Latest / Uncluttered and Unfiltered: The Podcast For Women Over 50 / ENCORE: YOUR MIDLIFE CLOSET IF YOU STARTED FROM SCRATCH (PART ONE)
Transcript
- 0:04Welcome to Uncluttered and Unfiltered, the podcast urging
- 0:08you to let it go and don't look back, with nationally acclaimed
- 0:12professional organizer Christine Stone and self-proclaimed Hot
- 0:17Damn Mess radio and TV personality Eden Kendall.
- 0:21Welcome to Unfiltered and Unfiltered with a podcast for
- 0:24women over 50. We recently did an episode
- 0:27called This is My Life Now where Christine Stone and I talked
- 0:31about My Name is Eden. This is Christine and we talked
- 0:33about all of the different things we say now that we are
- 0:36women in midlife, things like, you know, where did I leave my
- 0:39glasses and things like that. So, so now one of the things
- 0:44that we didn't talk about in that episode is temperature.
- 0:46Now that This is my Life now is where you never know if you're
- 0:50going to be freezing or feeling hot right in any situation.
- 0:54So if if you're watching us on, I forgot that I had the whole
- 0:57last episode on video. I was wearing like this blanket
- 1:00over me. I forgot I've been posting the
- 1:01video to YouTube because I told Christine like I'm not going to.
- 1:06We're not going to see our bodies, But then I remember that
- 1:08I have been posting the whole videos on YouTube.
- 1:10So I have a blanket on and you're not even cold at all.
- 1:14Not even. Cold and I'm in short sleeves
- 1:17and I'm not even cold. Isn't that funny how one person
- 1:20could be freezing another? It's just our body temperature.
- 1:22It's just. The way it is, but I'm.
- 1:24But I always bring a sweater into a restaurant because those
- 1:29places are freezing, especially in Florida.
- 1:32When you live in Florida, every place inside is freezing.
- 1:35So I always bring a sweater that I can throw on or a cardigan or
- 1:40something. And you sometimes call that your
- 1:43butt jacket. Because I wrap it around my
- 1:46waist, which covers my butt, which is.
- 1:48Another bonus not for you, you have a lovely butt, but I'm just
- 1:51saying if you if you do feel the need sometimes to want to cover
- 1:54your butt. So if you're finding us for the
- 1:56first time, you know the the algorithm and Google search
- 1:59engines are so strange that you just never know when someone's
- 2:02finding us for the first time. If you're finding us on YouTube
- 2:04for the first time, now you know why I have this on my legs.
- 2:08It's just so cold. Also, this is an incredibly
- 2:10short. I'll give a little leg here.
- 2:13This is an incredibly short little dress I have on SO
- 2:15wearing this. I'm impressed.
- 2:17Thank you. Good her.
- 2:19Showing some leg showing some leg today.
- 2:22Okay, so if you're just finding us, we are a podcast of and for
- 2:28women over 50. I'm in my late 50s, Chris is in
- 2:31her early 60s now. We started this a few years ago
- 2:34and we are very, very different. You're a professional organizer.
- 2:39I'm not. I'm in the media and
- 2:41broadcasting. And so we wanted you to know
- 2:45that not every episode is going to be like this one.
- 2:47And we say that every time we have a an organizing focused
- 2:50episode. Now, we have done many episodes
- 2:54that center around a woman's closet as she gets to new age,
- 2:58but we're approaching this one a little bit differently.
- 3:00And let me explain. We want you to go into a
- 3:03different mindset. Not the I'm going to stand in my
- 3:06closet and I'm going to get rid of things that don't suit me,
- 3:09although we're going to cover that.
- 3:10But I want you to picture not that your house burned down to
- 3:14the ground, but because that's too sad.
- 3:17How about either you won the lottery and you're getting rid
- 3:19of every single thing. You.
- 3:20I like that better. Yeah, or you're in the witness
- 3:23protection program and you have 24 hours to get out and you
- 3:27can't take anything with you because even an article of
- 3:29clothing will give you away. And you get to start completely
- 3:32fresh. Crime junkie that I am, I.
