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Decluttering

May 30, 2014

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Moving house and sharing it with someone else is serious business, be it a housemate or a partner. When you share a house or an apartment with somebody else, the common areas can be a bit tricky. Who decorates them? How much space do you have allocated for your stuff? What about a spare room, what do you do with it? The statistics say that most men (29%) would turn it into a games room and women into a guest room (46%). To me that’s rubbish. If I had a spare room of my own, I’d turn it into a walk-in closet, a sanctuary for my clothes, complete with shelves for all my shoes and bags, all neatly aligned. I’d also have a vanity and a mirror thrown in there, for endless hours of dress-up fun. I could never have a shared wardrobe, like most people do… I have way too many clothes! I can try and downsize but I’ll never be a minimalist… and I think most fashion bloggers will be with me on this one.

I’m decluttering, downsizing and trimming my wardrobe. I should have taken photos of the piles and bags of clothes and shoes I have set aside and donated already. If you look at the infography below, you will see that for most people the main useless items can be a juicer or a home gym. I can confirm about the juicer – bought one over a year ago and it’s still sitting pretty on the counter, unused. One day I’ll be healthy! But, the juicer is the least of my problems, compared to the amount of clothes, books and magazines I have amassed and continue to do so (albeit at a slower rate). It takes a lot of discipline to not allow the situation to go out of control, and I’m currently taming it, whip in one hand and plastic bag in the other.

So how do you do it? Some people will have the one-in-one-out system, meaning that one item needs to go if you bring another one home… (At this point I should have one-in-three-out). Another suggestion I read about recently, was to ask yourself what value does an item add to your life. If you can’t seriously find a reason to keep something, just get rid of it. Again, I suppose this is hard for fashion bloggers – having a variety of clothes and accessories DOES add value to their blogs! Or does it? I am a shoe fanatic but I am currently questioning the value of having impractical shoes sitting in boxes, if I don’t have any occasion to wear them to, or anyone to appreciate me wearing them besides myself.

The reality is, I’d much rather sleep in a bedroom instead of a closet, which is what it feels like at the moment. I have fantasies of redecorating my room, making it less cluttered and I’m getting closer every day, but I’m not sure that I can pare down my belongings to just a suitcaseful and it kind of makes me sad. I may have to move soon due to work and frankly the less junk, the better! Besides, who knows who I’ll be moving in with?

So, fashion bloggers tell me: how do your partners deal with your fashion clutter? Do you have a shared closet? What do you accumulate the most? I want to know!

The His and Hers Apartment – Decor and DIY who is in charge? – An infographic from The Furniture Market

* stats provided by The Furniture Market

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10 Comments

  • Reply KizzyDoll May 30, 2014 at 10:05

    I share a wardrobe at the moment with my husband, we each have our own poles, haha. And a set of shelves too. I’ve cleared so much out of my wardrobe really, it’s crazy. I have more stuff than him, so a few of my things are hanging on his part of the wardrobe…oops!! But, I try to get rid of things when I don’t need them anymore to keep things tidy. I can’t wait to move though, so I can get new wardrobes and maybe have my own, hahaha!! Or at least a bit more space, so I can actually see what I have. Our wardrobes aren’t idea, the sliding doors are not good. xx

  • Reply sandra May 30, 2014 at 10:20

    I think I’m a good de-clutterer, I’m not – I have emotional attachments to clothes! so I have special clothes in the loft (actually the loft has a lot of clothes, the ‘just in case’ or ‘you never know’ etc) at the moment I really don’t have a lot of clothes (in my opinion haha!) but I wear almost everything regularly – good luck with it all though! keep your impractical shoes, they are necessary! x x x

  • Reply PinkCheetahVintage May 30, 2014 at 11:04

    I would adore an entire extra room to be my closet! The struggle is real!

  • Reply Desiree May 30, 2014 at 11:12

    I just wanna torch everything and start again. When we moved house in February, I think my brain exploded and after getting rid of so much stuff (not just fashion-y stuff) I’m terrified that I’ll be overwhelmed by gibber and clutter again. I can’t bring myself to buy any clothes or shoes, which is good coz I’m broke ha! xoxo

  • Reply Jamie May 30, 2014 at 13:43

    Having moved countries a few times – the last transatlantic voyage really put into perspective just how much clothing I was hauling around that I just was never going to use. When faced with the high cost of moving, I was forced to have a massive cull. In the end I shipped back mostly books and some clothing I knew I really wanted to keep. I still periodically go through my wardrobe and take a day to do a massive purge – throw some music on, cups of tea, and dress up to really pare down. I’m about to try and do that again now as I’m trying to redefine/revamp my style too.

    As for closets – used to share the dinkiest of ones with the lad, and I felt pretty bad as my stuff took over his side. Now we’re in a bigger place and I have a huge walk in, and another separate one for shoes which is pretty amazing though I don’t have nearly the collection I did years ago!

  • Reply Merlinda Little (@pixiedusk) May 31, 2014 at 12:34

    When my son started calling my study messy it hit me.. am i slowly becoming a hoarder? So I soted the magazines that eating 80% of that space and was able to throw a lot. I still need to throw a lot but I am happy with the stuff that got thrown away and will still purge whats in there tomorrow =) #pocolo

  • Reply Pinkoddy May 31, 2014 at 21:25

    I’m terrible – my favourite red heels got put in the boot of my husband’s car and covered in something that wont come off and I STILL have them!

    If we had a spare room hubby wants a study like we used to have.

  • Reply No Fear of Fashion June 1, 2014 at 18:29

    Oh… I loved this post. So recognizable. We have a small room as well. (Child left home.) After due time (1 1/2 year) I turned it into … a walking closet. Well. I kept the window. But I put in 3 huge closets. The amount of space I had after that. Unbelievable.
    Now…all clothes hangers are hanging so tight, you cannot get a hair in between them. So I have to declutter as well.
    My husband and I started on the “mens club room” as we call it. Our house is from 1903 and we decorated this room with a desk from 1700, a brand-new (old looking) “library”across the whole length of the wall, big leather chair, some old suitcases, you get the picture. There were piles of books everywhere. The chair was covered with clothes, old stuff, plastic bags with more stuff and there were 5 cardboard boxes on the floor with various content. The desk was burried under a pile of papers. It took us 2 days… and it is soooo clean now. I just open that room now and again, just to look and enjoy. Cleaning a room or a closet, also cleans up your mind.
    And about a spare room for guests…??? No way. As my husband says: any idea how much it costs in terms of mortgage to have an empty room for guests? It is cheaper to pay their hotel when they somebody comes over. (Not entirely the same of course, but still.)
    Greetje

  • Reply Señora allnut June 1, 2014 at 20:39

    wouuu, our rented apartment these days is wider than previous, and my wardrobe has expanded absurdly through three buit-in closets, a huge chest of drawers and some shelves containing my shoes. And Mr.A. doesn’t care about it, it’s me who cares a lot about having too many clothes!!
    I understand you’re trying to declutter your wardrobe before moving!, it’s a wise decision!
    beijinhos

  • Reply ariane June 3, 2014 at 20:14

    Hi Sara,

    It’s has been a long while since i commented on your blog!
    About your post….i will make you jealous, i have a walkin, a huge one, full of stuff!
    But i’m trying to downsize and keep only what i like most and wear and keep only the unusual or special pieces, but it’s hard to make choices, i kid you not!

    Arianexo

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