The Impossible Task of Getting Rid of Clutter

Bibliotheca bloggers said “clutter” and my mind instantly went to those IKEA box trays that store my small accessories. To the large stash of small hair clips that one hoards as a lolita because “they’re useful”, because “they’re great casual accessories for everyday wear”, because “they’re great fillers for OTT looks”, because “you can clip them anywhere, doesn’t have to be your hair”, because “they’re so cheap to get, you can literally raid Claire’s or the kid’s section at H&M to get a whole bunch”... All of those statements are true. They stand alongside one more true statement: that I hardly wear them. And as my style now leans more classic than sweet, the gazillion little bows are just, well – clutter.

The only time that all of those clips got worn.

So get rid of them, you say. Ah, but that’s easier said than done. People don’t actually want bunches of random Claire’s hair clips when they’re shopping second hand, so they’re not really worth reselling, be it on Lacemarket or Vinted. And whether they’re fabric or hard plastic, accessories like this are exactly the sort of contributor to fashion waste that doesn’t degrade (or doesn’t degrade quickly), which makes me feel guilty about adding to the problem. And whilst I could add a bunch as freebies to whatever I do sell, unless I know that they’ll match whatever the buyer is wearing, that feels like offloading the problem onto somebody else. Short of dropping them off at the free table of whatever next bring and buy/swap meet ends up happening, so that those who do want them can grab them, they remain part of my fashion clutter.

And all of that is assuming that I am capable of parting with them in the first place. Which is also easier said than done. But not because I suddenly found the inspiration to wear some of these tiny bows or because I suddenly found one that I forgot about and have fallen in love with it all over again. For the most part the difficulty comes from that vague concept of “This could be useful”.

“This could be useful,” I say to myself as I consider this one pastel JSK that I own that I’m already short on accessories for and a couple of little clips, that take up hardly any space and that realistically no-one else would be desperate to get, would be perfect for. “This could be useful,” I say to myself because really, bows are a lolita neutral, they go with every substyle, even if that’s not how I end up coording them, but maybe one day I will? “These could be useful,” I say to myself when I remember that occasionally I will do bubble braids or something similar and having some smaller clips along the length of my hair really adds a bit of charm. “These could be useful,” I say to myself upon putting together an outfit that could do with a pop of colour in an area that none of my necklaces reach and a brooch would be awkward to stick, but a small cluster of hair clips would be a strategic solution to the problem.

How does one ever get rid of anything when presented with these two powerful sides of the argument? It takes a great show of rational thinking to resist the anxious temptations of “This could be useful” and it takes either a lack of conscience or a dedication to go the extra mile to get rid of your rubbish responsibly. Truly a case of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. This is a position much more easily avoided, by making smart purchases instead of any purchases, than it is resolved.

Although the sad part is that a good chunk of these hair clips was purchased deliberately. The intention was there, I believed that these would match my wardrobe and style at the time that I bought them – and they did. Until my style shifted and before that, until I realised that lolita really needed something a bit bigger than just those (or a lot more of them, which takes us back to the personal style issue).

The sensible next thing to do would be to go through what I own, group these into clips that I actually have worn in the last however long, ones that I realistically envision myself wearing because they somehow resemble the ones that I am keeping (e.g. in size), and then those that should be given away. If not at whatever next bring and buy I get to go to, then to a charity shop. Even though that is still making it someone else’s problem.

And then, once that bit of clutter is tackled, I can do the same with my earrings. Because clutter doesn’t understand “reduce” – only “multiply”.