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My closet is mess. I don't like buying clothes and I like buying fat clothes even less.

One of my goals is to do a midlife wardrobe makeover—complete with a capsule wardrobe of interchangeable pieces—once I'm at a healthy size. But for now, I'm stuck. Now that I've lost nearly 30 pounds, I can foresee my distaste for clothes buying lessening, but I'm still not thrilled about shopping for medium-fat clothes.

Instead of heading to the store, I decided on a massive closet makeover. I didn't have many clothes hanging up—because, you know, my disinterest in shopping—but of those in the closet, until recently I only fit in (and wore) a tiny percentage. In addition, I had a ton packed in bins on the top shelf, waiting for my weight loss success.

Over the past weekend, I pulled down every box, and tried on every single thing in my closet. Every. Single. Thing.

In the end, I have:

  • 3 enormous bags of clothes that are being shipped off to Deseret Industries (Utah's version of Goodwill)—either because they are too large or I wouldn't want to wear them even if they fit
  • A few items in the closet that fit me nicely (even if the clothes themselves aren't so nice)
  • 1 bin of clothing that is still to small but will hopefully fit down the road.

The closet purge is already beneficial in two ways:

  1. Decluttering leaves “white space” and room to breathe
  2. No mental energy is expended shuffling through clothes I can't wear to find something suitable

The fresh start from the closet makeover is motivating and exciting. Every time I walk in my closet, it feels functional rather than uncomfortable. I'm looking forward to losing all the excess weight and figuring out a coordinating wardrobe that makes getting dressed easy and even fun.

Alison Moore Smith is a 60-year-old entrepreneur. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 39 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons.

She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.

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