Did you know the average New Yorker tosses 46 pounds of clothing and textiles in the trash each year? And, all together, New Yorkers discard 193,000 tons of textiles every year — accounting for 6% of the entire residential waste stream of NYC.

Are you surprised at these figures or shaking your head as I am? As a woman living in the city, I consume much more time and energy to try be in vogue than I would like to admit. I also admit that I truly enjoy the new fashion that brings us a fresh look. But aren’t these numbers crazy?

This weekend, I went through my closet. Like every year, I simply marvel at how I accumulate so many dresses of similar style and the sheer number of shoes that I have. After all, why do we buy all these things?

Over the last few decades, corporate marketers have made great advances in understanding consumers’ purchasing behavior. And in our society of ever-increasing consumerism, our motivation to acquire things has become more and more complicated. According to Lee Eisenberg, author of a book called Shoptimism, we can identify a buyer shopping by his or her heart: Lee calls this consumer “the romantic.” The romantic may buy something because it is trendy or because it has a really cool design or because he or she is feeling blue and needs a pick-me-up. But the romantic consumer’s behavior has steadily become more and more frugal since 2007. With the recession, we have had to become much more mindful about how to spend our money. Even so, I can still spot our high-consumption behavior on the streets of NYC.

One solution to help stop our reactive behavior of buying things in response to an ad or to get instant gratification is really about seeing what you have, sorting out the unnecessary things and then putting them away. You will find it enlightening to go through this process, and you might even laugh at yourself for keeping the things you do for many years. In my case, I didn’t laugh but became rather sentimental in trying to get rid of the Italian suits that I purchased in Rome decades ago. But I literally felt that pounds of heaviness were lifted up after I donated them. Another positive result is that I thought two and even three times before I bought things this weekend.

So, here’s to spring cleaning for a clear mind!

I would love to hear your spring cleaning story. Please share with us!

More information about where and when to recycle your textiles in NYC: http://www.grownyc.org/clothing/recyclinglocations