Week 26 - De-clutter the Wardrobe

You do have to be in the right mood and have the good level of steely determination to chuck clothes out.

I reckon that this is partly because you've paid good money for those clothes and now you are throwing them away! That's like throwing money away!

The other reason is that those lovely clothes have been part of your life; maybe seen you through a job interview, or to a dance where you met someone special, or shared the trials and triumphs of growing food from the soil...

So when I had the required level of ruthlessness earlier in the week, I opened the wardrobe doors, and started. When did you last wear it? Does it go with anything else in the wardrobe? Does it fit? Is it still in good condition? Do you feel good it in?

And an hour or so later (trying stuff on is a must, doing this job) I had a slimmed down wardrobe and a hanger full of items destined for the charity shop.

An interesting mix, this - including

• some black velvet long evening gloves (when would you possibly wear these?) 
• a heavy arran tunic with short sleeves (so you can roast your torso whilst your arms turn blue with cold) 
• a leather lace up waistcoat (I have no idea why this ever seemed like a good purchase) 
• a mustard yellow pashmina (given up with sadness - I bought it on the QE2, and it's beautiful but I'm not a 'wrap' person and it deserves better than to languish in my wardrobe) 
• a soft viscose blouse (lovely to wear, but always makes me look scruffy and unkempt) 
• a matching silky cream nightie & dressing gown (a nice idea, but I don't think I've worn these more than about three times) 
• my brother's school tie (dating back 30 years no idea why I have this) 
• the red and black sash from a black taffeta skirt (similar vintage to the tie - no idea what happened to the skirt) 

...and various skirts and a couple of tops that have just fallen out of favour. All were bagged up and taken to the charity shop - I hope they all find a new lease of life.

Before:

After:

So that's my week 26 challenge - done!