Decluttering Books - That was easy!

Apparently Marie Kondo lists books after clothes in the order that you should declutter.  Here is a picture of our bookshelf:

As you can see, my book section (less than half of the second shelf from the bottom) is pretty small compared to my husband's.  For those of you that know both of us, that should come as no surprise.  As I count it, I had 14 books, with 3 others I would consider "our's".  I got rid of 2 books, both fiction that I enjoyed but will probably not read again.  I put one book back on the shelf that had been in the drawer in my nightstand (even though I had finished reading it), and I put the stack of Bibles (that were behind the tv) on the bottom shelf behind the picture on the right.  No real need for an "after" picture, because it looks exactly the same.  I did leave two books that I haven't read and I'm not sure I will ever read them, but it's ok.  I also have two books on my nightstand, one I am almost finished reading and another that I haven't started yet.  Unfortunately, our bookshelf looks a little "busy" with all the pictures, but we don't have anywhere else to display them, and I love them all, so that's the best we can do in our space.

Check that off the list!  Boom!  :)

It should probably be said that I do have (I think) some books in boxes at my parents' house, but last time we were there, I went through all my clothes and a lot of our books.  For now, I can only focus on what I have here, and I hope to do more decluttering next time I'm in the US.

The Psychology of Packrat-itis

The past few days I've been reading a lot about the psychology of "packrat-itis" (apparently that's a word?) and hoarding.  I've never actually watched the tv show "Hoarders" because I don't really watch much tv, but I think most people have heard of it.  Hoarding is actually a clinical disorder where a person has trouble deciding what to keep or throw away and defaults to keeping things.   Hoarding is packrat-itis to the extreme - things piled to the ceiling, to the point of where it is a danger to the person.  The scary thing is that at the root, I have that same problem, just within a normal range.  When I can't decide whether or not to keep something, I default to keeping it almost every time.  It's not always obvious, because I'm extremely organized, so I can keep a lot of things without it being noticeable. 

Growing up, my room was always super messy, with piles of stuff everywhere.  I remember that when I was in 4th grade, I bought a hamster cage with my own money, and my mom told me that I could buy a hamster when I cleaned my room.  In high school, I finally sold that hamster cage to a neighbor.  The thing is though that my room wasn't necessarily a typical messy room.  I never had dirty clothes or any trash laying around.  What I had was a lot of papers mostly, a few half-finished projects - the problem was that I had too many.  When I went away to college, I was surprisingly neat and tidy in my dorm room.  Everything was always put away in its place.  I can't remember exactly when it was, maybe the summer after my first year of college, I came home and cleaned my entire room.  It took a long time.  I threw a lot away, but unfortunately I also put a lot in boxes to put in the attic.  I still wanted to keep it all, just in a more organized, put-away, fashion. 

I think maybe part of the reason I'm so organized is because I've always had so much stuff.  It takes a lot of work and effort to organize it all, but I do it.  I remember when I was teaching and I went from two subjects to three.  I upped my organization to color coding.  I had a shelf for each subject, my plans were each in their own notebook on the right side of the shelf, papers to pass out on the left, papers to grade and return in a stackable tray on my desk.  I'm very good a managing a ton of stuff.  Even though I had a ton of clothes, they were always organized by type and usually within each type I put the last thing I wore on the right so I wouldn't repeat too often. 

However, a few days ago when I was going through the Cladwell capsule wardrobe course, something struck me.  In the last video they said, "What would happen if you were to apply these principles of intentionality and purpose to all the areas of your life?  Imagine the freedom and peace of mind."  Honestly, I found that thought at the same time liberating and terrifying.  I spend so much time and mental energy organizing thing.  What if I had less things?  What would I do with my time?  I think the perfectionist part of me wants to keep working on my winter capsule continuously, but the whole point of doing a capsule is to stop doing that.  It's really hard for me to stop, to say that something is "good enough."  But I'm going to try.  In Kondo's book, she recommends tackling decluttering by type, with clothing being first, so I think I'm going to stop on clothing until next season and maybe start on something else!

Question: Do you want to see how I'm using my winter capsule to create outfits?  Let me know if you're interested!

