So today was the day I finally decided to tackle my closet! I did some reading on the Project 333 blog and one thing I found there was a link to this article which had great tips to declutter your closet as well as other rooms around the house. The article suggested taking all of the clothes out of your closet and sort them into piles-I love it, I don't love it but I still want to keep it for some reason, donate and trash. So I pulled all of the clothes out of my closet and found this:
Oh dear! I do not need this much clothes! And this isn't even everything. Winter clothes were packed up in two boxes in the bedroom. Evening wear was in the guest bedroom closet with the costumes. Outwear was in the hall closet. And there were even a couple of things laying around the sewing room for one reason or another. Plus, I had a stash of things I was thinking of letting go already but hadn't had the guts to say goodbye yet.
So I did a really quick first sort. Alas, the biggest pile was the I don't love it but I still want to keep it for some reason pile. Why did I still want to keep all of this stuff? So I pulled that pile back on the bed and sorted by type of garment and went through it again. It was hard to let go of a lot of me-mades but I'm tired of so much clutter in my life. If it's not working for me, it had to go. Sort, sort, sort. Bye, bye, bye.
Here's the final donate pile. I've been feeling lately that my wardrobe needs a bit of a shift. I still love vintage but especially for work, I really need some nice modern pieces so out went lots vintage me-mades that I didn't absolutely love. I tried to be a bit conservative with the donate pile because a) I've only been in Florida two months so I'm not sure how the rest of the year will make me want to shape my wardrobe and b) I'm sure I'm going to wake up one day and really miss my vintage so I kept more than the in the moment purging Stephanie really wanted to keep.
And, seriously, I'd rather have just a few pieces that I love that I wear all the time rather than a mountain of things I'm meh about that get worn once or twice a year because I have so many things.
Three garbage bags full of stuff to go to Goodwill! Eeep! I also threw a few purses in there but shoes, hats, and accessories didn't even get touched!
Then I got to load all of the keep stuff back into the closet. And I had space for everything! My fall/spring weight jackets got upgraded from the hall closet to the actual closet. Florida appropriate winter clothes got hung up and the in case we visit Ohio in the winter clothes were boxed up and stored in the back of the closet.
This rack contains my more modern work appropriate pieces. Plus, check out all of those empty hangers in the back! Yay!
Straight in the back are my more casual vintage dresses. Fancy things are still in the other closet because a lot of them have significant sentimental value and I was tired by this point.
On the other side, my hubby has the top rack so I put all of my vintage blouses, skirts and pants.
Ahhh. My closet feels so much nicer now! It's going to be much easier getting ready for work and other functions because everything is sorted by style rather than type of garment. The closet clean out has also brought some gaps to my attention so I'll be working to fill those up and also replace a few things that are getting sort of sad looking.
