Are you holding on to clothes that don’t fit – and maybe haven’t fit for years – but that you just can’t bear to part with? We tell ourselves that it’s the frugal thing to do. We don’t want to have to buy more clothes if we lose weight or gain some back. But is this approach good for our mental well-being? “Multiple sizes may feel like a safety net, but they may also be a painful reminder of how you feel in your own skin. There’s no proof that smaller sizes encourage you to lose weight,” says famed minimalist Courtney Carver.
A few years ago I fell into this trap myself. I quickly gained fifteen pounds when a knee injury kept me from my daily running routine. Almost nothing in my closet fit, and every day I looked inside for something to wear and ended up feeling bad about myself. Eventually I lost the weight and thought that I would immediately start wearing my old clothes again. But as I tried on each outfit I realized that it was looking worn out, it wasn’t very comfortable or I didn’t feel as good in it as I remembered. As Francine Jay writes in The Joy of Less, sometimes there are “perfectly good clothes that are no longer good for you.” I donated almost all of them, bought a few new pieces that I absolutely loved, and now I have the joy of opening my closet every day knowing I’ll feel good in anything inside. (Added bonus: those donated clothes are now in the hands of people who actually wear them!)
There are exceptions, for example if you’re pregnant, recently had a baby or have a health issue. I sometimes tell clients to keep one box of clothes in other sizes, as long as every piece inside is something they would unquestionably buy again and on the condition that they store that box in a place they rarely see it to prevent it from getting them down. For everything else, as best-selling author Gretchen Rubin writes in her book Outer Order, Inner Calm, “store things in the store!”
And keep in mind that the endowment and duration effects means that the longer you keep something, the harder it will be to let it go. When you hold up those skinny jeans, think about how many years it’s been since you’ve worn them. Be honest with yourself. Consider bringing in a professional organizer. And then say goodbye to those skinny jeans and hello to a happier life!
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