If you want more info on the psychology of packrat-itis, here are a few links I bookmarked:
http://www.wisebread.com/help-from-a-former-pack-rat-getting-rid-of-stuff
http://peopleialmostknow.com/kim-cox-the-psychology-of-clutter-and-packrat-solutions/ (this is actually an audio recording, but it is really great)
http://minimalistpackrat.com/2010/10/28/psychology-of-clutter/

A (clothing-related) confession and revelation

Yesterday I decided to try Cladwell (http://capsules.cladwell.com/), which is a subscription-based service that helps you make a capsule wardrobe.  It had really good reviews and was recommended by two of my favorite fashion bloggers (http://www.puttingmetogether.com) and (http://www.anneinresidence.com).  You have to pay $15 for a 3-month subscription, but I figured that I would pay that much for a nice shirt, and maybe it would be helpful.  They have videos and step-by-step tutorials that are really good.  I actually took everything out of my closet (only the winter stuff since I have non-seasonal clothing put away right now) and only put back in the items that I love.  Even though I had read that in Marie Kondo's book, I had not actually done it yet.  I did put a few more things in the suitcase, which I've read some bloggers call "clothing purgatory" - a place where you put clothes before you decide their fate (before donating them).  As I've said before, I really like that in-between step, because it makes it easier for me to put clothes away if I know that I can get them out if I change my mind.  Whenever I decide to donate those clothes, it will be easier because the attachment has been lessened (out of sight, out of mind).

After that first step of only putting the clothes you LOVE back in your closet (and Cladwell recommends that you put away non-seasonal clothes, unlike Kondo), their next recommendation was to make a Pinterest board to see what you like.  I've read that recommendation from a number of other people, and so far I have not done it, but I think that something about the fact that I had paid for this advice made me take it.  So I did it.  I created a Pinterest board.  I'm so ashamed.  Most of you who know me know that I have been anti-Pinterest for years.  I don't like how it creates competition among women and pressure to have the most creative perfect-looking homes, parties, etc.  But I admit that it was actually helpful for me.  Between looking at the clothes that I kept and writing down why I kept each piece, and pinning outfits and nature scenes that I like, I was actually able to develop a theme for my wardrobe that I really LOVE.  I would've never thought that nature scenes could actually help me pick out clothes, but for some reason something clicked for me with nature.  I found myself being drawn to scenes with a path in the forest, optionally including some type of water (stream or lake).  I LOVE walking in the forest more that almost anything.  It is so calming for me. 

 

So, I decided that I walk in the forest (with optional water and flowers) would be my theme. What that means for me is that my "neutrals" or base of my wardrobe will be brown, blue, and green.  Any shade of those colors works for me.  Then my "pop of color" is flowers - pink, yellow, red, purple, orange.  I didn't like how Cladwell (and most other advice for capsule wardrobing) limit me to a set number of neutrals, main colors, and accents, usually 3 maximum of each.  It just doesn't work for me.  It's actually been one of the most frustrating things for me, because as I said in my last post, I just like colors!  So, I'm super excited about this idea of using brown, blue, and green as my base neutrals, and other colors as accents. 

Also, it helped me realize how important comfort is to me.  In my list of the clothes that I love, I listed comfort as a reason 18 times.  Clothes have to be comfortable in order to wear them to relax and walk through a path in the forest.  You wouldn't wear a suit and heels - it just doesn't make sense.  So even though I'm usually walking down a city street, somewhere inside I want to feel like I could be walking through the forest, because that helps me feel more relaxed and not so stressed.  And stress is the reason I'm doing all of this, to help reduce the stress of decision-making every morning from a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear.

After all that, Cladwell asks you about your lifestyle activities and what types of clothing you wear, then makes recommendations for how many items of each type you should have and if it should be a neutral, main color, or accent color.  I was disappointed by this last step, because it was so far off from my actual wardrobe.  If you are starting from scratch, it could be really helpful, but it just didn't work for me.  Because I had already gone through my wardrobe more than once on paper by number of items per type, I felt that I had already done this step in a more personalized way.  If I had just listened to advice from other places, I would not have needed Cladwell.  So, I'm glad I did it, but I cancelled my subscription.  As far as whether or not I would recommend Cladwell, I think depends on where you are in the journey.  It's helpful, especially if you're just starting out, but it's not necessary.  Pinterest was actually helpful for me, though.