- 3:34Know I thought you would, or you know, something like that, but
- 3:37whatever the case may be, you don't have a stitch of clothes.
- 3:41You're in a bathrobe and you own nothing.
- 3:44You're starting from scratch. You are building your closet.
- 3:49There is not a single thing tying you to what you were as
- 3:57far as your wardrobe is concerned.
- 3:59And I see this all the time in my job with women who are over
- 4:0550. They just want to start from
- 4:07scratch. They don't like anything they
- 4:10own. They don't know why they've kept
- 4:13these things for so long when they don't like anything in
- 4:16their closet. And yet they say they want to
- 4:18start from scratch but you still have to do the purge and go
- 4:21through items 1 by 1 and they end up keeping most of them.
- 4:23Is that? Right.
- 4:23No, they really don't. They don't if they're.
- 4:26Most of them, if they're at that point where they just want to
- 4:29start over, a lot of times it's an event happening in your life,
- 4:34whether you're getting a divorce, you're widowed, you're
- 4:37moving, you're downsizing your closet, whatever it is.
- 4:40But to start from scratch usually happens for a woman over
- 4:4550 because maybe she used to work a full time job out of the
- 4:49home and now she works from home or she's retired.
- 4:54So it just depends on what's going on in your life.
- 4:56And if you're starting from scratch, that's the first place
- 5:00to start. Where are you in your life?
- 5:02What are you doing in your life before you start buying a bunch
- 5:05of clothes that will not fit into the lifestyle you have now?
- 5:09So for instance, I'm a grandmother now when I go to see
- 5:13my grandchild and my daughter, I don't pack fancy clothes because
- 5:19I'm sitting on the ground. We're going for walks.
- 5:22So it's more athleisure. And that's a lot of what I wear
- 5:26when I go to see my grandchild. So you have to look at where you
- 5:30are and what you're doing in your life in order to properly
- 5:34rebuy and restock a closet for who you are today.
- 5:40So an example, an event is for me late in life, I went back to
- 5:47TV, you know, not I was on the radio every day I was in TV, got
- 5:51out of it and now I'm back in it.
- 5:53And so for me, I had to say, OK, now what's my life?
- 5:58Because a week before I started or knew I was going to do that,
- 6:02my life is completely different and all I wanted to do is wear
- 6:05athleisure wear or whatever. I solved that by doing a
- 6:08clothing rental situation because that's very helpful to
- 6:11me. Very smart idea.
- 6:13Too, But that's not for everybody, right?
- 6:15So that that I want to, I want you to tell me what would you do
- 6:19if somebody said I'm starting from scratch?
- 6:21Because now I want to do it in a way that's going to maintain
- 6:24that organized lifestyle. I want to just go out and say
- 6:27woo Hoo shopping spree. No, and that's the worst thing
- 6:31you can do. It's I always say you need to
- 6:34organize before you organize. Meaning, have a plan before you
- 6:39even start this process #1 if you don't, you'll be left with
- 6:43nothing, literally nothing. Or #2 you won't want to get rid
- 6:47of anything because you don't have a plan on how you're
- 6:50replacing everything. So you have to have a plan
- 6:53before you even start this process.
- 6:56But the, the easiest thing you can do is remove every single
- 7:01thing out of every drawer, out of your closet.
- 7:04Because your drawers count is clothing.
- 7:07Whether you have folded T-shirts in their tank tops, underwear,
- 7:11bras, you know, undergarments, so you have to include that.
- 7:16If you are starting over from scratch.
- 7:18Number one, a lot of the things probably need to go like they
- 7:22have seen their better days, socks with holes in them,
- 7:25undergarments that are all stretched out, bras that don't
- 7:28even fit you properly. So that's included in this heavy
- 7:34duty start over from scratch process.
- 7:38OK. So you've got everything out and
- 7:40now we're going through it and with the mindset that we're
- 7:44starting over, right? Because that's that's the
- 7:47difference here between all of the other times we've kind of
- 7:50talked about that we are starting over.
- 7:52We're not trying to just minimize.
