One More Cross Off!

You know, I LOVE crossing items off a to-do list.  I really do.

And yesterday I crossed off another one.

Cleaning out my closet and purging items.

That one was hard.  It really was.  I have a big problem getting rid of clothes.  I look at them and the thought of 'I probably could wear this again' or 'If I have to go to a ..... I will need this.'

But you know....some of these items are becoming so dated, and I really wouldn't wear them if I were going to that place or event or I probably would pull it out, try it on, and think, no...not wearing it because it just doesn't look right.  So why not pitch it into the Goodwill bag.

Megan told me to just get rid of things.  Those jackets that I wore for Ivy Tech events?  They should be gone.  I loved the jacket with big yellow and black flowers and swishes on it. I bought it at Christopher and Banks and wore it with either a white or black top and black pants and my black dressy shoes.  Then Gary showed me a picture that popped up on his FB timeline.  We were at the spring awards dinner at the new Ivy Tech building and I had received the Instructor of the Year award.  In that picture I was wearing....that jacket.  The date was 10 years ago.  Ten.  Yes, ten.  I still have the jacket and it is now 10 years old.  I pulled it out of the closet during this week's purge and I have to admit, I couldn't part with it.  It is still there.  I just couldn't.  But I did part with a solid black jacket and several other dress-up pieces that I haven't worn.

The other thing Megan recommended was re-hanging the items with the hangers backwards.  I have heard that that is a great way to determine whether you have actually worn something between purges.  So I did that too.  This morning I pulled out a new yellow long sleeved shirt from Jimmy Buffet's that I purchased on our Gatlinburg trip and wore it.  One hanger turned around the correct way!  And it has only been two days!

Tuesday was my Clean Out the Closet Day.  The only glitch was that Hilary had fallen down the steps, needed to go to Urgent Care, and the kids were here for most of the morning and into the afternoon. Tessa was going to help me, but that didn't last long.  I did pull all of the hanging up clothes out, put them on the bed, then went through each item and either re-hanged it or pitched it in the bag. Another option was giving some things to Megan.  They were cute to wear with leggings and I know she wears those to school.  I told her if she doesn't like anything to pass it on to Goodwill or to someone else who might want it.

Yesterday I pulled everything out of the bottom of the closet and things off the shelves also.  Some things were pitched in the trash.  A few items made their way into the Goodwill bag.  Some things were just re-organized, re-folded, and returned to proper places.  

All in all, though, the closet looks better and there are empty spaces where clothes did hang.  There is also better organization in the bottom of the closet with the cubes, the swim stuff, the shoes, and the travel bags.

Cleaning out my closet and purging clothes no longer needed has been crossed off the to-do list.  It felt SO good to be able to do that.

Now....I need to do the same with the drawers in my dresser and the chest in the futon room.  It just never ends.