I just really like colors...and a review of "Dressing Your Truth"

I've noticed that most minimalism/capsule wardrobe blogs that I see don't include a lot of color.  Most people say they like "neutrals with pops of color" or simply all neutrals, lots of gray and black.  I talked to a friend about this a few weeks ago, and she said that she doesn't like lots of bright colors, because it is too much.  She likes neutrals.  And that's totally ok, because that's what she likes.  But for me, I really like colors.  Real colors - not white, black, and gray.  If I get dressed without some color, I feel naked.  I feel like I need to grab a necklace, a scarf, a hat, anything with a bright color, to make me feel completely dressed.  A lot of people in this big city like to dress in all black.  I've asked people about it, and they say it is just how they dress when they don't feel like putting thought into what they wear that particular day.  For me, wearing all black sounds horrible.  I would feel completely depressed, like I was going to a funeral.  I have to have at least one bright color in every outfit, if not two bright colors.  I generally don't wear three - let's not get crazy here - but it is really important to me.  In fact, one of the hardest things for me in trying to make a capsule wardrobe is choosing what colors to focus on.  You mean, I'm not allowed to wear all the colors?  In the past, I've generally tried to have a shirt, sweater, matching necklace & earring set in almost every color.  I liked to think of it as my signature, especially the necklace & earrings.  If I was wearing a blue shirt, I would wear my orange necklace & earrings, just for the contrast, because I love contrasting colors.  And that's ok, because that's what I like.  Not all minimal/capsule wardrobes have to look the same.  Mine might have a few more pieces that average to accommodate more colors, and that's ok. 

"Dressing Your Truth" is an online course about dressing to fit your "energy type." You get an email every day for a week with a video to watch to explain the different types.  The videos are like 30 minutes long, but they are pretty interesting.  I watched all of them and determined that I am a type 2, more relaxed, into comfort, quiet, reserved....then I looked at the clothes recommended in the online store for type 2 and didn't like them at all!  The colors were super muted, and not colors that go with my skin tone at all.  After this, they want you to buy the course for the awesome discount of $150!  You have got to be kidding me.  I watched some more of the free videos about people who had trouble identifying their type, and I identified with one video in particular, in which the lady thinks she is a type 2, but she is actually a type 1.  Type 1's are cute, youthful, light, fun, and in some ways I can see that in my facial features, but not as much in my personality.  So, are you telling me that my personality is wrong because it doesn't match my face?  All in all, I've decided that it's ridiculous trying to make my personality, facial features, and body type all fit into a box (there are only 4 types), and I'm just not going to worry about it at all.  It's too bad, because I enjoyed watching the videos and really saw myself in the type 2 until I saw how I am supposed to dress, and it just doesn't fit me.

A book review (Marie Kondo) and more thoughts on my winter capsule

I've been reading a TON of blogs and even a few books about capsule wardrobes/minimalism/decluttering/organizing.  I wanted to share some thoughts about the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.  For starters, it's a best-seller in multiple countries, so that piqued my interest.  Overall, I really enjoyed the book.  There were two specific points in the book where I got up and did exactly what she said: 

1. I folded my socks and pantyhose as she describes and made everything in my underwear and sock drawer stand vertically.  You've probably seen/heard the idea of folding your t-shirts vertically in the drawer so they can all be seen all the time.  Kondo suggests the same idea with your socks and underwear, and I found that I actually had more space in the drawer and I love being able to see everything.  It looks awesome, and I would show you a picture, but that's just awkward.  I had already taken a lot of extra items out in December, and now I feel like I have a more manageable and appropriate amount of underwear and socks.

2. Kondo suggests hanging the clothes in your closet from longest to shortest (left to right), so that the bottom of the clothes form a line going up.  I thought that sounded weird and a bit pointless, but the math person in me enjoyed the idea of making a line going up, which represents positivity. I have always had the items in my closet arranged by type, so it was easy to just move the types around.  Here is a picture of my closet before and after:

The before picture on the left is of my fall wardrobe after I had taken out my non-seasonal clothing, and the after picture on the right is of my winter wardrobe, so there are some differences, but overall, I really like the look of longest to shortest.  It made me feel like I can better utilize the space at the bottom of my closet.  I also just a few days ago started keeping my purse there, instead of on top of the dresser, which make the dresser look so much less cluttered.

Probably the part of the book that was the most difficult for me was Kondo's encouragement to just throw almost everything away.  She encourages you to take just a few days and get rid of everything that doesn't "spark joy."  For me, it is much easier to remove items temporarily (i.e. put them in a box) before I actually get rid of them, because it helps me distance myself emotionally from the item.  It's weird because I've never considered myself to be a materialistic person, because I don't care if I have expensive things or a lot of stuff.  However, I've realized that I actually have a very strong emotional connection with the material things that I have.  I remember where I bought them or who gave them to me, and I connect material things with a memory, a place, or a person.  To throw away a birthday card someone gave me makes me feel like I am hurting that person or that I must not care about that person.  But the reality is that I can't physically keep everything for my whole life.  I must choose a small amount of keepsakes in order to be able to manage and enjoy them.  If I keep everything, it is overwhelming and I don't look at any of it.  