- 7:54We actually want to just purge, purge, purge, purge, purge.
- 7:58And so the first thing I like to tell my clients, they'll say,
- 8:02oh, our wide legs in or out, Our straight leg jeans in or out,
- 8:06Our high waist jeans in or out. Here's my theory.
- 8:09Throw that all out the window. I'm telling you, throw it out
- 8:13the window. And I'm not a stylist and I
- 8:15don't claim to be, but I have over 15 years experience helping
- 8:19women organize their closets. And I'm five to myself
- 8:24personally. I'm a woman over 5060 now.
- 8:27And so I think you need to throw rules, quote UN quote out the
- 8:33window because what looks good on someone else looks terrible
- 8:37on me being a petite person. Number one, I tried the whole
- 8:42high waist thing. I look ridiculous.
- 8:45I look like the 80s mom wearing those high waist jeans.
- 8:48Remember those? Sure, mom jeans.
- 8:50Mom jeans, I don't look like high fashion, you know what I
- 8:55mean? I look like I'm wearing mom
- 8:56jeans from a Serenade Live skit. OK, so really not going by what
- 9:02other people say or other people look good.
- 9:05And I think with social media, that's what's happened.
- 9:07People buy so much stuff off Amazon because it looked good on
- 9:11someone else, and then you get it home and you're like, Oh my
- 9:14gosh, like it looks ridiculous on me.
- 9:18I mean, what was I thinking? So really not having rules, if
- 9:22you like wide leg pants, wide leg jeans, buy them, wear them.
- 9:27I do. I only really like a wide leg
- 9:30Jean. I live in Florida, it's hot.
- 9:33You cannot wear stick straight jeans in the summer in Florida.
- 9:37And I just feel like it elongates my leg and makes me
- 9:41look taller. I like a mid rise, not a high
- 9:45rise. And it's funny because now
- 9:48everything I'm seeing again is mid rise.
- 9:50So that's why I think you should work with your own body and not
- 9:53what's in fashion, in style, because you know someone who's 5
- 9:59foot 11 looks really good. I hate to say this, but almost
- 10:03everything. It's true.
- 10:05It's true. It is absolutely true.
- 10:08They look amazing in everything. So I had a best friend in high
- 10:13school that was 59 and I'm 54 and she was 59 again.
- 10:19So, you know, we would go, I'll never forget we were shopping.
- 10:24And that's at that age where you're slouching a little.
- 10:28If you're that tall, you're taller than some of the boys.
- 10:31And, and I remember this sales representative at the store
- 10:34saying, girl, if you have height, you have fortune, right?
- 10:38And and she was trying to tell her you need to stand up versus
- 10:44the position I'm in right now. And you know this lady too, the
- 10:47the host of the show that I'm on 6 three would never slouch,
- 10:52never wore heels proudly. And looked gorgeous looked.
- 10:55Gorgeous and everything she wore.
- 10:57In fact, I had a conversation with a friend today about her
- 10:59because we all rent clothes from the same place and we're like,
- 11:02yeah, this might have looked good on Jana.
- 11:04It doesn't mean it's going to look good on me.
- 11:05When you have height, you do have that opportunity.
- 11:08But listen, don't think twice about it.
- 11:10Just find what you do look good in or feel like you look good
- 11:13in, which means you do right and go with it.
- 11:16Just just Chuck out the window the things that aren't going to
- 11:20suit your body type. Right.
- 11:21And when you're over 50, you're not going to wear what a 25 year
- 11:26old influencer is going to wear ever.
- 11:28I mean, and you. Might, but only.
- 11:30Wear a T-shirt or something like that, a long sleeve T-shirt or
- 11:35sweatshirt she's wearing or a zip up hoodie or whatever.
- 11:38So I'm not saying never, but generally it's a different
- 11:43fashion, feel, look, and I'm not saying you can't wear whatever
- 11:47you want to wear, you should wear whatever you feel good in.
- 11:50But generally, it's really hard for women over a certain age to
- 11:55find clothes that they love. And so it is a battle.
