Quick Run to Goodwill

On Sunday my husband purged a bunch of things from his closet/office, so he wanted to make a quick run to the donation location.  Always looking to combine trips, I grabbed a few donations to take along.  It was a rush job, so I didn't take any photos.  My last post brought me up to item #46 (11/15), so here is what's happened since then.

11/16 #47: hooded running jacket that I just don't wear anymore
11/17 #48: Iluminight cycling vest that I also don't wear anymore
11/18 #49: Wrap plaid skirt for covering up bike shorts (never worn)
11/19 #50: snap wrap skirt for cover up post-races/triathlons that is too big
11/20 #51: running wind-shirt jacket thingy that I bought because it seemed like a good idea at the time and then never wore

For today, I'm removing a super worn out sleep tank from my wardrobe.  I'm not going to donate it as it's really ratty.  It's also not the right material for the rag pile, so this will be my first 'throw away' item.  It's actually so worn out, that I'm embarrassed to admit that I was still wearing it, so I'm not even going to take a photo of it. Use your imagination!

I also donated a couple of older frying pans, some decorative items that are no longer our style and a pile of books.  These don't count as wardrobe items, of course..but it always feels good to get some of the clutter out of the house.

Digging into the drawers

When I did my first closet purge (and subsequent capsule wardrobe) more than 18 months ago, I focused on clothing and shoes.  I really didn't pay too much attention to accessories because I tend to dress simply. A few scarves here and there, a belt out of necessity, simple jewelry...  I use the same purse every day and I only change it out seasonally (mostly because it rains all winter and I don't like using open-top leather bags in that situation).  When it was time to simplify and cut my over-spending habit, accessories were low priority.

I wear the same black leather belt almost every day. It's actually reversible, so even when black isn't right for the outfit, light brown/tan often is.  And because I've got big legs and plenty of 'back' but a small waist, all of my jeans and most of my dress pants require belts.  Every night when I get undressed, I roll up my belt and tuck it into one of the top drawers in my dresser.  There is a cute pink dyed snakeskin belt in the same drawer that I bought for one particular outfit that I notice each night.  And before I started this challenge, I bought a second black leather/silver buckle belt to tide me over because mine is looking worn.  That one also is in the same drawer.  There were just three belts in the forefront of my brain.

Now that I'm giving away things every day, I find myself having to go into places I never bothered cleaning before because I'm not ready to lean out my closet even more just yet!  This weekend, I opened BOTH of the top drawers of my dresser and stumbled upon a belt mecca!  I guess I knew that I had a lot of them that I'd been pretending were not there, but I didn't realize how many were still left after the house-moving purge 4 years ago.  I decided on twelve that will be donated (pictured above).  The remaining 5 or so are all uniquely suited to certain outfits and until I do the big final purge of my wardrobe, they'll remain in my possession.  Once the decision is made on each of their corresponding clothing items, then I will likely be getting rid of even more belts.

This covers me until 11/15, or item #46. :-)

Donations Still Happening

Item 25 & 26: 2 Black t-shirts.  I can only wear one at a time so who needs 3??

Item 27: Tankini top.  Bought this AGES ago and never wore it.  Not even sure which bottoms I'd originally intended to wear it with as it was so long ago.  

Item 28: Cropped black workout pants.  These have a fold-over waist which on me means 'fall down every time I bend over' waist.  They were never used for workouts but for lounging around and how many pairs of ugly lounging around pants does one girl need?  Time to go!














Items 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, & 34 will bring me up to date through tomorrow (11/3).
Three tech t's, a pair of workout shorts that are WAY too short and that I'll never feel confident enough to wear (feels good to finally accept that!), a sports bra and a workout bra top thing.  I'm happy to be making room in my fitness clothing drawer!

New Shoes!

About a week after I posted my 'rules' for this challenge (including the one where items won or given to me is acceptable) I actually won a new pair of Nike ID shoes!!  For September at my Orange Theory Fitness studio, we had a bingo card full of random tasks to fill up as much as we could.  An example would be 'take Alycia's class' or 'complete the DriTri'.  For every row of 'bingo' we got a ticket into a raffle.  I filled up almost my whole card and to my great shock...I won the grand prize!!

I actually picked out and ordered my shoes the day of my eye surgery and they just arrived today.  I'm so excited as they look exactly like I pictured AND they fit and are super comfy!!  These will be my studio shoes and the other pair I've been wearing will be set aside for distance running only (outside).

Super cute and totally on theme, right?

Catching up on donations

I wasn't sure how much I'd like 'blogging' about the items I donate but I think it's a good idea.  It's keeping me on track because it turns out that it is really easy to forget about this as life goes on!  I know that it's not the most interesting subject matter, so going forward I will try to condense as much as possible and only take pictures of items that might be unique (once I've finished the current collection).

On the 'buy nothing new' front, I faced a challenge last week.  While traveling to Florida for work,  I did a few workouts in a local Orange Theory Fitness studio.  They had some OTF branded gear different from what they have at my home studio and I was really tempted. I even considered making an 'excuse' that it was OK since I was traveling, but then realized that was really stupid.  I don't NEED anything.  Temptation averted!

