Out of the Closet

This is not my closet.  This is what my closet wishes it looked like.

I am the first to admit that I have made some mistakes when it comes to giving things away.  Ask Kate.  I was sure she had outgrown a Stella McCartney tennis dress so I gave it to my friend for her younger daughter.  A few weeks later, Kate went looking for it and it was gone.  Apparently it still fit.  Oh well.  We all make mistakes.

I have gotten rid of all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons.  I've given away clothes that were too small, for the moment, or too big, also for the moment.  I've given away clothing that I was sure was completely out of style, only to see it come around again.

You've got the idea.

So, as you can imagine, cleaning out my closet is fraught with issues.  Too keep or to give away, that is the question.  Suffice it to say that I rarely answer that question correctly.

But things were getting a little, shall we say, crowded in my closet so I decided to just bite the bullet and try to wade through some of what's clogging things up in there.

I have to come clean here.  I have a massive closet so if things are cluttered, that's a bad thing.  It should never be cluttered in there because there's plenty of room.  My closet is actually a room on the third floor of my house that I've had built in with drawers, hanging, and shelves.  It's a masterpiece, thanks to California Closets.  (This is what you get to do when you have a third floor that no one lives on and no walk-in closets anywhere else in the house.)

But, back to the project at hand.  Cleaning out.

Boy, do I have a lot of stuff.  And boy, did I approach this project in the wrong way.  Learn from me.

Lesson One:  Do not pull out every sweater and dump them all on the floor.  It's just too overwhelming and they just stay on the floor for days.  And days.  I know this to be true because the sweaters are all still on the floor of my closet.

Lesson Two:  Do not try and tackle the whole closet at one time.  Too much stuff, too many decisions.  Start small, maybe with just the shoes or just the sweaters.  I know this because I started with everything.


Lesson Three:  Do not run from the problem once you have created one.  See lessons one and two above.

Disclaimer:  This is not my closet.  I just wanted to give you an idea of what it would look like if California Closets hadn't worked their magic and built me all kinds of shelves and hanging rods.

I am going to conquer my closet.  I know I can do it.  Tomorrow.