For now, I've decided to focus primarily on clothing before trying to tackle other types of clutter.  I gave away some clothes, but I also put a lot in a suitcase that I think I might not need to keep.  So far, I have only gotten 1 or 2 items out of that suitcase, but I have also put more items in it.  The rule is that I can only take something out if I think of it without looking in the suitcase.

The only other thing I would mention about Kondo's book is that it is a bit odd how she describes material things as having feelings and suggests that you talk to them.  For example, if you are going to get rid of a shirt, she suggests that you thank it for the joy it brought to you for a time and release it to bring joy to another person.  She also says that your clothes have particular ways they want to be folded.  However, the idea of a shirt bringing to joy to another person when you get rid of it (instead of just thinking about not having it anymore) is helpful to me.  It makes it easier to get rid of something that I don't really wear anymore when I think that someone else will enjoy wearing it.  So, although that is a bit odd, I still really enjoyed the book, and I would recommend it.

I've had a few thoughts about changing my winter capsule wardrobe.  Well, the first one is more of a laundry problem: I accidentally dyed my white sweater and white lacy t-shirt pink.  :(  I've tried bleaching and soaking them for the past several days, and they are lightening up a little, so I really hope I will still be able to wear them.  The other thought is that I'm not sure if I really want to wear a button-up under my sweaters.  For some reason, I have this aversion to wearing business-casual looking clothing, because it makes me feel like I am back at my old job where I had to dress up and look professional all the time.  It makes me feel stifled and uncomfortable.  Also, it's kind of annoying and time-consuming trying to get the collar and sleeves just right, especially since two of my button-up shirts and 3/4 sleeved (which is also cold if I want the sleeve visible).  So, right now I'm considering bringing my other white sweater out of the suitcase, which is less versatile with a cowl neck (no scarf), if the other white one decides to remain pink.  And I think I might put away the button-up shirts for another season, maybe spring.  As far as the white t-shirt goes, I don't need it now, but I really hope it will turn white so I can wear it in the spring.  It's hard to find a good white t-shirt that isn't see-through, and I really like the lace detail.  

So I guess it's still a work-in-progress, and that's ok.  :)

My Winter Capsule Wardrobe Jan/Feb/Mar 2016

A friend of mine suggested that I list what I consider to be the top three things most important for capsule wardrobes.  This is what I think:
1. Decide on a "uniform" (or two).
2. Choose 2-3 colors and 1-2 neutrals.
3. Plan clothes that can mix and match easily.

A "uniform" is the basic structure that you wear almost every day.  For example, my uniform for the fall was a t-shirt, open sweater/blazer, scarf, skinny jeans, and tall boots.  I decided to try to change it up just a bit for the winter to wear a sweater, necklace/scarf/button up under, skinny jeans, tall boots.  A variation would be a skirt and fleece tights instead of jeans.  A second uniform for me (probably more often worn later in the winter) is a long-sleeve shirt with an open sweater.

 Here are the sweaters I chose:

1. white v-neck 2. pink v-neck 3. green argyle pattern
4. navy sparkly v-neck 5. cream turtleneck 6. maroon turtleneck
7. green turtleneck 8. red crewneck 9. navy open sweater

The white and pink v-necks are probably the most versatile pieces.  For some reason I haven't worn the green argyle sweater much, even though I like it, so I'm hoping having a smaller amount of choices will help me choose it more often.  I just got the navy sparkly sweater for Christmas (good job hubby!).  The turtlenecks of course can only be worn with a necklace or scarf (not over a button-down).  I included the red sweater, even though it is not in my colors, just because I like it.  I may possibly also wear a tan open sweater that it like the navy one, if I think of it.  Also, I ordered a dark green vest online from Old Navy, which I'm hoping to use as a layering piece throughout the winter (over sweaters) and spring (over t-shirts).

