Why I Throw Out My Wardobe.

Hey all,

Yes, you have heard correctly I have thrown out 90% of my wardrobe. I know many beautifully stylish mama’s out there, sadly I am not one of them. From the moment that I fell pregnant with Freya, my first born, I didn’t know how to dress my body. Through my whole teenage life I was blessed with something I like to call ‘eat cake and don’t get fat’, others may call it a fast metabolism.

This was something that didn’t last when I transitioned to motherhood. From the moment Freya started to grow, so did I, massively. I was around 7 stone at the beginning and ended my pregnancy at 11 stone. With the added weight, and my new womanly shape, I was lost when it came to dressing my new body shape. I went from a size 6 pre pregnancy to a size 10 and I was devastated. I know a size 10 isn’t big, far from it, but It was a dramatic change from the size 6 I was before pregnancy.

And that was just one child in, having Ellie and Ava and now Nate I am a size 12. This is a perfectly healthy size; I mean I could really do with toning and losing a little, but I am perfectly happy with my clothes size. I just don’t know how to dress it.

I would look at all the beautiful ladies at the school with all their different fashion styles, and they were all different, all beautiful but I just didn’t have a style that I could say I felt comfortable in. and it was around the same time that I started to watch The bucket list family on YouTube, they are inspirational by the way and if you haven’t watched them, you should give them a watch here : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAHfJyWROB4XRReS43EWUw

 My children aspire to be just like Dorothy, Manilla and Callie and they admire their bravery. I love Jessica and Garrett, they are couple goals, I mean if you can travel with 3 kids and not completely lose it, you must have a strong relationship 😂. Anyway… I am getting side-tracked. My point was that when watching them I found myself feeling jealous of their simple lifestyle, I mean they have a life that’s so inspiring… but the fact that they only had the belongings that they travelled with, was… Just wow.

They always look incredible, and their style matches their lifestyle, simple! They tend to wear plain tops and plain bottoms and I was like; I wish I could be like that, I craved the simplicity, then I thought, hang on a minute why can’t I have that…

So, I decided to do just that, I got a black bag and started to fill the bag with things that were visually loud, patterned, funny shaped and fancy designs. The only items that I kept were 2 pairs of black leggings, ones that have been knicker tested. Then I kept 2 pairs of jeans one pair of high waisted mum jeans and one pair of skinny mauve. I thew away all of my tops minus 1 blouse, And a black loose fitting t shirt. I kept one A-line style brown dress and one all black jump suit. 3 pairs of fitness clothes stayed, along with 5 jumpers purely because it is still very cold, ha-ha… the worse part of this downsize was the pjs, I mean I have a little obsession with Disney jammies, and I am not sure why…

Then I decided to buy a pair of cargo style skinny trousers, some plain t-shirts, and do you know what… I am in heaven. I stayed away from bright colours, I mean I am not a bright coloured person, I was before the kids, but I don’t think it suits me now. I love the plain clothing styles of grey, green, white and black. This to me is all the natural colours. If I want to style some colours, I am not shy of colouring my hair and guess what, if you have rainbow hair its hard to style your clothes to that and you end up just wearing the neutral colours anyway.

This is an image of me with rainbow hair…

*side note* If you are my fellow Plymouth friends, you need to check out Laura Wood at The Hair Hut Plymouth. She is a miracle worker, well… all of the hairdressers in there, are incredible, and I am not just saying that Sam, Laura and Lily are amazing with colouring and if you are wanting a perm, Sarah is your gal. If you are after some amazing line work or barber work, look no further then Angel, he is incredible. This is not a paid post, they are all just amazing and deserve a shout out… anyway back to my clothing 😂, sorry! you are going to have to get used to my little tangents.

Now lets just talk about the anxiety that I used to have when it comes to what to wear. I would literally hide at home because I did not know how to dress my body and just worried that I would be judged for the way that I looked. I mean, this is a self-confidence thing, that I think many women go through, after childbirth for sure. But making this dramatic change in my lifestyle has let me feel more confident in general. I mean we cannot actually leave the house yet… (covid) but when I do get to go get the kids or pop to the shop, I am 1000% more confident. And that is because I am now owning the natural and simple lifestyle, I don’t look at others and think ohh, do you think I should be dressing more like that…

I would avoid getting dressed in the morning because it was just overwhelming, I mean, I have on many occasions just showered and got back into my comfortable pj’s, actually… that’s a lie I wouldn’t even bother with the shower let’s be honest😂. But… now I am happy to get up and get dressed and for me, it means that I am more motivated, so more of my chores are done, I am on top of my university course, I am no way perfect, but I can get the course work in on time. And I even found time to writing this blog.

So, if you are finding yourself in a similar situation and finding it hard to know what to do, maybe try and simplify your clothing and reduce that anxiety and choice. I hope this has been a helpful blog for you. I just want to state, I am not an expert, and everyone is different. This is my personal story.