- 12:00It's a real battle. And so when I go into a clients
- 12:04closet and we're starting from scratch, it's essential to have
- 12:08a notepad to write down. Okay, I'm getting rid of a wide
- 12:13leg white pair of jeans because they're too tight.
- 12:17So I need to replace those because I like them, but they
- 12:21just don't fit me any anymore and they haven't fit me for a
- 12:24really long time with a new pair of white wide leg jeans.
- 12:29If that's what you want to replace it with.
- 12:32So making sure because if you don't do that, you'll never
- 12:35remember and you'll be like, what did she say?
- 12:38What was I supposed to do? What am I supposed to get?
- 12:41So writing it down, making a list of things you're going to
- 12:46replace. You don't have to do it all one
- 12:47time. You could do it in pieces and
- 12:49sections of what you want to do, but sticking to basics so you
- 12:54can mix and. So what about applying that same
- 13:40principle to say I have a pair of jeans and, and, and I'm this
- 13:44is obviously something that's truly has happened.
- 13:47I have a pair of jeans that I love.
- 13:48I love the way they fit their wide leg.
- 13:51I like that they are tighter in the waist.
- 13:54And then I have a pair of white jeans that are skinnier jeans
- 13:58and I don't like those. So isn't that something I should
- 14:00be writing down? Like I like the way these jeans
- 14:02fit. So maybe you need to ditch the
- 14:03white ones and get white ones that are the style right of the
- 14:07jeans. Just kind of recognizing, Yep,
- 14:10why I like something instead of just the fact that I like it.
- 14:13But what is it about it I like right?
- 14:15And therefore let's just not even attempt this anymore.
- 14:19I have 3 or 4 things that I don't wear ever because they're
- 14:22skinny. Yeah.
- 14:24Well, and to me, the skinny, when you live in Florida, like I
- 14:27said, the only time you're ever going to use those is to wear
- 14:31boots with them in the winter. And we have winter for like 4
- 14:34weeks here, so it's not that long, but that's the only time
- 14:38is where you're going to wear leggings with boots or skinny
- 14:41jeans. And so if you want to keep a
- 14:43couple pair of those or buy a couple pair of those that you'll
- 14:47wear in the winter time. Now if you live up north or you
- 14:51live in a colder climate, it's a whole different story.
- 14:53And that's why I tell people, shop for where you live.
- 14:57Like us people, us ladies in Florida aren't going to be
- 15:01buying a lot of wool sweaters because we will never ever wear
- 15:06them ever. I mean, even even in Florida,
- 15:10you're more leaning towards 100% cotton sweaters and you wear
- 15:15them all year round or you wear them in the winter time.
- 15:19If you want to buy, if you're traveling, going skiing,
- 15:21whatever, that's different because you're buying for an
- 15:23event. But I'm saying keeping your
- 15:26closet year round with the items that you are really going to
- 15:29use. So take into consideration where
- 15:32you live and buy for where you live, not for what some
- 15:37everybody is selling online. And that's to me a big deal
- 15:41because I see a lot of people keep in their primary closet in
- 15:45Florida ski jackets, things that you would never wear here.
- 15:50And it takes up a lot of room in the closet.
- 15:53And a lot of people don't have a lot of room in their closets.
- 15:56So it's creating a closet of what you need when you live in
- 16:02the place you live and the life that you're living right now.
- 16:06OK, so I'm going to give a few suggestions for wardrobe basics.
- 16:11OK. And this is something I live by
- 16:14myself and that is what are basics.
- 16:17So short sleeve T-shirts, long sleeve T-shirts and neutral
- 16:22colors. If you want to pop a color, say
- 16:24it's the holidays or you know something that you need to pop a
- 16:29color for, that's fine. But generally keeping it neutral
- 16:33so you can mix and match everything because your big key
- 16:38to neutrals and to basics is accessorizing because that's
- 16:44where your trendy comes in. When you're over 50, trendy is
- 16:48great, but you don't want to invest a lot of money in it
- 16:51because that's why they call it trendy, because it's popular
- 16:55now, but next year it won't be. And so why invest a lot of money
- 16:59into trendy items when you can just get a great trendy belt?
