Almost Spring Organizing

Today's forecast indicates we may experience a balmy 66 degrees and it seems that nice weather always puts me in the mood to clean out and freshen up.  Not to mention it's also dusting day at my house, which equals "pick up the junk off horizontal surfaces" day.

As I was straightening my bedroom, I was putting clothes back in the closet and thought - I really need to get serious about paring down this mess.  Especially since my new status as stay-at-home-mom seems to be having an impact on my closet.  I need more casual things now than business attire and yet I still want to make sure I don't get into a frumpy rut.  I've also been having fun establishing a style through Pinterest, (http://pinterest.com/nearlynell/my-style/) since in the past I've been more of a buy-it-because-it's-on-sale sort of shopper.

So I decided as I stood there that I would remove 10 items from my closet that I never wear right then and there.  I'm pretty proud of myself - I found 11 and a pair of boots.

But here's where the hard part comes in.  You see, even while winnowing out these few items I found myself doing the emotional attachment thing.  Things like "Oh, I remember when ________ gave this to me in 1998" or "I really want to make this work . . . "  Even now I'm looking at that black & white shell and green jacket in the photo and thinking, "but those look sort of fun up next to each other like that."  Knowing full well that the jacket really doesn't fit me that well.

Thus, I've decided to take drastic measures.  Ultimately, I should have done this at the beginning of the Fall/Winter season if I really wanted it to work, but I suppose now I have a game plan for summer.  I took that lovely, organized and neatly hung closet of mine and I turned the hangers backward.  Gasp!

I must admit this tactic might not work if you aren't at least a little bit OCD like me, but I really like my hangers to go a certain way - you know?  But here's the deal - the only way those hangers get to turn around and be right again is if I wear the item and hang it back in the closet.  Then at the end of this season (who knows what that really means with this crazy weather), anything that still hasn't been worn gets donated.  It takes the emotion out of the thing for me and makes it logical.  I have to admit I may let a little emotion get in the way this time since I'm working on a limited time frame, but come the end of summer there will be no excuse if I stick to this system!

After that cleansing and freeing task it will be much easier to hit my Pinterest style boards and Color me Confident book again and outfit my closet with things that 1) fit; 2) look good on me; and 3) are items I actually want to wear.  Speaking of, I highly recommend that book if you've never heard of it.  It's a great guide for choosing styles and colors that are right for you.

And now I'm off to retrieve that black and white shirt.  Hey - that still leaves me with 10 items, darn it!!!