Organizing my closet!

A few months ago I wrote a blog and included in it that I had clothes from when I first moved to LA over 6 and a half years ago.  I really wanted to get organized and knew I needed a second opinion when going through my clothes because I would rationalize keeping things rather than giving them away and then there would be no point in taking the time to go through everything in the first place.

So when Mom was out here this past week I enlisted her help.  We started with my shoes because my favorite pair of wedges broke on Sunday afternoon.  After going through both my closets and going through all the shoes under my bed we threw away 12 pairs of shoes and saved 3 for Good Will.  The best part of it was the new space I had in my closet and how much better my closet already looked!  What made it even better was coming home from Karaoke on Wednesday night and seeing a standing wood and cloth shelving unit that was perfectly clean and almost brand new.  After vacumming it I put that into my closet and took all the shoes and boots that were on the floor in my closet and put them into the separate shelves.  I put all my belts on the top part for easy access (considering they were stuffed into a drawer and I always had to pull clothes out to get to them).

My closets and drawers were next.  I do color-coordinate my closets which makes it easier to find things.  One time at my house back in Wisconsin my Mom had borrowed a sweater of mine.  Now she never asked or told me but when I went into the closet, I noticed a hanger without clothes on it, in the purple section.  I immediately knew what was missing and asked her about it.  Sure enough she said she had borrowed it.  Yes, I am that organized and know my closet that well.  So starting in the white section of my short sleeve shirts, tank tops, and flannels, we went through each shirt one by one until the last black shirt in that closet; keeping certain things that had sentimental value, putting stuff that doesn't fit, is out of date, or stuff I won't wear again and even are unsure of into a pile.  There are things in my closet that still have tags on them!  There are shirts that I've had since I moved to LA that I wear on occasion and certain items that I never wore and dragged all the way from Wisconsin, to my first apartment in LA, and then to my current apartment.  Why?

After going through my sweaters and jackets, getting rid of anything that was a duplicate, I made it through my dresses too.  The closets were getting thinned out and I had tons of hangers without homes.  I kept buying more and more hangers every couple of months when I could have just looked through my clothes to free up some space!  I won't be buying hangers for a long time.  My closets were done and it was onto my drawers.  I had already gone through my t-shirt drawer months ago so at least I had a head start on that.  Now I can open all my drawers without a struggle, without having to push clothes down, or losing something to the under part of my dresser.  My laundry closet was the last thing to go through as I found 4 purses that I know I won't ever use or miss.  In fact, under my bed, I have a clothing bin that I had put clothes into years ago and realized I didn't miss any of them either!

Soon to be gone but not forgotten...the memories will last forever!

Once I was finished with going through everything with Mom's help, I had 4 piles of clothes that were each almost 2 feet high!  I ended up with pairs of jeans, jean shorts, jean skirts, belts, shoes, and over 80 shirts that are going to Good Will.  Not only do I feel more organized and efficient, it's going to be great to donate these clothes to people that will appreciate them like I did!  My last plan of attack is to put up my floral pictures that I finally have frames for along with getting rid of everything along the back wall of my room that just doesn't have a place.  Once I move the 300 old magazines out of my closet, I'll have room for all that other stuff.  It's literally a sigh of relief and weight lifted off my shoulders seeing my neat and tidy closets...and it's also made room for new shoes and shirts.  Time to go shopping ;)