Here are the shirts I chose:

1. cream/navy stripe 3/4-sleeve 2. navy/gray stripe long-sleeve 3. brown long-sleeve
2. denim chambray button-up 2. green 3/4 sleeve button-up 3. peachy pink 3/4 sleeve button-up

The first three shirts I would most likely wear with an open sweater (and possibly a scarf) later in the winter. The second row of button-up shirts I would wear under a sweater.

Here are the bottoms/dresses I chose:

1. dark denim skinny jeans 2. black skinny jeans 3. dark green cords
4. teal long-sleeved dress 5. navy 3/4-sleeved dress 6. burnt ochre cords
7. dark pink corduroy skirt 8. jean skirt 9. dark brown corduroy skirt

I pretty much live in jeans/cords 3 seasons of the year.  Lately I've been trying to incorporate more color into the bottom half of my wardrobe, so the green and burnt ochre cords are new purchases this year.  I have also ordered a pair of tan jeans, which I am looking forward to mixing into my wardrobe.  Before I bought the burnt ochre cords, I realized that all my pants were very dark - not very versatile. 

The dresses and skirts I will most likely wear with my dark brown fleece leggings and boots.  To wear the dresses, I will probably have to pull out a blazer, so I guess I will have to add that to my winter wardrobe.  The skirts can be worn with any sweater combination.  I would really like to find a denim skirt that is a little longer, since I never feel comfortable wearing this skirt in the spring/summer.

And these are the accessories I chose:

1. teal scarf 2. pink scarf 3. teal/pink paisley scarf 4. leopard scarf 5. purple scarf 6. dark green scarf
7. brown skinny belt 8. gold dangly earrings 9. gold dangly necklace 10. gold dangly earrings (these also have a matching necklace not pictured) 11. owl earrings 12. navy scarf
13. bronze leaf earrings 14. white pearl earrings 15. gold/silver leaf necklack 16. short brown boots 17. tall camel boots 18. tall black boots

Probably I will add the the accessories the brown scarf I just bought (maybe replacing the navy?) and my new elephant earring and necklace set.  Also, the reality of winter is that I will probably just wear my black snow boots most days (not pictured).

I'm not super strict with the rules.  Any clothing not in the capsule is in a suitcase in my closet.  If I think of an item without seeing it, I can get it out of the suitcase.  I'm not planning on following the "one item in, one item out" rule.

The main purpose of this exercise for me is not necessarily one about discipline, but rather about limiting my choices and stress related to making decisions.  I like to plan, and planning what to wear in advance helps me get dressed more easily in the morning (I'm not a morning person).  In August, I turned all my hangers backwards and wrapped my sweaters with a paper, so after a year I plan to get rid of what I have not worn.  I'm trying to slowly and consistently reduce what I have to a more reasonable amount.  I've made already 43 outfits in Stylebook from these pieces, and I can easily choose from any one of them what I would like to wear.  I usually decide on Mondays what I will wear for that week.  It's a system that works well for me.

Wish me luck!  :)

A Tropical Vacation in January

This is my first ever tropical vacation in January, and so far it is awesome!  We've been here for 6 days and have 3 days left.  Summer is by far my favorite season, and I despise the cold, so this has been amazing for me.  The weather here has been approximately 85 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) for the high and around 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) for the low.  And it has been sunny every day!  I'm dreading going back to ice and snow and freezing rain for the next 2 months back home....so let's just not talk about that right now.  :)

This vacation was my second experience trying to plan a mix-and-match wardrobe (the first being Thanksgiving).  As I stated in a previous post, I decided to choose pink and green as my main colors.  I have also learned that apparently navy is a "cool" color, so even though it is much better on me than black, I'm trying to use brown  (a "warm" color) as my most prominent neutral.

Here are the clothes I packed:

I brought:
 -  4 shirts: cream & navy striped tank, white t-shirt w/ lacy detail, pink v-neck t-shirt, teal 3/4 sleeve boatneck t-shirt
 - 1 dress: green t-shirt dress
 - 2 long-sleeved shirts for warmth: pink open thin sweater, denim chambray button-up
 - 3 scarves: navy floral, pink, and leopard
 - 3 bottoms: brown skirt, denim capris, boot-cut jeans
 - 1 jacket (for traveling to and from cold home): brown moto jacket
 - 1 belt: brown skinny
 - 2 pairs of earrings: white pearls, gold dangly
 - 2 necklaces: long gold/silver leaf, long gold dangly
 - 2 pairs of shoes: comfy brown Teva flip flops, brown tennis shoes
 - brown leggings (not pictured)

Here are the outfits that I planned:

Please excuse the fact that I took all these pictures on a day when I didn't 1. wear make up 2. fix my hair 3. paint my toenails.  I also forgot to wear the tennis shoes for the first photo, which was a travel day, so I definitely was wearing clothes-toed shoes when I left home.

