Clothes and jewelry

Yesterday I was rummaging in my jewelry box. As I rummaged, I realized that most of the jewelry I own is in the box because of the memories attached rather than because I wear it. There is nothing wrong with keeping jewelry for sentimental value. Jewelry is small and easy to store. But the same strategy applied to larger items can be problematic. A couch generally does not make a good keepsake. It is too large and too easily damaged. Many times Howard and I have discussed how clothing is not a good keepsake. It was usually discussed in reference to t-shirts. I believe this, but it can still be hard to part with a beloved item.

Today I went through my closet. I intended to really evaluate my clothing for utility and attractiveness rather than nostalgia. I was surprised to see how many items hung there, not out of nostalgia or even utility, but simply because of inertia. Many of them I’ll wear if they’re the only thing left in the closet. This means I’ve been wearing my least favorite clothing often, due to the ever present piles of unfolded clean laundry. The result is that I frequently feel frumpy or unattractive. I believe the answer is to get rid of the clothes I don’t like and to do laundry more often. I wonder why “we have too many clothes” did not occur to me previously as part of the over-flowing laundry solution.

So now my closet is much more empty. I’m liking the feeling of space. I also took the sentimental jewelry and put it into a separate box. This makes finding the pieces I want to wear much easier. It will be interesting to see if these changes make a difference in how I feel about how I look.