Cleaning Out My Closet

When I was younger, my mum used to make my sisters and I go through our wardrobes every six months or so. We would have to pull everything out, and then separate it into stuff that we were going to keep and stuff to get rid of. Then the debates would start over why we wanted to keep things even though we couldn’t remember the last time we wore them. That lead to more things being purged. I used to hate doing it, but I think we always felt better once we dropped off all of our perfectly good cast offs to the Women’s Refuge. When we would hear stories about how excited they were about a pair of jeans that didn’t fit any of us anymore or labelled shoes that they coveted.

I still do it the same way Mum made me. Pull everything out and separate into a keep pile and a donate pile. Except I try to go through the keep pile twice (even though it’s still hard!). These days I also give away make up and toiletries that I’ve never opened or barely used (it always depends on whether or not it’s hygienic). The good stories and good karma always make it worth it.

If you’re interested in helping the Women’s Refuge in Christchurch, click here (They’ll also take men’s stuff and non-perishable food too). Otherwise jump on Google and look up your nearest Women’s Refuge, church, or city mission. Also Do Something have just started a new campaign for recycling clothing.

If you want a bit of inspiration for cleaning out your own wardrobe, watch Ingrid’s video. It’s what made me decide to spend a Sunday afternoon clearing mine out and reorganising.

Good luck and good karma!

Love times infinity,

Justine x