I made the outfits first using the Stylebook app on my phone, then my sweet husband was patient to take all these pictures while I changed clothes over and over again.  I had read somewhere that it is a good idea to try your outfits before you leave if you have never worn those outfits before.  I hadn't ever worn these outfits, so I thought that was good advice.  I did make a few minor changes as I was trying them on.

In the past few years (it probably has something to do with turning 30), I've become more self-conscious of carrying weight in my mid-section.  I'm constantly trying to figure out how to not look pregnant, you know, since I'm not pregnant.  I never used to have this problem, so it's still new for me trying to learn how to dress in the most flattering way for my body.  I've been incorporating belts for a while now, but I read on puttingmetogether.com that tucking can also be a great option, particularly with skirts.  I've also learned that with shirts, longer is not necessarily better.  For a long time now, I've preferred longer shirts to avoid showing my stomach/back if I raise my arms or have to sit on the floor.  However, if you wear a longer shirt, it can make your legs look shorter, which is not good for a person who is 5'3" tall.  Let me be a little vulnerable here and show you the difference with my teal shirt and brown skirt untucked (how I always used to wear shirts) and tucked:

The difference is pretty striking.  I'm definitely going to consider tucking as a new option from now on.

The only major outfit changes I've made so far are that I didn't wear the tank top on day 5 - I just wore a regular t-shirt that day.  I've also decided to wear the green dress tucked into the denim capris on day 9.  Because of the weather, I tend to only wear the scarf/long-sleeve in the morning/evening and take them off in the heat of the day.  I don't really want to wear the same plain white shirt two days in a row.  I would've never imagined tucking in a dress to pretend like it's a shirt until I started reading fashion minimalist blogs, but it's actually really handy having an extra "shirt" and the tucking is not uncomfortable at all (I tried it on this morning to check).

I've bought a few souvenir clothing items, which I'm really excited about.  I bought a pair of those big flowy pants, which are brown with white elephants, and a white tank top with a brown elephant.  (The pants are the one size fits all kind and the elastic waist is super stretchy.) Both of those I will probably wear more this spring/summer, and they will work well as separates also.  But what I'm the most excited about is a set of elephant earrings and necklace, which I am already planning to wear tomorrow.  I think they will be a really great statement piece that I could wear anytime of the year.  I also bought a belt.

 I've done some pre-planning for my winter wardrobe already (before we left for vacation), and I'm planning to keep green and pink as my main colors with some teal highlights.  I'll write more about that in my next post!  :)

Learning about color theory

I've read a lot recently about color theory and find it fascinating.  I always knew that, as a redhead, I looked best in blues and greens, but that was the extent of my knowledge.  Randomly last fall (2014), I bought a dress in a burnt orange color, and many people told me it a good color for me.  I was perplexed, and so I set out to learn what colors look best on me in the hopes of improving and minimizing my wardrobe.

The best website I have found about color theory is this one: http://into-mind.com/2013/09/24/colour-analysis-part-i-finding-your-type/ There are various articles on this site with even more information on determining your type.

After a lot of reading, I decided that I am either a warm autumn or a warm spring, possibly somewhere in the middle.  I decided that I would wear colors from either palette:


As you can probably guess, the lighter colors on the left are for warm spring, and the darker colors on the right are for warm autumn.  I've even considered wearing spring colors in the spring/summer and autumn colors in the fall/winter!

I was excited to see that the colors I chose for the fall were both in my color palette (teal and burnt orange).  Even the dark red of my Christmas sweater fits within the fall palette.  It was also very interesting to me to see that, even though purple has always been my favorite color, maybe there was a subconscious reason why I don't have much purple in my wardrobe.   However, I've also read that certain shades of purple are universally flattering, and my husband thinks it is a fine color for me, so I've decided to keep a little purple around.

Also, I discovered that "warm" people look better in gold than silver.  This was disappointing to me, because my whole life I have always preferred silver or white gold jewelry.  However, I decided to trust the experts and give gold a try.  As I mentioned in my last post, I bought two necklace/earring sets in gold-color in December.  Unfortunately, I have a lot of sentimental/irreplaceable jewelry in silver/white gold, so I will probably just wear both and not worry too much about it!  If I never noticed that silver is not as flattering as gold for the past 30 years, it's probably not that big of a deal, right?

