Rereading Mark Remy’s January/February Runner’s World column “Beware Wardrobe Fat”* was a nice reminder to go through some of the boxes of clothing I have in the basement which I haven’t completely unpacked since we moved last February. Sure, I’ve gone through them searching for a specific item, but those boxes were full.
Were full. As in, full no more.
In the column**, Remy is inspired by Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up book to declutter and simplify. He doesn’t consider himself a hoarder, but as he goes through his things, he realizes he has multiples (upon multiples) of stuff he is not using – running gloves, shorts, shirts, etc. He actually compares it to mindless eating:
It’s sneaky, like mindless eating. Gradually, steadily, you consume a bit here and a bit there – tech shirts, hats, tights, vests – until one day you wake up and realize your closet is 50 pounds overweight.
He vows to be more mindful and stop accepting things because it’s free or because he can. But to still hold on to a few sentimental things, and continue to buy socks on two for one sales, ha ha.
It amazes me with how many times I have gone through my clothing that I still have stuff to donate (or throw out). Seriously. We went through all our stuff before we moved out of our townhome, and got rid of a TON. When we lived in a rental house and couldn’t get all our things out, I realized what little I need. And at our new home, I don’t have the closet space I did before, hence some things still living in boxes in the basement. Now I’ve gone almost a year, and through all the seasons, and there are things down there I forgot I had.
So I said goodbye to a lot of unused race shirts and old stuff that I just don’t wear anymore. I have a pretty set preference on workout clothing and quite a bit of what I had didn’t work for me anymore. I held on to a few sentimental things, which I am sure, I will be going through again in the future, and purging from there. And I am holding on to all my skirts and dresses, because frequency of use doesn’t really say if I should keep those or not.
Like Remy, I will continue to be mindful of this in the future, as I have in the past few years. I’ll only keep race shirts if they’re a good quality shirt that I will use, or have some extremely high sentimental value. I won’t buy too much outside of replacing my staples or building my staples (like with swimming stuff). I’ll be mindful of what I actually use! And maybe I’ll start purging after every season (ha, although, in the midwest, our seasons are all over the place)!
*I’ll link to it once it’s available online
**He opens the column with asking how many pairs of running shoes you have. Which I definitely do hoard. When they go on sale, I buy a few pairs. I currently am running in four – six pairs (the speed and trail shoes don’t get used much) and have EIGHT unopened pairs in the basement. Yeah, probably something I shouldn’t have so many of. I go through them fast (about ten pairs a year), but I don’t need to stock that many.
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