dresses and skirts and shirts, oh my!
I think I have a shopping problem. I keep going back and forth with maybe I do and maybe I don't. But let's face it. I probably do.

Let's count how many pieces I have in my wardrobe and let you decide...

7 dresses
4 skirts
2 pairs of capris
1 pair shorts
3 pairs pants
6 tank tops
2 undershirts
too many shirts to count off the top of my head
3 or 4 sweaters that are packed away

and an infinite amount of exercise clothing.

So basically I have enough of a wardrobe to rotate through everything on a monthly basis.

I read all these things about having a "minimalist" wardrobe and how it makes people happier, only owning and wearing a few things that you LOVE.

I LOVE most of my clothes. A few of them I really, really like. But I think I LOVE at least half of them. And the sad part is... I go through this cycle of purge wardrobe to only things I LOVE. Realize how small said wardrobe is. Get frustrated wearing the same clothes week after week and a few weeks later... buy more so I don't have to keep wearing the same things.

Then it starts all over. The guilt. The annoyance. Guilt over spending so much on a wardrobe, annoyance over the fact I no longer LOVE most of it. And it goes on. And on. And on.

Stupid thing is, I don't even know if I want to put a stop to it. Even though I know I SHOULD because as a graduate student who is about to graduate into a field that pays very little... I know I won't have the budget for it.

Plus. I am about to move across the world. And can't take a whole lot with me... so maybe I should begin slowly scaling back now? Like maybe a shirt or a dress at a time?

I want to hang on to all of my clothes. Truly. But I know that I can't. I get a lot of guilt knowing I am giving something away that I spent $50-100 and only wore a handful of times.

All the blogs say it's as simple as a decision you make. To wear less. And only wear the things you LOVE. Not really, really like but LOVE. Maybe part of my problem is I purge too many things then feel a scarcity and need to get rid of that feeling. Or I put myself on a huge restriction of "No clothes for a year" and fail within the first month because I rebel... against myself.

Story of my damn life. Rebelling against myself. Haha.

Anyway, my point is maybe my old way of doing things isn't working and maybe I should try a different way.

The other thing is I become obsessed with thinking about outfits. Like what am I going to pair with what for something new and exciting? I think part of me thinks that everyone else will notice because I notice people's outfits and remember them. I don't pass judgement or anything like that, I am an observant person and just notice things like that. So I worry people will be observant like me and maybe they are and maybe they're like me and don't really pass judgement either.

I want more space in my head for other thoughts that aren't clothing related. And I want my mornings to be less hectic. And by less hectic I mean less time deciding what to wear and how to wear it. I've gotten better at this but every now and then I'll spend at least 30 minutes changing between outfits and leave my house feeling frazzled and stressed.

It's an endless cycle. One that I need to work on breaking. As I said, maybe doing it in baby steps is what I need to do.

We're going to try this. Getting rid of two shirts that I really, really like and don't LOVE and not buying anything new from 7/11-8/11. Then we'll go from there.

Just drop a wink