Making the Internet My Accountability Partner

Six months ago, I decided to count all of my clothing items. I live in an apartment with limited space and I have a limited budget, so I have an interest in owning a small but well-loved collection of clothes. After an initial declutter, I tallied that I owned 155 items of clothing (excluding socks and underwear). After six months, I only own 137 items. A few things have cycled into my closet. Most of the few items that have come in have been either hand-me-downs or bought second-hand, which I feel better about from both an environmental and financial standpoint.

I have noticed that have still spent time searching for clothes that help me live as my “fantasy self”, it’s just that I’m not allowing myself to spend money on those urges. It’s a great step for me personally, but I’m hoping that as I continue to challenge myself I can begin to appreciate how my current clothes allow me to appreciate the life I am living. One area where I notice this pop up the most is in T-shirts, particularly my black/gray/dark blue t-shirts. I wear them pretty regularly and when I do wear them I tend to feel like I’m making the right choice for how I want to present myself. There is one exception, which I only wear for practical purposes as my other t-shirts are white and partly see-through and not all of my bras pair well with that type of shirt.

I will acknowledge that the issue of not knowing if I will need to return to work in person has continued to present a challenge, though I have grown to increasingly accept that not only will I likely not be asked to return in person, but that I don’t think I really want to. This has helped me part with a couple of items I was only saving for professional possibilities and I have felt good about passing them on. From here I want to get a bit into the weeds of how some numbers have changed and my thoughts on them.

The one that I had least expected six months ago was that my pajamas would decrease by one. I used to have an old t-shirt from college that is super soft but unfortunately has multiple large holes in it. I took some time to hold onto it outside of my pajama rotation for sentimental reasons, but I am now ready to let go of it.

A change that has confused me is tank tops. I haven’t added to tank tops, but for some reason, I now count the same shirts as 7 instead of 6. I will say I’ve noticed that I only wore one and I no longer need it as I have a T-shirt that will work in its stead. I will be passing all of them on to family and/or thrift shops.

My tops have increased by three one of which was a concert tee that I have since worn multiple times and have grown to recognize that I especially appreciate concert tees over other types of t-shirts. One more that I added to my collection was a shirt that identifies me as a volunteer for a group I regularly work with. The final shirt is a long-sleeved hand-me-down from when I helped my mom go through her clothes.

That same trip to my Mom’s house also gave me a sweater I’m excited to wear when the weather cools. I’ve already brought it along on some weekend trips in case I needed it in the evenings. A sweater I bought new was the re-release of the Taylor Swift Folklore Cardigan. Folklore and Evermore are easily my most listened-to Taylor Swift albums, however when the cardigan first came out I was a broke college student, so I was thrilled to get my hands on it this time around. I know I will be wearing this cardigan a lot, especially as the weather gets cool enough to break out more of my fall/winter clothes.