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{Challenge}: De-clutter your wardrobe

March 31, 2017 by Meg 24 Comments

Find out how I went from over 70 items of clothing to 30. declutter your own wardrobe with these organizing tips!

De-clutter your wardrobeThe best time to de-clutter your wardrobe is usually when you move houses (or in our case, when you move countries). I usually do a bit of a sort through my cupboard at the start of winter or summer. With the change of season coming up; it is a good reason to take stock of what you have, what you have worn and what you know with all certainty you will never wear again.

When we left SA last year, I had two full cupboards of clothes. I got rid of 6 large, black bags of clothes! At the time, I was ashamed of such waste, and I was happy to just get rid of it all, but my mum pointed out that some stuff I still had tags on – I had bought things online, and loved the look of but in the end it didn’t fit me or I just never had a place to wear it. I had various reasons, the biggest one was that I wanted to lose weight before I wore half of my clothes in my wardrobe. I was hanging onto clothes that made me sad when I saw them looking back at me from in my cupboard.

Even though I did this mass de-clutter exercise, I still came over to Ireland with 2 large suitcases (over 40 kg’s of stuff). Here is everything all laid out on our double bed (in Ireland), just to give you the scale of clothes I still managed to bring over with me.

get rid of my wardrobe

A few months ago, I came across the idea of having a capsule wardrobe, and project 333, which is a challenge that says you need to cut your wardrobe down to 33 items for 3 months (this includes accessories, shoes, work and leisure wear, but does not include workout gear, underwear items, pj’s and house-wear like dressing gowns etc). I tried to cut my own wardrobe down, and came pretty close, actually I am technically under 33 items in the picture below – but if you count my coats, shoes and hats/scarves/gloves (which she says you need to do) – I am over 33 items, but still, I am substantially less that what I started with. And I guess we all got to start somewhere. Here is what I put back in my wardrobe after I did the challenge:

de-clutter wardrobe

While I was re-branding my blog and taking stock of what truly matter to me, I realised that I think a lot of us have this unhealthy obsession with clothes. I am the first to admit, I loved Spree and regularly bought clothes online. I bought and stored tons of clothes, half of which I never even wore. And some of it, I wore, and it got holes or started to stretch and fade – and still I held onto it. The real question you need to ask yourself is: Do you own your clothes or do they own you?

Do you own your clothes or do they own you? Take the #thisisusliving challenge and find out how to de-clutter your wardrobe! Click To Tweet

Here is how you can get rid of more than half of your wardrobe:

  • Get all your clothes out of the cupboard and in front of you. Take stock of what you have. Sort into 3 piles:
    1. Love and wear all the time
    2. Haven’t worn in 6 months
    3. Don’t like, don’t fit, looks shit
  • Pile 3 is easy – you need to get rid of this stuff. Sort this pile into donate, chuck or sell. But get rid of it. Don’t hold onto stuff that makes you feel or look terrible. I personally had a pair of jeans I hadn’t worn in years, it was several sizes too small and I lugged them half way across the world, thinking one day I would fit into them. As a side note, they were outdated, and out of style and I knew deep down, even if I could fit into them, I probably wouldn’t wear them. Let it go.
  • Now look at pile 1 (love stuff) – really look at it critically. How many grey jerseys do you really need? I had 9 black long-sleeved tops. Nine? Like, really, why?? Cut things down to the essentials, the must keeps, the will definitely wear, the love to wear. Pack away the stuff you know you won’t wear until the weather is warmer or cooler.
  • Pile 2 gets a bit tricky. In this pile will probably be things you are holding onto for sentimental reasons. That comfy hoodie with all the holes, but reminds you of your varsity days. The outfit you bought at a ridiculous price for a friend’s wedding, you have worn it once but haven’t had another place to wear because it’s “too fancy”. Take stock of how the items in this pile make you feel. Prepare yourself – it can be emotional. For some things, I got kinda angry about rationalizing why I needed to keep them. I wanted to keep it but I couldn’t justify my reason, and it frustrated me. You can further sort out this pile of clothes into piles:
    1. Like but not love
    2. Won’t wear, but want to keep for some reason
    3. No need for any more
  • Chuck the stuff you know you won’t wear, or don’t need anymore.
  • Look at the stuff you won’t wear but want to keep – really be ruthless here. Throw out the stuff that has holes in it, the stuff you won’t ever wear in public because it is too worn or maybe doesn’t fit right. Get rid of those pants you are saving for when you finally lose the weight.
  • For the stuff that is left over, the like but not love pile too – put all of this together with the seasonal pieces you won’t wear right now. Box up, or put in bags and store it somewhere that is hard to reach – top of your cupboard or under your bed. The idea here is to re-look this pile with fresh eyes in a few months. The stuff you forgot about or totally never thought about or never needed, you can far easier get rid of in a few months. But learn to let it all go. It’s unhealthy to have this need for things. Let it go and see how much clearer your mind feels without all that stuff in your cupboard.
  • Pack the things you are keeping and the things you love back into your cupboard and really take stock of all the space you have created. Now you should clearly see all the items you really love.