- 17:05I mean, they even have great trendy belts at Target.
- 17:07You don't have to spend a lot of money on scarves and belts and
- 17:12purses and clutches. You can get accessories that are
- 17:17trendy for a very reasonable amount of money.
- 17:21That includes jewelry, because jewelry is also sometimes
- 17:24considered very trendy. Well, let's talk about what
- 17:28you're wearing right now and then you can get back on because
- 17:30you're, you know, you're exhibiting this, but so most
- 17:34people won't be able to see what you have on those.
- 17:37Some people are watching on YouTube and so they can they can
- 17:39see but like your pants are wide leg, wide leg drawstring.
- 17:44Yeah, you got to love an elastic band.
- 17:46Ladies, the drawstring. Yeah.
- 17:48And you. White T-shirt.
- 17:49Ribbed T-shirt. Right.
- 17:51And this T-shirt I'm going to tell you I have in like 5
- 17:54different colors. Why?
- 17:55When you find something that when you look in the mirror and
- 17:58say, wow, not only do I like cut on my arms, the way it fits,
- 18:03it's not too baggy, it's not too tight, Buy it in more than one
- 18:07color because if you don't, you'll never find it again.
- 18:10When you decide you want, you don't.
- 18:11Have it in five colors. What do you have?
- 18:13White, black, grey moth. No, I have white.
- 18:16I have. Tan.
- 18:18Wait. Let me guess.
- 18:19Stop. I want to guess.
- 18:20No, I want to guess. I want to guess.
- 18:22Go ahead. OK.
- 18:23Because to me, every color means blue.
- 18:25And you know you have it in. I'm thinking you probably have
- 18:29it in white and black. Tan, do you have it in?
- 18:33Tan you do. Do you have it in like a like a
- 18:38khaki or would that be no? Gray getting warm.
- 18:42Gray Gray. Do you have straight up brown?
- 18:46Yes. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding.
- 18:49She won the prize, everyone. Yeah.
- 18:52But that works for you. But yeah, but The thing is about
- 18:54your outfit. She's wearing shoes that have
- 18:57clear straps. Very trendy, cute little shock.
- 19:00Heels. Black heels, but it's your
- 19:02bracelets to me today that is speaking.
- 19:04That's what you're out. That is your a wow factor of
- 19:07your outfit because they're big chunky beaded bracelets.
- 19:11There's a bunch of them. They're very eye-catching, very
- 19:14youthful, very trendy. And so that to me, you're
- 19:18exhibiting exactly what you're talking about, accessorizing to
- 19:20bring in the trendiness. Yes, and one thing I like to do,
- 19:25whether it's on Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram, when I see
- 19:31someone wearing something that I love for me like that, oh boy,
- 19:36that's something I would wear. I always go to their LTK or
- 19:41their Amazon or whatever it is shop my and I look at it and if
- 19:47the price isn't crazy ridiculously expensive like a
- 19:50lot of times it is, I like to buy the outfit, get it home and
- 19:57try it on and if I love it, I keep it and if I don't, I send
- 20:00it back. It helps to have like a style
- 20:03icon that you really love to follow or that has your same
- 20:08taste, you know? For me, I'm very traditional but
- 20:12with A twist of trendy. I always like something on my
- 20:17body that is trendy. So I do have you know.
- 20:22Which animal print is very trendy right now?
- 20:25I have inexpensive short sleeve animal print shirts.
- 20:29I got it for like $25. I mean, really, I don't invest a
- 20:33lot in trendy pieces. And so that I think is the key
- 20:37is if you are going to get something that's really popular
- 20:41in the fall or really popular in the spring, make sure either you
- 20:45get in on sale or you get the look for less because it's just
- 20:50going to be a new different. And you're not an influencer who
- 20:54gets stuff sent to them for free.
- 20:57You're actually purchasing these items for yourself.
- 21:00And that's a big deal. So keep it very neutral.
- 21:04I like to have a crisp white down button down.
