Dressing Down

Since my previous post, I've been decluttering and packing the stuff at my condo in stages. Yesterday I managed to put my cookbooks, dictionaries and several other books into a box picked up at the local supplies shop. I figure that's only one tenth of all the books we have in the house, excluding the files and folders from seminars and training courses.

Today, instead of continuing with the books, I sorted out my clothes. The rules, as picked up from various magazines, are as follows (I'm doing a Martha Stewart here, so if you're bored just skip to the next paragraph):

1. Get rid of items that are stained, outdated and don't fit. - Quite a lot fell into this category. I realised most of them were white shirts (stained), Mak's hand-me-downs (outdated) and stuff from my pre-marriage years (don't fit). Disclaimer on the 'don't fit' category: they may still fit me physically (yeah, right!) but do not fit with my current status as wife/mother/Mak Haji.
2. If it hasn't been worn for a year, it'll never be worn, ever. - Since I was pregnant for most of the last year, I claim exemption from this rule. Will relook next year.
3. If something new goes in, something old has to come out. - Okay, apart from seven new tailored outfits (and only because the fabric were gifts from friends and relatives), I won't be buying any new clothes. Not until we finally move to TTDI Jaya and I can see how much extra space I have in the new closet. Somehow, I suspect there ain't gonna be any.

Anything turqouise goes out - it reminds me too much of the secondary school uniform, and also a wedding of a lawyer-politician's daughter where almost all the guests (me excluded, fortunately) and the wedded couple (unfortunately) wore that colour, which represents the political party her father was associated with. The sight of so many people in turqouise, put me off it completely. Besides, the colour doesn't do any favours to my complexion.

I had already packed away my maternity clothes, and the plan is I won't be needing them again for at least three years. Then I started sorting out the breastfeeding-friendly clothes - Kebaya and button up blouses or shirts fall into this category. Baju kurung, tunic tops, t-shirts and abaya go into another pile. Right, so far so good.

As I was going through the contents of my closet, I reminisced the events associated with each one. There's the dark green baju kurung I've had since Form Five (that's 14 years ago!!) that I wore to my scholarship interview and my pre-departure induction programme - I'm keeping this one. Besides you can never go wrong with dark green and baju kurung in my book. The blue and pink outfit worn during a prize-giving ceremony after SPM - this one, unfortunately has to go since it's almost faded to grey.

Then there's the top that saw my heart get broken before a football match, and later witnessed me falling in love during a team-building programme by the beach - I'm keeping this one too, as well as the peach baju kurung and royal blue salwar kameez that Hubby said makes me look ayu dan berseri during our courtship. Funnily enough, I don't remember what I was wearing when Hubby proposed.

By the time I finished sorting out the clothes, the wanted ones were in two cabin bags, while the unwanted clothes were in plastic bags. There was another bag of unfit and hand-me-down items that I definitely do not want but I thought my sisters might like (or I might reclaim them).

My side of the closet was now empty, except for some small items, several dinner bags and purses. I would have tackled Hubby's side of the closet next (I'm sure there are a few T-shirts of mine hiding there somewhere) but it was already lunchtime and I was mega-hungry. We'll leave those for another day then. Heck, I've got two weeks.