You might find after doing this exercise (if you were ruthless enough) that there are things that you may need to replace. The key word here is: Replace. Not add. You might come to find (like I did) that you need to get rid of all your pants (they don’t fit, they have holes, they make you feel yuck). The art of de-clutter and living with less is not so that we live with scraps, and cheap clothing. You should have good quality pieces in your cupboard – things that look and feel good to wear. Replace the stuff that doesn’t work if you need to. But the key is to keep your cupboard free, and not to add more to it. If you want to add anything, ask yourself – what can I let go to make space for this?

Sign up below and receive a FREE printable that will help you declutter your own wardrobe. De-clutter your wardrobe, then tell me how it makes you feel?

Unlock the simple life,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram.

p.p.s. I try post varied content once or twice a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!

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Filed Under: A Happy Life, Challenge Tagged With: Challenges, declutter, Happiness, irishlife, positivity, simple life, simple living

This is Us… Living

March 23, 2017 by Meg 8 Comments

this is usFirst official post on the new blog! Can I get a woop woop! *waves hands in the air, like I just don’t care*

OK, but seriously, I am SO excited! I have been working on this blog re-brand with a new look for a few weeks. And, I haven’t shared it with ANYONE (not even hubby) until today!

You know when that light bulb flicks on and you are like, YES! YES! YES! That is what I want!! Well, we had that light bulb moment first when we were on honeymoon back in 2015. I think it was when we were both so relaxed and just in a space to really let our minds wonder. What did we want most out of life? Since then, its been building up, this niggle at the back of my mind, this deep concern that I needed to be true to myself, and that to be true to myself meant a lot of soul searching, and a lot of vulnerability. It is exciting, and terrifying to stand up and say “Ya, you know what, I actually don’t want to keep doing this. It’s not working out for me. I want something different”.

Friends can I be honest here? I am tired of the expectations, I am tired of the FOMO, I am tired of the thinking that to be happy you need to earn money to spend money. That you need to show only the best side of yourself, the one with that sparkling new something with the big giant label – you know, because only then everyone will know you have made it. Life is not about the stuff we collect. You can’t take that to the grave wit you (unless you want to be buried in a pyramid with all your worldly belongings – but who has the money to afford that long term rental?!). And be truthful, are you really happier having the best stuff, or could you just as easily be happier having the best life? Life is about building relationships, creating memories and going on adventures. Well, that’s my opinion at least. And I am happy to say, Rob is  on the same page too.

Here is a little back story for those of you new to the blog; which is taken from the about page.

In 2016 we made the big decision to move from South Africa to Ireland. The main objective of the move was so that we could travel more and explore more of the world. We absolutely love travelling and exploring new places. And, we intentionally try to see places from a unique outlook –often avoiding the obvious tourist hotspots. We especially love to find local gems, and hidden secrets in big cities.

Back in South Africa, we had a house filled with things we had collected over the years; things we loved and worked hard to get it. But even with all the things, we were not really happy with our life. You see, we wanted to travel more than anything. But frankly, we couldn’t afford to maintain the things we “had to” own, and still travel.

It was the reality check we needed. We needed to get our priorities straight. What did we want most out of life? Things or experiences? We decided to scale down; and in the process we sold most of our treasures, sold our cars and looked at the move to Ireland as the fresh start that it was. A new start, with a completely new outlook on life.

The biggest lesson we learnt, was that we had to get comfortable with saying NO to things that did not help us live a life we wanted. Click To Tweet

Now that we have successfully moved over, we are more determined than ever to get it right. We have figured out what matters most to us; now we just need to work towards ensuring we get it.

It is our goal to further declutter our living space, look to experience real life – in real time, and inspire others to do the same. We have happily traded in a life filled with labels and must haves, to a life that is intentional, positive and filled with adventure. We don’t believe that to have less means that you are continually saving, and never doing anything. In fact, the opposite! We believe that money is better spent on living a life that is filled with memories and adventures, not possessions.

At the end of the day, we seek to unlock the simple life, where having less, means we are living more.

SO, THIS IS US… LIVING.

Here are some tips on how to navigate this blog:

  • How we do it: This is where you get real insight into our life; how we moved countries, simplified our home; cut down on expenses and started living a life filled with travel!
  • Challenges: Check out Challenges page if you are looking to commit to making some changes of your own.
  • Travel Inspiration: If you are looking to be inspired, and want to see where we have traveled to and what we suggest you do/see – then you definitely need to check out our Travel Inspiration.
  • Contact: Looking to get in touch with me? Sweet, I love getting mail. Email me.

Let me know in the comments below: What you think of this blog rebrand?

Unlock the simple life,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram.

p.p.s. I try post varied content once or twice a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!

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Filed Under: General Update Tagged With: declutter, Happiness, irishlife, journey, life, Love, positivity, simple life, simple living, Truth

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About Meg

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Hey! My name is Meg. I blog about the life I share with my hubby, Rob; our furbaby, Jack and the newest family member, our daughter Riley. In 2016, we moved to a new country, cut down on clutter, and started focusing on unlocking a simple life, filled with travel and adventure. Read my story here

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