{LIFESTYLE} To Keep, To Sell, and To Swap
It's January 10th and I'm still keeping my word on a promise I made to myself on January 1st to halt my clothing shopping. Shopping is something I do compulsively: it's something that brings me pleasure, it's something I do as part of my job, and it's something I do socially with friends. Checking up on the latest stock at some of my favorite online retailers (ASOS, Modcloth, Net-a-Porter), has become a built in part of my morning routine - following checking my email and reading NYTimes.com to make sure a world war hasn't broken in the time that I was sleeping.
While I'm still browsing, I've taken a few steps to curb my shopping addiction for the long haul - and not just until the calendar flips over to February. I registered my email on a site called Unroll.me - which culls your entire inbox to find email lists to which you're subscribed... and was shocked to find that my primary, work-related email account had been registered to almost 400 subscriptions. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of these newsletters and subscriptions were from online retailers - but perhaps surprisingly, is that I probably do fall victim to their sneaky sales and traps more often than a self-identified "Savvy Shopper" like myself would like to admit. I unsubscribed from about 90% of the lists, and added my favorites to my "roll up" - where they are summarized in a single email delivery to my inbox on a daily basis. The best way to resist temptation? Avoid knowing that it's there!
Next, I went through my entire wardrobe and separated the pieces that I wanted to donate, sell, or store for the future. I'm a sentimentalist, and even though there are a handful of items in my wardrobe that don't fit, aren't currently in fashion, or I just know I'm not going to wear anytime soon - I still can't bring myself to toss them. So, these get a special place - the swap pile. We'll come back to this pile later. Then, I sifted through the rest (this is an ongoing process for someone who has a surplus of clothing, as I do), and found pieces that were ready to go to the "sell/donate" pile. They don't have a place in my life now, nor do I see them having a place in my life in the near future, nor do I have a particular sentimental attachment or fondness to them -- and off to a Goodwill or Buffalo Exchange they go! Phew. It's really liberating to say buh-bye (and walk away with cash in hand or a tax-write-off, too).
Now, let's return to the swap pile. I recently became acquainted to a new site called Swapdom, through a friend who used to do PR at Modcloth. She introduced me to the site and shared the basic premise: you upload some of your new-condition pieces to the site that you're interested in swapping, and make them available to the Swapdom community. This was a perfect solution for the pieces that I'm not getting current use out of, but do not want to entirely get rid of, either! If I can't enjoy them right-at-this-very-moment, why shouldn't someone else? I'm still new to the site and working my way around it, but have already found amazing pieces that I'm dying to get my hands on: this star-spangled sequined top, this tartan button-up sweater, and this cute beaded BCBG clutch. You can browse the entire community with their updated-as-items-are-added feed, and search and filter the results by keyword, size, brand, and so on. Looking for a party outfit? Plug in the keyword "sequin," and behold. (PS, all the items in the photo above are listed on my Swapdom page.)
I'm curious what methods you all use to curb your consumer habits, purge your closet, and save yourself from wardrobe fatigue?! Seriously. I want to know, cause the first time to overcoming your problem is admitting you have a problem, and I've at least gotten that far!