Making Space - week 2

Well, here I am at week two of this challenge!  So far, so good!  

Knowing we were having a last blast of heat before the pre-winter chill down, last week I decided it was time to go through my clothes closet.  The thought that I might do some serious purging was foremost in my mind.

I know there are those who advocate for taking everything out of the closet at the same time so that one can see everything, know what's in there, and I guess more easily decide what isn't needed.  The thought of doing a closet sort that way has always felt overwhelming to me.  Nevermind that we'd need the bed for sleeping before I'd likely manage culling through everything.  So I decided to do the sort by categories. And each category on separate days.  Frankly, my closet is already sorted by categories, so at least that part was already done and the culling through each category maybe took an hour or so each.   

So, my suggestion (if you're like me and don't think it would be wise to pull everything out at the same time) is to sort things inside your closet by category first. And, frankly, keep the closet that way.  That part isn't hard, in my opinion.

My ultimate goal with this task was to only have in my closet items I wear.   So with that in mind, I broke the categories down as follows:

1st - tops

2nd - bottoms

3rd - shoes

And, again...  I did each of these categories on separate days - just because that's how it was going to work for me.  And I think that was a very good idea.

Here were my steps:

First, after everything in one category was out of the closet (and on the bed), I removed any items that I could tell at a glance I no longer wanted taking up space in my closet (or home).  These were items I either I knew are uncomfortable, or weren't my color, or for some reason I always passed up for something else.

Second, assuming everything left passed the test of being something I knew I liked to wear, I tried everything on.  If it fit and felt comfortable, it went back into the closet, if it didn't fit I made the decision to either donate it, or box it up for the possibility of losing some weight and wearing it someday in the future.  I was both happy and a bit embarrassed that the vast majority of items fit and went right back into the closet.  The good news is, at least for the duration of our socially distanced existence, I have plenty of clothes to wear.  The bad news is I still have a closet full of clothes...

Anyway, the routine was pretty much the same for the tops and the bottoms.

And then it came time to sort through my shoes.  Now, seriously...  I don't think I really have a shoe problem, but the pile of shoes I came up with to rehome challenges that notion:

For the sake of camaraderie and maybe having something to say to help another declutterer, I thought I'd make some confessions.  There are two pairs of shoes here that are brand new and didn't get worn partly because they aren't comfortable.  And several other shoes I bought because they were kind of cute, but even though I gave them a go, they ended up being uncomfortable to wear too. The others... I got a good run out of them.    

I told myself (yet again), Stop doing this!  Stop buying shoes that I know are going to be uncomfortable!  For me, this is mainly shoes with no arch support, and too narrow of a toe box.  

And then, for the sake of moving towards this being a productive exercise instead of a self-defeating one, I decided to focus on the idea that somewhere out there are some women (probably with younger feet than mine) who will love those new shoes I'm no longer going to torture myself with, or berate myself over.  

Figuring that most of us have thrift stores and such that we know gladly receive our cast offs, I thought it might be interesting, even helpful to others decluttering, to give mention to places I become aware of that may not be widely known about.  In this case, Hubs recently found out about a local organization called Changing Footprints that collects shoes to be distributed to agencies that serve a variety of people in need.  In addition to giving good shoes new homes, they will also accept old, worn shoes and these they ship to Nike who recycles the components of the shoes - to minimize what may end up in a landfill.  Hubs found out about this local-to-us organization at the physical therapy place he went to this summer after his knee surgery.  So keep your eyes and ears open, folks - you never know what you'll notice as you go about your activities.

While today's post isn't a big haul in terms of clothing pieces, it sure feels good to lighten my home of other things from my closet, like hangers, shoes, a couple of purses.  All in all (counting a pair of shoes as one item), a few items of clothing, a couple of purses, and counting the hangers individually...  today's count is:  38 items.  Added to the running total:

Making Space:  53 items gone

If you'd like to join in a low-key decluttering activity that fits with the pace of life, see my post my post explaining this Making Space endeavor.  Check out the bottom of same link for graphics you can feel free to use.