Tidying Up-And Paring Down to 5 Colors

Tidying Up-And Paring Down to 5 Colors

I'm back from Las Vegas, land of Red Bull and sequins. I never drink the stuff, but it's practically in the air out there. Gross.

In an effort to detox from that whole experience, I wanted to bring you up to speed on some cleansing that I've been doing over here recently. I read the incredible book The Lifechanging Magic of Tidying Up, which I highly recommend, and I put some of her tenants to practice.

The main one is to put all of your clothing in one place; I took things out of storage and from closets, and I put it all in one room by category. I had too much clothing, and she says it's ok to do shirt, pants, dresses, etc., so that's what I did! Then, you handle each item and ask the question: does this spark joy?

If it doesn't, you let it go. You get rid of it, donate or sell it. It's that simple. I was so ready for this! What I found after making my way through most of my clothing was very revealing: about 5 colors spark joy for me consistently. Black, white, gray, blue (mostly navy), and tomato (veering to coral, too). My husband says that black isn't a color, white is questionable, and gray barely qualifies, but that's just semantics! I'm going with five.



I have mostly whittled my clothing down to those five colors by this point, only keeping things in my closet that spark joy. I found a very few items that are outside of those colors that also sparked, and so I kept them, and stripes in all colors light up my heart. I've moved the patterned pieces to a separate chest that has hanging space so that my closet reads as far more cohesive and joyful now. I love it!

If it sounds too extreme for you, I suggest that you read the book or at least skim a few pages. You might be surprised by how incredibly light you'll feel afterwards! I am still dreading getting rid of books, though, and have been putting that stage off.

Let me know if you try it and what you think!