The Joules Purge: How Did It Go?

Remember in October when I told you that I had a plan to unbury myself from a mountain of clothes and relentlessly purge my entire closet?

Well, almost every day after that declaration I pulled a different piece of clothing out of my closet to wear, posted a picture on Instagram and then evaluated the item.

At the end of a long work day, I’d ask myself:

  • At any time throughout the day did I feel uncomfortable because of the item’s fit?
  • After a full day of work, do I feel messy, disheveled or super wrinkly?
  • For work clothes, do I feel like I look nice and professional?

A bunch of you all followed along with my #thejoulespurge tag and commented with your thoughts each day, so THANK YOU all for your awesome feedback!

It took 7 weeks (I wasn’t able to do it every day, due to work-from-home days or stuff that required certain outfits) but I finally reached the end of my overstuffed closet!

It was actually really fun to force myself not to be lazy when putting together new outfits. It was also a bit like finding new clothes each day, since some of the items haven’t been worn in quite a while. I found some winners and I found a bunch of losers too… which immediately got evicted from my closet. It actually felt really GOOD to get rid of a piece of clothing at the end of the day.

Joules Purge pics from IG

 Here are the results:

  • 34 instagram pictures using #thejoulespurge hashtag
  • 24 clothing items reviewed, photographed and kept
  • 7 clothing items reviewed, photographed and donated/sold
  • A bunch more items that were not on the chopping block (recently worn, recently purchased, etc)
  • 2 trash bags FULL of clothes donated to Goodwill
  • 23 items shipped off to Twice to sell
  • $110.50 earned by selling off my old clothes! (Not including an offer I’ll be getting for a bag I shipped out Monday)

(PS if you want to clean out your closet and sell some stuff, you can use my special referral code to earn an extra $10!)

What I Learned…

Buying Multiples is Not Always the Answer
I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds a favorite shirt and then runs right back out to the store to buy it up in every single color they offer. I mean, if you LOVE it… you obviously need 5 of them in different colors, right? WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG!

One thing that I learned while doing my purge is the more isn’t always better. If it is a classic piece in my wardrobe – like the black slub t-shirts that Loft comes out with every year or a pair of perfect fitting pants – then, YES, I’m totally allowed to buy a spare. However, if it’s a dress I love in bright red and I notice that it also comes in blue and white stripes, I’m going to make myself just say no.

From my purge findings, if I truly love something and then buy it in a different pattern… somehow I don’t love it as much. So I end up still wearing the first item with glee, and pretty much NEVER wear the other one. So, the buck stops here and I’m going to nix all buying of multiples (except those mentioned above) and save myself some money.

Clothes Are Just Clothes
Just because I wore a sweater a few years ago for an event that gives me warm and fuzzy memories, doesn’t mean I need to keep it in my closet. A memory can live on without me keeping an ill-fitting, worn out sweater. Also, just because someone gave it to me doesn’t mean I have to keep it until the end of time. I felt super bad about getting rid of anything that was a gift, but when it comes down to it… if it’s not being worn it might as well go to a new home.

I feel like I have a much better plan moving forward to purchase any new clothes and my closet is at a manageable size where I no longer feel overwhelmed when I look inside to pick an outfit. I am SO GLAD I did the #joulespurge and I’m thinking that I will definitely have to do another one in the spring when I get out my warm weather clothes. Having a closet full of clothing that fits, looks good and I LOVE is pretty fantastic!

If you looked in your closet right now, what is the OLDEST item you own? Are you impressed that I earned over a hundred bucks by selling my old clothes? Would you like to join on the upcoming spring version of #thejoulespurge?

Like what you see? Share me with your friends!

5 thoughts on “The Joules Purge: How Did It Go?”

  1. Thank gosh for hashtags, right? 😉 GREAT JOB! I’ve considered using Twice, maybe I’ll look into it. I have many nice pieces of clothing that have been worn maybe once or twice that I just didn’t love after those couple of times. Or my body changed, my mood changed, you know how it goes. I might take you up on your code for the extra $10 offer 🙂

    1. I like to give a lot to Goodwill, but when I have things that were hardly worn from name brand stores it is really nice to get a little cash back for it! Twice doesn’t pay you a ton, but it is better than nothing — and they pay out an extra 20% if you get paid in store money (to spend on their stuff) which can be pretty cool. I just took the cash and ran to go by some Frye boots…

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