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milly churchill

Thank you so much for signing up to my newsletter and visiting my website.

I hope I can inspire you to create and curate the wardrobe and the image that reflects the person you are!

Here are some pointers and ideas to start a new way of thinking about your clothes, and your relationship to them.

curating checklist

What are your aims from having a clearing session? Write your thoughts down over a couple of days. You may find that there is one encompassing reason to declutter now, or there might be several thoughts in your mind. Has your lifestyle altered, and you need a new look? Have you got a new job and can’t find the right clothes to wear? Have you just got too much stuff? Have you gained or lost weight? Are you moving house, or your living arrangements are changing so your storage space might be different? There will be many reasons that you have chosen to act, but knowing your specific aims will make the decluttering process much easier.

To start the process:

Ask yourself some questions as you go through your wardrobe…

· Does it fit? I know this is a fundamental question, but I can pretty much guarantee that you will have items, that although in good condition, will be the wrong size or just feel uncomfortable.

· What is the condition like? Is the shape distorted and does it still look ok?

· Does it do anything for your shape? Does it leave you with odd lumps and bumps, or does it negatively alter your proportion and silhouette, where other items don’t?

· Finally, what are you missing? Keeping notes on a piece of paper (or on your phone) as you go along will help you see what you might need to replace.

So, when you look at each item, go through the quick check list:

· Does it fit?

· What is the condition like?

· Does it flatter you?

find a method that works for you.

Whether you are doing things slowly, or having a large-scale sort out, chunking things down makes sense. Separating your occasion wear, work wear, smart casual, casual, T-shirts, jumpers, lingerie, shoes, scarves, accessories into piles and going through each selection of items systematically, means that nothing ever becomes too overwhelming. Trying to sort jeans, and boots, and evening dresses at the same time will just become confusing.

When you want to keep track of what you are storing, or any gaps in your wardrobe that you have identified, a consistent way of note making works best. Any method you instigate means you will know where to find the information, rather than having odd thoughts scattered around on random bits of paper or devices.

In the past, taking notes involved a paper and pen, but now you can use many different methods. Obviously, the paper and pen are still probably the most popular method, but you can now make notes on your phone, laptop, computer, you can use voice recordings, or create a card system. Making the lists relevant is important, otherwise you can start to be overwhelmed by the very things that are designed to make your life easier.

Once you have decided on a method that works for you, stick to it. If decluttering is all about streamlining your wardrobe, your life and hopefully your thoughts, then keeping track of your progress needs to be simple. You don’t want to be out shopping and have one set of notes about some of the gaps in your wardrobe on your phone, and your colour preferences at home on the kitchen table. Your thoughts don’t need to be precise and neat, but having some order and having everything in the same medium will be useful.

making it simple

The whole decluttering process is designed to simplify your life. This process can and will have, both physical and mental benefits. Whether that means you only have clothes in your wardrobe that you love and that you will wear; or all the lotions and makeup in bathroom are fresh, usable and suit your colouring; or that your kitchen cupboards only have foods which you can make delicious meals with, rather than thinking you need to have a takeaway?

The overall aims when you are finding your personal sense of flow, are to increase confidence and to create less stress. Putting things off only works up to a point, and you might live for years with a dull sense of frustration. We all procrastinate, but by taking small steps that produce big results, so you have more space to create your dream, means that you can focus your efforts on a direction that suits you.

Any action you take towards your new image, or lifestyle shouldn’t be hard work. If it’s difficult, you know you won’t keep it up. If you do some simple things and see some positive results, those around you can see a change in your appearance, confidence, and demeanour, and importantly you feel good, so what’s not to love?

conquer any misplaced guilt.

We can often feel very guilty about decluttering. Facing the clothes and accessories we have, and making decisions about what you want to keep and what you want to remove can bring up some uncomfortable feelings. However, the longer you keep the items you no longer need, the longer you prolong the feelings of lack of value and misplaced guilt, which isn’t ideal.

If every time you open the wardrobe, you are confronted with a myriad of items that remind you of those mixed emotions, you are maintaining a guilt-hide-keep-guilt cycle. When you take action, you can exorcise any of these negative feelings in one go, and stop being reminded of something that has become much more than it should be.

what do you want to do with your excess clothes?

We are now all more aware of our ‘carbon footprint’ and the need for sustainability in all aspects of our lives, so how can you best minimise your impact when it comes to your wardrobe? There will undoubtedly be some clothes that are only suitable for you to take your local textile recycling (normally available at your local recycling and rubbish centre). Others can be washed and donated to a charity shop of your choice. For clothes and accessories that are in very good condition, but no longer work for you, why not consider selling them?

There are the sites for ‘normal’ fashion clothes, Depop, Vinted, Thrift and Rethread. Then there are several resale sites that are a cut above the norm when it comes to selling ‘designer’ clothes. Look at Vestaire collective, Designer Exchange, Relux, and My circular wardrobe.

If you have smart business clothes that you no longer need, perhaps you could ask at a local school (or anywhere else in your area) to see if there are any mums returning to work who would be happy to buy business clothes that are still great, but obviously cheaper than new. Another very worthy place to look at is Smartworks. They are a charity who take good work clothes and dress women for interviews and jobs who wouldn’t otherwise have suitable things to wear. There might also be a variation of this service in your area.

in conclusion:

You need to be in the right place to declutter, so see how you feel about having a sort out before you launch into action. It is a cathartic process, but you do have to be in the right mood to make it enjoyable, rather than like having teeth pulled! Although you are having a declutter and removing things, it is actually a very positive action.

It might help to think about the situation this way. Your life has changed, (and thank goodness for that, or you’d still be at school and living with your parents). You really wouldn’t consider that the clothes you had when you were 5, 10, or 15 would be suitable for your life today. You would move them on without a second thought. So why should something you had for any other random 10-year period in your life be any more suitable for your life now?

Milly’s top tips:

Start to make space for the person you are today, and the person you aspire to be.

· Know your aims before you start, and chunk things down into manageable amounts.

· Keep asking yourself does it fit, what is the condition like, and does it flatter you?

· Ditch the sense of overwhelm and create space in your head and in your life.

And a final thought: when you are considering sustainability, are you really saving the planet by overcrowding your wardrobe with things that you’ll never wear again? Just saying!