Another color-related decision I have made as a result of learning about color theory is trying to eliminate/reduce black from my wardrobe.  I've always known that black washes me out, but it's supposedly slimming, so I have some black.  I read an article about trying to eliminate black from your wardrobe, which recommended animal print as a transition piece as you replace black items in your wardrobe.  You can read the article here: http://www.theviviennefiles.com/2011/08/transitioning-from-one-color-palette-to_29.html I was happy to read this, since I had already begun experimenting with mixing black and brown with my new leopard print scarf.  I think I may keep a little black around, just not too much.  The main items I plan to keep are a black wrap dress (which I have worn with a denim jacket, brown leggings, brown boots, and my leopard print scarf), black jeans, and black tall boots.  Below is the brown/black/leopard outfit, which is one of the most worn outfits from the past few months at 3 wears:

Since this picture was taken, I've also started tying the scarf ends together to make a circle scarf look, which I think looks better. 

Looking forward to the spring, I chose pink and green to be my new colors.  However, because I despise winter, I have decided to bring them in early for my winter wardrobe.  I have only committed to putting away the burnt orange until next fall.

I also had another reason to look forward to spring as my husband and I have traveled to a warm climate for the first week of January this year.  Yay!  It was so exciting for me to plan outfits for warm weather.  I'll write about that more in a separate post.  :)

Christmas-themed wardrobe

Pretty much for the last two weeks of December, every outfit I wore was some combination of red, white, and green.  I normally don't wear a lot of red, because I don't like how it clashes with my red hair, but I last year I bought a red sweater that is really flattering, and I wore it 6 times in two weeks!  I've even decided to keep it in my winter wardrobe and a stand-alone item that doesn't fit with my color scheme.  You can see me in the sweater below:

I wore it as seen above 4 times, and with a green scarf and green pants to two holiday parties.  I also wore a green sweater with a maroon skirt to church on Sunday.

Also, to tone it down a bit, I wore a white sweater with the green scarf and green pants pictured above. 

That's it for my Christmas wardrobe!  Basically I wore 3 sweaters (red, green, and white) with 2 pairs of pants (dark denim jeans and green cords) or a maroon skirt in different combinations for two weeks!  I also got several compliments on my ornament earrings, which I have been wearing every Christmas for at least 10 years.  I bought two new gold-colored necklace and earring sets, which you can see in these pictures as well. 

In my next post, I will talk a bit about color theory and why I am trying to switch from silver to gold.  :)

Clutter can also be digital...

Today I have spent almost 9 hours cleaning up my "digital clutter."  Nine hours.

When I got a new camera last Christmas, I also bought a 32GB memory card, which is awesome, until I stopped deleting the pictures off the card in September.  Since I am horribly afraid of losing even one picture with a special memory attached, I went through the entire memory card today.  I had already copied most of the pictures onto my computer (without deleting them off the card), so I know there is no reason for the duplicates.  Plus, we're on vacation this week, so I don't want to take a chance of wanting to take a picture of a special moment only to see "memory card full."  Also, because I am borderline psychotically organized, the photos on my computer were in folders by event, including special folders for the ones I posted on Facebook within almost every event.  I cleared my memory card of everything except this vacation, and was feeling pretty good about it.  Unfortunately, when I checked to see how much space is left on the card, I saw this:

And even though I copied all my pictures and documents onto an external hard drive a few months ago, I am still terrified to lose them.  And what if I lose the external hard drive?  It's so small!

Last summer, for the first time ever, I started going through the pictures on my computer and deleting the duplicates and bad pictures.  Why I had let them build up for the past 15 years (or whenever it was that I got my first digital camera), I have no idea.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes I remember to delete the duplicate/bad pictures, but more often that not, I simply don't take the time to deal with it.  I still work on this when I have spare time and am in the mood to delete things, but I'm not finished yet.  Plus, I am constantly adding to the pictures.

Does anyone else have this problem?  And don't even get my started on my documents.  I literally have papers I wrote in high school on my current computer.  I graduated high school in 2003.  Whenever I got a new computer, I simply transferred all my documents and pictures onto the new computer.  Because, you know, I might need that paper I wrote for environmental science class one day.

So, this is just a small snippet of my process of trying to get rid of clutter.  However long it takes, it does feel good to have a little bit less each day.  :)