- 21:08I have like three of them. You know, right now Ralph Lauren
- 21:12is very popular, very trendy again.
- 21:15And I buy the boys size, which is half the price.
- 21:19So you can buy a boys size large or extra large and it's half the
- 21:25price of an adult woman's small. So if you're looking for
- 21:30something trendy that's really, really expensive, look into
- 21:33ways. Sometimes they have Labor Day
- 21:36sales or fall sales or whatever and get one or two of something
- 21:41because those are timeless. A white button down is timeless.
- 21:46You're going to wear that all the time.
- 21:48All. Right.
- 21:49Do you know how do you do this ever?
- 21:51And if not, it'd be something I think you would enjoy doing and
- 21:55it's a great way to find things. Is reverse look up with with
- 21:58Google image. Always.
- 22:00I do that all the time. So you screenshot.
- 22:02For those who don't know, you'll screenshot the person and what
- 22:05they're wearing and then you can put it into.
- 22:07You go to Google Image and there's a little square there.
- 22:11You might have to watch a tutorial and you put it in there
- 22:13and it'll bring up all of the different versions, things that
- 22:17look similar to that on the Internet.
- 22:19And that's how you can really find sometimes some great
- 22:21knockoffs. Yep, some dupes for things.
- 22:24You see it, it looks like, you know, OK, the only way you're
- 22:27going to buy this is if it's a $200 shirt, but you might be
- 22:30able to find it then. But then you also want to check
- 22:32return policies because sometimes those things when they
- 22:34arrive aren't quite as, as they are advertised.
- 22:39So I just wanted to throw that out.
- 22:40There and I buy a lot of basics at Target, meaning a lot of tank
- 22:46tops, a lot of short sleeve, a lot of just cotton sweaters.
- 22:51I I don't I don't think you need to spend a lot of money on tank
- 22:55tops that you're going to have a sweater over it anyway as long
- 22:58as it fits good. It doesn't need to be $100 for a
- 23:02tank top. So it's keeping like and by the
- 23:05way, Gray, dark brown, I consider some neutral colors.
- 23:10And I think just keeping it to where you can mix and match and
- 23:13then throw in an animal print belt or some really fun tennis
- 23:18shoes. And that's another thing when
- 23:21you're over 50. We're so lucky right now that
- 23:24tennis shoes are such a fashion statement because my feet hurt
- 23:29all the time. I think it's the perfect thing
- 23:34to finish an outfit, whether you're going to the airport or
- 23:37you're going out to lunch with friends or going out at night.
- 23:40There are so many different options for tennis shoes.
- 23:44So now you'll be in fashion, but your feet won't hurt, but you'll
- 23:48look cute. So enjoy this.
- 23:51What's going on right now with the tennis shoes?
- 23:54And like I said, those also, you don't need to spend a lot of
- 23:58money. You can get the look for less or
- 24:00you can get them when they're on sale.
- 24:02But there's so many options for cute tennis shoes right now to
- 24:06wear with jeans and black and you name it.
- 24:09So I say tennis shoes are the way to go right now.
- 24:13OK, actually we are going to pause right there and we're
- 24:16going to do this as a 2 parter. So the the things we always ask
- 24:21at the end of an episode are like, for example, please do
- 24:25like us, give us all the stars, give us a review on whatever
- 24:28platform you're listening on. Tell one friend that would mean
- 24:31the world to us. If you could just tell one
- 24:33friend about our podcast, that would be great.
- 24:36And then if you want to be in on conversations on a regular
- 24:39basis, be sure that you join our Facebook group.
- 24:42It's called ladies only, Uncluttered and unfiltered
- 24:45ladies only. That's the part where you have
- 24:46to actually be, you know, entered into the group will will
- 24:49approve the request. So until we come back for Part 2
- 24:53of this, if you lost everything and you needed to start from
- 24:56scratch with your closet, that that's that's the topic and we
- 25:00will have a second part. Until then, just remember, if
- 25:03you are feeling like your closet is overwhelming and you have
- 25:06nothing to wear, you can let that go.
- 25:09And don't look back.