Donation #18 & 19: Two baseball hats.  I bought the Napali coast one after our epic kayaking adventure and as much as I loved that trip, I've never worn this hat.  I have memories...I don't need the hat.  The other hat is left over from my days in retail at Polo Ralph Lauren.  It's a minimum of 20 years old and it also doesn't get worn.

Donations 20 - 23: Three t-shirts...in a pile.  Nothing interesting about these except maybe that purple wall behind them.  That's the accent wall in my office/guest room.  Fabulous color, isn't it? :-)

Donation 24: workout pants.  Bought these from Fabletics because they had a drawstring (key feature for workout pants for me) but they are just way too heavy-weight for indoor workouts but not suited to outdoor running in the wet Oregon winters.

More Donations

My eye is healing well.  It actually seems to be faster this time around, but I think that's because this time, I know how to do the drops better so that half of it doesn't run into my nasal passages.  More medicine in the eye where it belongs means that it works as it should.  Duh.  Anyway, I'm glad its going well because tomorrow I'm traveling for work and that dry (and pressurized) environment on the airplane would have been torture a week ago.

Today I'm doing some 'catch up' on my donations.  I'd pulled the items from my wardrobe already, but today I took the photos and boxed it up.  We'll drop the donations off this afternoon.  I also took photos of my items for the upcoming week since I'll be on the road.

Item #12:  An O'Neil rash guard that I bought for either a Hawaii trip or a kayaking adventure that I never wore.  What a waste.

Item #13: Black cowl neck sweater dress from Madewell.  Wore this twice.  Cute but too much volume in the middle for me and a tad too short for work-comfort.  Plus, now that I work on the second floor of our building, it's way warmer than the first floor so I can't imagine ever being comfortable in something this bulky again.













Item #14: Reebok tank.  Cute, but not comfortable in the OTF environment.

















Item #15: Polka dot silk scarf.  Also cute, but too big...there was just way too much material in this scarf for my style.  This one still has the tags on it.
















Item #16; Mini Cooper T.  This one is going into the rag pile.  I love this t and it's gotten a TON of wear, but I bought it in Nov of 2003 and it looks it.  It's getting a new hole every time it goes into the laundry.  Farewell faithful t.  I'll miss you!













And because I'll be in travel mode all day tomorrow:

Item #17: Truckette bag/purse by Queen Bee (local company).  I used this bag for 5 or 6 years...every day.  It's really worn on the bottom and the material is bubbling and coming apart on the cover flap above the flowers.  I replaced it with a similar one a couple of weeks go, so it's time to send this one to goodwill.  Great bag...another item that I'll miss!

On the Mend!

Donations 7 & 8:

Donations 9, 10 and 11 are a striped t like the one pictured above but in navy, a bathing suit and a pair of New Balance Minimus shoes.  I'll take more pictures going forward but while the T is cute, no one needs to see an old bathing suit or beaten up shoes!

My eye is healing.  Slowly but surely.  The first few days were pretty brutal as expected but I'm back at work today and doing pretty well, It's still gross looking and will likely remain so for a few weeks.  I'm hoping that at my doctor's appt tomorrow, I get to reduce the number of times per day that I need to put in drops.  Four is a lot and kind of a pain in the butt.

Because my eye cannot take 'stimulus' like breezes, heat, cold or the sun, I've been staying indoors. I've also been going pretty stir-crazy since I went from almost daily exercise to none.  On Sunday I managed to walk on our treadmill in the garage (with no fan on me) for about 2 miles and then I lifted some light upper body weights.  After that, we thought that maybe a walk in an indoor mall would do me good as well.  My husband and I headed to one of two enclosed malls in our area and prepared to fight the crowds to 'walk the mall circuit' a bit.  It was really weird to be walking past all these stores and all this clothing and know that I can't even buy one little thing.  I didn't really want to but it felt weird knowing that I couldn't even if I did.  I think that speaks to my consumerism tendencies and it partly explains how I managed to amass such a huge wardrobe when I worked in retail and was in these places every single day.  I mean, to say "I'm not going to buy anything" and then never go into a store, open a catalog or browse the internet is easy.  There is no temptation.  It's like saying I'm only going to eat healthy food when living on a ranch where there is only healthy food in the fridge and you don't have a car or anything within walking distance.  The hard part would be to continue to expose myself to temptation and still not buy.  I'm not ready for that yet, but I suspect that might have to be a part of my plans this year just to say that I could do it.  Of course, there was a Tesla store in the mall...I would have been happy to go in there and buy something...a car is not part of my wardrobe, right!?

Anyway, this past weekend I did pull out all of my fall/winter clothing and packed away the few things I have that are just too summery (shorts, a few sundresses, sandals).  I will be in FL next week, but I have enough light weight things to cover me and I did keep one pair of shorts out to take along. It was much nicer to get ready for work with a freshened wardrobe this morning...even if there was nothing truly new...just things I'd missed seeing all summer.  Nothing like pulling on a pair of pretty tall black boots to make a girl feel good about herself!

I also came across the bin of clothing that doesn't fit me.  I was shocked at how full it is...  I will really need to make my final weight decision soon if I plan to keep these clothes.  Otherwise, I'll run out of things to donate much faster than I had anticipated!  I'm so close too...maybe 10 lbs...