MINIMALISM, TIDYING UP MAGIC AND CHANGING MY LIFE FOR THE BETTER

I, like apparently one zillion other Amazon buyers, have been reading Marie Kondo's book entitled, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.  

While there seems to be nothing but common sense advice that you should already know in this book there are hidden "secrets" that really are ringing true for me.  Things Marie recommends such as the purpose of objects and thanking the object for fulfilling it's purpose before discarding it.  I know how flaky this sounds but wow does that help the guilt for a packrat such as I in terms of parting with objects.  For example - don't feel guilty getting rid of those exercise items you never ended up using much of because they just weren't your thing, their purpose was the excitement you felt when ordering them and the commitment to being fitter you were trying to achieve.  This was just one example the author stated in the book that really helped me.  I am naturally practical and pretty frugal which tends to make a packrat.  I have issues getting rid of things I spent money on and may not have used for whatever reasons and this approach really works for me psychologically.  Personally I think extreme hoarders (the ones on the show) could employ this type of thinking and seriously get rid of stuff quickly - it really works! Anyway as Marie suggested I am starting with my clothes.  I did my dresser yesterday - I removed all items that weren't clothes and stored those elsewhere and then went through all my clothes and ended up getting rid of 2 garbage bags full of clothes!!!  Yikes what a hoarder I was!  One thing that helped me was Marie discussing downgrading clothes to loungewear (things to wear around the house).  All this does is give an excuse to hoard clothes that no longer suit us.  We end up not even wearing these clothes even around the house because we just don't feel comfortable in them.  So I got rid of the tshirts which no longer fit me (they were shrunken and uncomfortable, socks which were no longer smooth, sweaters that pilled, clothes that were faded out, things I wore I never felt comfortable wearing plus undies that had seen better days.  What a revelation especially on the downgraded to loungewear issue!  I kept a couple pairs of crop yoga pants as they were comfy to exercise and clean in, only three tshirts as they were actually soft and fit me (t shirts are $5 each at walmart so tell me why in the world I felt the need to keep tshirts with holes in them that no longer fit correctly!) and then two pairs of shorts that I bought specifically for "loungewear" and will come in handy as the weather gets warmer.  That amount of "loungewear" was more than enough for me and if any of those items feels uncomfortable when wearing them - out they go without another glance!  I also parted with skirts that while they were my favorites for years they elastic was going on the waists etc and stuck with only 4 skirts which are now folded neatly and still in wonderful condition and best yet actually fit well.  Same thing with pants - I kept the jeans that I like and that fit me, one pair of dress pants and two of more casual cotton pants - all that fit me and that I actually wear.  Same with nightgowns - out with the ones that cling on my stomach or that my cleavage pops out of!  I now have only 3 but they are soft cotton and soooo comfortable! I ran out of steam so still have to do my hanging clothes next but wow just doing the dresser made me feel so wonderful!