Thursday, March 10, 2011

Closet Cleaning (aka: Good-bye 1995!)

Whew...

These past three days have been a whirlwind!

There have been several trips down memory lane as I have gone through my clothes...did I really have clothes that are more than 15 years old? Yep...how cool does that make me?

Here's how I "ran" my clean-out:

Each naptime, before Little Miss and I shared time, I dug into the closet for 15 minutes. I pulled straight from the rack and anything that was either a) older than my marriage (7 years) or b) faded beyond belief was g.o.n.e.

Then, when my 15 minutes were up, I took a section out of the closet at a time and laid them on my bed. In the middle of it. So I couldn't sleep without going through it.

Brilliant.

Then, after the kiddos were dreaming of sugarplums or ice cream, I would not allow myself to take a shower until the bed was cleared off.

The "rule" I used was: If I didn't wear it the last season, it was gone (unless it was a special dress, etc).


How cruel am I?

But...after 3 nights, here it is:

Before: Right Side of the Closet                                         After: Whoa!                              
                
Left Side of the Closet After
(Not too sure where the before is....)

The Grand Total
6 Bags to Donate!
(And 1 to junk!)


I now have about 2/3 the amount of clothing I had before, maybe less. It's a little unsettling...
It's also a little free-ing!

I also realized, through this journey, that I have an unhealthy love affair with turtlenecks. It's kind of like Diane Keaton in "Something's Gotta Give"...I guess they're my thing! ;)

My dear, sweet, "just like me - only cooler" friend and I were talking this afternoon and came up with a thought to get us through this purging:

I would rather have 5 outfits I could really strut my stuff in and look/feel great than 100 that make me feel "meh".

So...how did you do? How many bags is your closet?





Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

3 comments:

Marcie @ DWYH said...

Isn't it amazing how much stuff we have that we don't need or use! I've been de cluttering since January and I have a LONG way to go! Excellent tip about spending 15 minutes. I've been trying to have a system of spending 10 minutes each day in each room as well! It's crazy what all you can get rid of in 10 minutes if you really try. Thanks for linking up and I look forward to more tips from you :)

www.dontwasteyourhomemaking.com

ARK said...

HOly cow you did GOOD!

Matt and Rebecca said...

Thanks for the ideas! i finally cleaned my closet this past weekend. I'm happy to say, I have a closet FLOOR!! (Havn't had one in almost 6 years.) Looking forward to de-cluttering the house.
Thanks!