Into every life a little organization must fall, even a professional organizer’s. There are several areas of my home that are due for a tune up.
What most people don’t recognize is that organizing isn’t something that you do once and are eternally done. Your life and your systems change. Your needs change. You bring more stuff into your world and thus need to take the time to decide what is ready to be removed.
Exploring my clothes closets:
This week, it was my bedroom closet that was in need of some love and attention. Still containing shirts, sweaters, and shoes left over from my college days (ok that’s about 10 years ago for me folks…don’t get too excited,) my closet has been in need of some updating and weeding out for some time. With the assistance of an image consultant (Margaret Batting, www.eleve-style.com), who’s helping me to bring my wardrobe into alignment with my current work and life, yesterday I spent 4 hours weeding through every piece of clothing I own.
As you can see from the photo, I found 5 BAGS of clothing that no longer needed to exist in my world and 1 bag of shoes. That’s a LOT. The common belief is that we use 20% of our clothing 80% of the time, and now my closets are much closer to showing only those items that I have been consistently using and which are both attractive and appropriate to my personal style.
While she had to convince me that my cable-knit sweaters are a bit too “soccer mom/collegiate” for the young, vibrant, sassy entrepreneur I am, mostly I agreed completely with the comments decisions and suggestions Margaret made.
Lessons Learned:
Here’s what I can tell you about cleaning and reorganizing my closet:
- It feels freeing and refreshing: no more nasty old stuff that I really didn’t feel good in anyway or never wore.
- I can see my core items and mix and match them in new ways.
- My clothes are easier to air out and care for since there is more room in my closet.
- I saw that I needed to move some sections around because I used certain categories of items more frequently, but they were in less convenient locations.
- I still have PLENTY of clothes, and although we’re going to pick up a few key pieces that are currently missing from my wardrobe, I NEVER want to have such bursting closets again.
The results:
Even a professional organizer needs to spend time working at home and making sure that what I have is what I use, need, and love.
The folks from the Vietnam Vets Thrift stores will be getting some really great new pieces, and I am getting space to grow and peace of mind.
Are you ready to clear out your closet? Do you know the 20% of your clothes that you love and wear constantly? Embrace those core pieces and allow the rest to go to someone who really could use them.
