Trimming Down

I cleaned out my clothes closet this weekend. Five years ago, I lived in a home with a closet so large that it had electrical outlets and a heat vent because it was large enough to be considered a room by home inspectors. Then Ron and I moved into a rental home that was built in the 60s. So a large part of my clothing dilemma is that my closet is only 3-1/2 feet wide. Another part of my dilemma is that I have collected a hodge-podge of clothes over the years. As all of you have done at one time or another, I frequently stood in front of that jam-packed closet and flipped through every hanger from left to right and still could not pull together a decent outfit. A closet full of clothes and not a thing to wear! So my time to take this bull by the horns had finally come.

Six months ago, I read an idea on another blog. It said to start at one end of your closet and turn every single hanger backwards on the rod. When you took a piece of clothing out to wear it, then when you re-hang it you turn that hanger in the proper direction.Six months later, you start removing all the hangers that are still turned in the wrong direction. If you have not worn an item in 6 months, then it is unlikely that you will ever wear it again. On May 7, all my hangers got turned backwards. On November 5, Turn-Around Day had arrived.

Here is my closet before I got started last Saturday. The clothes are packed tight. The hangers actually overlap each other.

The key to this exercise is to begin at one side and remove each backwards hanging hanger individually. Look at the item and determine if it can go into the Goodwill box or needs to go into the trash. Those are you only two choices. "I might lose enough weight to wear it again some day" is not an option. Let's face it, girls...if you do lose that much weight, you are probably going to be out shopping for new things anyway. If you have not worn an item in six months it's probably because you didn't really like the item in the first place, you don't really enjoy the color or you would wear it more often, it never matched any other item in your closet, or it does not fit properly so it is not comfortable to wear. You must be relentless as you move through this exercise - donate or toss - that is the only question.

The first few items were hard for me to put on the give-away pile. My first pieces were several pairs of dress slacks. Most had been worn only a few times and still looked brand new. Three pair still had the price tags on them!!! Those three pair are the ones that were a size smaller than I am now. I have no idea how long I have been holding on to them thinking I "might be able to wear them some day." I'm very glad these particular items were among my first decisions. I so wanted to put those three slacks back in the closet, because, after all, I'm on a new diet now and 'I just might be able to wear them soon'. But then I reminded myself that was not one of my options - donate or toss -- the only question. It was difficult laying these slacks on the give away pile. I laid them aside one at a time with very wistful glances, but I did it.

After that major moment, the rest was easy. I ended up with three stacks to donate and tossed only three items.  This is my bed after emptying the closet - there are two stacks up near the pillows and another stack (of nothing of slacks!) at the foot beside the pile of hangers. Just look at all those "free" hangers I now have.

After removing the clothes that were controlling my closet, I re-ordered what was left placing types of clothes and then colors together. This is what I ended up with. I just stood back and admired how beautiful it looks. It was very satisfying to see organization rather than chaos.   And every morning this week, I have quickly and easily chosen outfits for work. My husband commented that I didn't have much left to choose from, that I would be wearing the same clothes to work over and over again. And that was an aha moment...that's what I was doing anyway, even when I had a closet full of clothes. I had always been going back to good old stand-bys day after day. Only now, it was much easier to find those stand-bys with all the clutter out of the way.

Now I know that I will still be out there at Belk and Macy's buying new clothese very soon. Thus, the rod will begin to sag and groan again. So guess what I will be doing next Saturday. You got it, every hanger gets turned around backwards on November 12, 2011; and May 12, 2012, I get to do it all again.