Good Karma - Clothes Party

Last weekend was one of the hugest weekends we have had in a long time.

We held two small community events, one was a "Good Karma Clothes Party" and the other was my first Garage Sale!

When I arrived home in early November I faced up to the enormous task that waited for me. To clean out all the old stuff my family and I have been hanging onto for many years.

When my father died, we tucked his stuff away, to be dealt with at a later date. Well, its nearly 3 years now and that date has arrived. As for me, well, I confess, I was the worst culprit of all. I have successfully propelled my life forward at such a rapid rate that I rarely took a moment to clean up after myself. I used to get so focused on what I was about to do, that I didnt completely finish what I was doing. At the same time I was hoarding stuff for reasons that astound me. Folders full of marketing material, old business plans, assignments from university, photos of people I dont even know, Christmas cards from people I cant remember! You name it, I was hoarding it!

Four weeks it took me, I have been working like a slave, shifting, sorting, packing, throwing, dusting, cleaning and preparing. Preparing for the biggest cleanse I have EVER had! And boy did it feel good!

The best cleanse was the "Good Karma Clothes Party". I invited all my bestest buddies and family over to my house for afternoon tea. I had sorted through all my clothes from size 6 to size 14 (Australian sizes). I had sorted out all the shoes I would no longer wear, tops, blouses, skirts, everything. I neatly arranged them for everyone to sift through and I just allowed everyone to take what they wanted. Just take it, no expectation, no token payment of money, no exchange, just take it.

And what they didnt take, I gave to the Salvation Army. Beautiful designer business shirts, suits, gorgeous shoes, just gave it all away.

Why?

Because I dont need it anymore.

Simple, my life has changed to such a degree that these clothes and shoes are not part of it anymore. I have enough. These are things I wont wear again and the most exciting thing for me is how much I have changed, these things are not me anymore, they are from a time when I was different. You just had to take a look at some of the clothes to see what I was trying to prove or who I was trying to fool. It was obvious.

So now I have all the things that I need to carry me forward into my new life, clothes that fit, clothes that express how I am now. And best of all, I dont feel the need to have so much stuff. Now that is a fantastic feeling.

One of the best things that came out of the day was to continue the concept of sharing our clothes on a regular basis and perhaps with more people... here's the idea....

Every year at springtime, I will remind my female friends and family to clean out their wardrobes and they will remind their friends. The first week of summer we will meet for afternoon tea and somehow, these clothes will have been sorted into sizes and all get to spend the afternoon shopping for free! At the end of the day, all the fabulous clothes will be donated to a nominated charity.

I'm looking forward to this concept becoming much bigger than my immediate community, so much so that just a group of gals with last years clothes could possibly make a difference to other communities.

So if you are interested in contributing to this idea, please drop me a line.
For the rest, a big warm thank you goes out to all the wonderful women that came on the weekend, it was such a fabulous day.

Photos:
1) My little cousin wearing my very first latin dress from when I was 12!
2) The dress I wore at my 21st birthday party!
3) The dress I wore as a bridesmaid 17 years ago!

Good Lord, you can see why I needed to cleanse!