closet therapy (step 1: purge)

Antibiotics are kicking in, and I've been able to move around a bit today. My heartfelt thanks to Louis Pasteur et al.

Like many (some? a few? one?) of you, I've been thinking about "less is more." Okay, actually, I have no idea what you've all been thinking about. Volvos? Leeches? (hope not. weird.) Pnut butter brownies? No, wait, how about pnut butter, caramel, pecan, AND dark chocolate fudge brownies? Nowwww we're talking. 

But. I digress. I've been thinking about the ways that less really IS more. And one of those ways pertains to my closet. I have waaaaaaay Too. Much. Stuff. Following Kendi's tips to a working closet, I started by Step 1: Purging mine today. My stuff took up 2/3 of Pocket's and my closet. Sweet guy never complained. (Or noticed, probably, but still. Love him.)

Some pre-purge sample photos for your viewing pleasure (or disgust? meh. tomayto-tomahto). The closet is packed. This doesn't even show it all:

Took me quite a bit of time, and it was actually hard because of some emotional attachment, but when all's said and done, I emptied this many hangers (plus a few more) and purged this many clothes:

For the record, I now have 18 tops, 3 sweaters, 1 pair of shoes, 2 skirts, 3 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of pajamas, 2 athleticwear bottoms, 2 tank tops, and 4 long-sleeved tees FEWER than I had earlier today. Proud of me?

I've also put 9 items on "probation" for one month. Meaning they need to be fixed in some way with the sewing machine, and if I don't get to it in a month's time, then I obviously don't care that much about them and out they go. And I've ALSO also not done anything with my shorts yet. Because it's not summer, and I can't really remember which ones I'll wear and which I won't. I want to be fair to all my threads. So I'll do them in a few months.

And now, my much more functional, scaled-down closet looks like this:

(Yes, the dwarfs picture will stay on my closet door during each purge. [It was colored just for me by my then-3-year-old daughter...it took about 14 hours of her life, and I love it so.] And, I don't know if you can tell, but my closetspace is 2 linear feet LESS than it was earlier. *beaming*)

And, I kiiiind of jumped ahead and did a little Step-3-Organize, but really what's next is Step 2: Assess. After I purge some of my other stuff. Like socks, tights, and unmentionables. But I probably won't post specifics on that. Heh.

Man, this is very therapeutic. I almost don't need to reward myself with pnut butter brownies... Almost.

Happy Saturday. Again.

closet shoe organizer