the room, so billowy maxis are not for me). The only purpose those clothes serve is making you guilty!
-Discard items that look worse for wear or no longer work for your (life)style -as painful as it is to part with old favourites you've worn to death, it's often necessary.
-Finally, if all of the above criteria fail, ask yourself Marie Kondo's (by-now-cliché) question: Does it spark joy? If I look at a piece of clothing and it puts a smile on my face/makes me say "I love this!"/I look forward to wearing it, then -and only then- it's a keeper.
I only have room for things I love in my clothes rail -and there are no exceptions. Even basics should spark joy: It's worth hunting down the perfect pair of black skinny jeans for the smile it puts on your face when you wear them. If you need a little inspiration to love your basics, I've sung the praises of things like the perfect soft grey sweater, the simple white T-shirt and plain white sneakers many times on this blog.
I promise that if you do this and get rid of all those things you don't need/use/want/like, you will be able to appreciate the things left in your wardrobe so much more! *And find them faster. ;)
 |
| some things that spark joy in my closet: &other stories shoes & bra, zara sweater (all old) |
No comments:
Post a Comment