This is what it has looked like for... ohhh....probably a month or more....

I knew it needed cleaning, but I had so much stuff (clothes!) in there that every time I would clean it, it would return to chaos within days, so I kind of just gave up on it. Until I ran across this article from un-fancy.com. The thought of simplifying my clothes felt freeing, so the other day when I brought out our summer clothes and packed up our winter clothing I decided I would really try to par down my wardrobe and clean out my closet.

Un-fancy suggests only keeping 37 items of clothing, not including pajamas, workout clothes or "yardwork" clothes for a season. That was my original goal, and then I realized that it DID include shoes and dresses! Which made 37 seem like a really a small number! I just couldn't go that extreme,  hahah, but I did follow some of her other advice.

I have a strange hoarder tendency to keep clothes with the thought that I might, one day, possibly need a blue polo shirt that I haven't worn since my first internship in college. I mean, there's a legitimate possibility of needing a polo shirt on short notice right?! .......*crickets*......... So anyways, I tried super hard to get rid of anything I haven't worn since last summer. (This included the winter clothes I was going to put away and the summer clothes I got out.)  I managed to fill a couple of laundry baskets full of clothes to give away.

Her other rule is not to go shopping for your next season until the last 2 weeks of the season you're in. Which means I shouldn't shop at all this summer, and then at the end of the summer I can buy a few things for the fall season. There are a few staple pieces that I do need to buy, like a nice white T-shirt and maybe a new bathing suit, but once I get those I think I'm going to try to follow this rule. It will not only help keep me from spending money, but also keep my closet from overflowing again. 

Here is my closet all cleaned out... 

The middle shelves are all workout clothes, pajamas and Tshirts that I'm not counting towards my actual wardrobe. My actual shirts, pants and dresses are hung up to the right and left and probably number around 50 items. (If I exclude my work polos - I did keep the polos that I actually wear to work on a regular basis! And this doesn't include shoes...) This whole idea of a capsule wardrobe is foreign to me because I'm not a huge accessory person. I like lots of different shirts and usually I only pair them with subtle earrings and/or a scarf. I have bought myself more statement type jewelry this past year than ever before though, so maybe my style is starting to morph into something more sophisticated? ... or maybe just more grown up? I'm not sure, but I do know that I still have a lot of clothes. I want to repeat this purge process at the end of the summer and get rid of anything that I thought I would wear but didn't. This should help to keep things simplified.

You guys, I can't end this post without saying how extremely spoiled I feel when I look at pictures of my closet overflowing with clothes. What a first world problem to have - a messy closet because there isn't enough space to keep the clothes or enough days in the season to wear all of the outfits. I am so grateful that I enjoy the luxury of many "stylish" clothing options, but I do hope that by simplifying my wardrobe I can keep in mind more important things and spend my money on more purposeful items, and spend less time trying to pick out something to wear. 

Bonus:

 A baby and her baby toys playing on the floor while I cleaned. : )