Sunday, January 24, 2016

Confessions of an Organizer - Closet Clean Out - The Process

I showed you what my closet looked like prior to the clean out.
If you missed the first blog post, click on this link to see how all this began!  

In this blog post, I am going to show you what it looked like as I was organizing and talk (well, write) about the process I went through as I was doing the clean out.

Beware - it's not pretty!  
These are scuff marks on the walls in my closet.  
Who knows how they got there, but after 20 years, they just happen. 


In my first blog post, I talked about all the thread and sewing stuff I had.  
Here it is. Where in the world did all the pink thread come from?  


I pulled out all the drawers and drawer units from the closet.
By taking the drawers out of the closet, I could spread out and could clean the 
baseboards behind the units. (I will not show you a picture of the dust....ugh)


Stacks - short sleeve, long sleeve, workout shirts and workout pants.
I divided everything into categories, then went through each category and purged. 
It is much easier to make decisions when you have gathered all of one
category together to see what you really have.


Hangers - everywhere! 

See all the t-shirts in this picture? These are t-shirts that belong to my boys that
I am saving for a future project for them.  
I'm pretty sure they don't read this blog so I don't have to worry 
about ruining their surprise :) 
I had these t-shirts in bags on my closet floor and they were taking up 
valuable closet real estate. 


Did I mention there were a lot of hangers? 


My pile of give-away clothes.  
At least, 100 pieces of clothing that someone else can use!

I looked at each piece and realized many of them look cute
but don't look cute on me - t-shirts that are too short, jeans I no longer 
like the style, shirts in good shape, still cute, but don't fit, clothing I 
keep passing by day after day and never putting on to wear.

 I then went through my hanging clothes to make decisions about each piece. 
I really wanted to make sure if a piece of clothing made the cut 
that I was actually going to wear it and feel good in it.

                                               
 I could have kept this gem for sentimental reasons, but decided that 
season of my life has passed so it is time to let it go. 
 #VelourChristmasPajamas #instyleyearsago


This jacket may not look like much, but I paid a pretty penny for it, a long time ago.   
Divide the cost of the jacket by the number of years owned - the decision is then easy
to get rid of it.  This does not represent who I am or what I wear anymore! 

Remember - people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. 
The same can be said about the "stuff" that comes into your life. 
Don't hold onto anything that was only supposed to be in your life for a reason or a season. 
There are usually very few things you need for a lifetime. 

There you have it.  My process for de-cluttering my closet. 

Was it tiring? Yes

Was it overwhelming? Yes

Was it manageable? Yes

Was it easy? Parts of it

Were the decisions about what to get rid of easy?  Most of them

Was it worth it? YES

In my next Closet Clean Out blog post, I will reveal the finished product so stay tuned! 

The final blog post has been published - here it is:








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