Hello reader!
In today’s post, I wanted to share my small(ish) collection of clothing, and how discovering minimalism has affected my relationship to buying clothes and seeing the value in the things I already have.
I used to buy clothes relatively frequently, especially in high school. I remember spending a lot of my free time scrolling through online shopping sites, looking for sales and filling up my digital shopping cart. Lots of times, I remember getting an overwhelmed and anxious feeling, and then closing out of the page before actually buying the things in my shopping cart.
Sometimes, I did buy things though, and they were rarely things I needed or things that would end up providing me with long-term satisfaction or even usefulness. The society I’ve grown up in strongly encourages consumerism and abiding by ever-changing trends to feel relevant and cool. Quality of products seems to have gone way down to keep prices down, so the things we buy don’t even last and then we just end up buying more things. One documentary that really put things into perspective for me was The True Cost, which opened my eyes to the horrors of outsourcing in the clothing industry and the terrible working conditions in factories.
A higher level of awareness of the industry combined with the impact of minimalism on my life lately have both led me to take pride in my smaller wardrobe, filled only with items that I wear very often.
On my shelves, I keep:
jeans/pants [ 4 ]
leggings [ 4 ]
sweatpants [ 2]
shorts [ 3 ]
skirt [ 1 ]
sleep shirts [ 2 ]
big cozy just for home sweatshirt [ 1 ]
sports bras [ 4 ]
exercise shorts [ 3 ]
exercise tops [ 2 ]
exercise jackets [ 2 ]
bras [ 4 ]
socks/underwear [ only what fits in my little plastic container ]
Hanging, I keep:
dresses [ 2 ]
tank tops [ 2 ]
t-shirts [ 4 ]
button-down shirts [ 3 ]
sweatshirt [ 1 ]
sweaters [ 3 ]
jackets [ 3 ]
Writing it all down with actual numbers, it still feels like a lot, but from what I’ve learned about minimalism, it’s not about having the smallest amount of belongings, necessarily; it’s about owning only things that bring usefulness or joy (or both) to my life. Looking at my things and knowing that I wear all of them very regularly is comforting and calming. Until recently, I don’t remember ever looking at my closet and thinking that.
I don’t absolutely love every item in my current wardrobe, and my ultimate goal is to really love everything I have (if that’s even possible), but right now, I feel like I’d rather not replace my clothes until they become unwearable, for whatever reason. I feel confident in all of my clothes, and I figure I can wear through clothing items and replace them slowly, with things that I like even more. I don’t feel stressed or panicked anymore about clothes or trends or shopping.
Stay tuned for more posts on my journey towards a more minimalist lifestyle.
Best,
Spencer
Spencer's Gap Year 
Sooo I just found your blog, and I’m pretty sure we’re the same person. Like 99.9% sure. When I read the part about online shopping and adding things your cart and getting anxious I was like holy crap I didn’t realize other people did that?! Haha, your blog is great! Keep up the good work 🙂 ❤
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Yayyy glad to have you! That is definitely comforting to hear that someone else has experienced that. It’s such an unpleasant feeling but it’s also sort of addictive and exciting because it feels like you’re buying all this new stuff even though you’re not. Thank you for reading!! 😀
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