Day 17 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? I hit the ground running and got work done before sunrise.
Photo by Steven Shinn from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
I’ve always been an early and easy riser. If I sleep in too long (meaning passed 7am), I feel like I’ve wasted half my day. I love how quiet and peaceful the world is during the early morning hours.
On most days, I make a to-do list. Whatever doesn’t get done on one day most likely gets carried over to the next. Anyone who knows me probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that my daily to-do list has more items than I have time to accomplish during my waking hours.
One of the things on yesterday’s list was paying bills and balancing my business checkbook. I was too tired at the end of the day to do it so I opted to set my alarm clock for 5am and get it done before I went to work.
I love how productive I am first thing in the morning – fewer distractions and I’m probably too tired to do anything besides the task at hand. I felt satisfied to get so much done before breakfast, and it sets the tone for the rest of my day. I’m a big fan of the U.S. Army saying, “We get more done before 9am than most people do all day.†That’s my kind of life.
At the beginning of the year, I started my annual closet clean-out and I reversed all the hangers in my closet. The idea is that when I wear a garment, I’ll flip the hanger back when I put the item away. At the end of the year, anything that is on a reversed hanger is something I haven’t worn in the last year, so it’s an item that should be given away. This is something I’ve been doing for years, and every year I have fewer items and it’s easier to let go of things I don’t use anymore.
A few days ago I stepped into my closet to assess how this year’s clean-out was going. The first thing I noticed is that most of my hangers have already been flipped back, which is a significant difference from past years. This is the smallest my wardrobe has been since becoming a minimalist. It might be the smallest it’s been at least since I stopped wearing a uniform to school. And I’m not going out of my way to wear things just because their hanger hasn’t been flipped yet. On most days, I decide what I want to wear before stepping into my closet.
I looked at the top of my closet and I noted that I have 6 pullover sweaters. This is a lot less than the 12-15 sweaters I used to have, but still – 6 sweaters?! What do I need with 6 sweaters?! Remember, I live in Phoenix. It’s pretty warm here most of the time. I took a quick glance through them and moved 2 to the charity pile. It wouldn’t hurt to go through my jeans (I got a few new pairs for speaking engagements) and my accessories (which I rarely wear).  I definitely have more t-shirts and running shirts than I need, and I’m ok with that.
My annual clean-out isn’t about shrinking my wardrobe as much as possible. It’s about getting rid of things that don’t make me happy. I never want to feel uncomfortable in my skin, in my clothes, or in my home. When I get dressed, it makes me feel good because I feel comfortable and pretty in my clothes and I value myself enough to treat myself to fabrics that are super soft and garments that complement my personality.
I thought about challenging myself to do a capsule wardrobe – limiting myself to 33 items for 3 months – but I don’t think that would be much of a challenge compared to how I dress myself now. Instead, I’m going to continue my clean-out process and be honest about what brings value to my life when it comes to clothes.
