Quantitative Method for Cleansing the Closet

Well I did some shopping last weekend and then came home to realize that there was no more physical space available in my closet. So this morning I did a little purging which I found to be a very difficult process. How do you know what to hold on to and what to get rid of? What if one day I really need that dress I bought for $10 at a NY street fair and then I can't find it because I donated it to the Salvation Army? Throwing away (or donating) my clothes is very hard for me. I can look at every item in my closet and remember when I bought it, why I bought it and what significant event I wore it to. That's the point of clothes right? Well besides the whole warmth/modesty/protection thing. Therefore I had to develop a quantitative method for cleaning out my closet. I chose to ask myself three questions in order to decide if I could actually get rid of something...

1. How many times have I worn this?
2. When was the last time I wore it?
3. In what instance would I wear this again?

For example....I found a black dress hanging at the very back of my closet. It qualified as cute and you can never have too many black dresses but I decided to use my method. The answers to my 3 questions were as follows:

1. Once...that I know of.
2. Homecoming, 10th grade. (That was 8 years ago.)
3. In all likelihood, I have grown since the 10th grade and would not fit in the dress. Also, as much as dress-makers enjoy polyester, the smell of it makes me gag.
Therefore the dress ends up in the donate pile that Doris was kind enough to guard for me.

In typical male fashion, Steve was extremely bored with the cleansing process and chose to sleep his way through it. Anyway, it took two hours and alot of deep thought but I managed to clear enough space for the new stuff. I only filled one trash bag with clothes but I guess that's better than nothing. I have decided to keep that trash bag under my bed and if within the next month I find myself searching for something that I had decided to donate, I will hang it back in the closet. Yes, it's stupid for clothes to be so important but honestly, I'm a materialistic 23 year old girl who works in the fashion industry and talks to her cats....clothes are my comfort.

This picture has nothing to do with my closet but aren't they cute???