Cleaning the Closet of Life

Yesterday Pumpkin and I went to my mom's house. Yes voluntarily. I didn't want to spend another day trapped in our apartment. You cant imagine how boring it is here. I am so sick of watching TV and surfing the net. Anyway my mom is a packrat. You could dress have the starving children in the world with the amount of clothes she has in that house.
So she said that she is finally ready to clean everything out. Yeah!!!! I have been trying to get her to do this for YEARS! I love to clean so I was all for it. My mom has little fashion sense. Sorry mom, but you know this. We first went through all the clothes piled on her dressers and then piece by piece we attacked all her clothes in her closet. You would not believe some of the stuff she had in there! We can start out with those horrible bulky yarn weight acrylic sweaters in cherry red and green with Christmas bears on them. I those went into the burn pile. There were the 80s tee shirts with puffy paint and fake mirror disks. LOTS of shirt and pant sets. Let me put it this way. Everything was outdated. But she did really well. I even think she got rid of the silver pumps that I have hated since I was 10. By the time we were done not only could she fit all of her clothes in her closet, but my stepdad could fit his clothes in the closet too!!

Ok so here is what you do when you want to clean out your closet.
Clear off your bed and pick up all the dirty clothes and put them in a hamper. You need a clean working area. A full length mirror comes in handy as well as a friend who will tell you whether the shirt you just tried on make you look like a chic London model or a blue whale.
As you take each item of clothing out of your closet there are several things to consider.

1. Does it fit you right now at this very minute? Don't keep those size 5 jeans if you are a size 9. If you are ever a size 5 again you deserve to go shopping for a new pair of pants.

2. Is it in style? Toss out those tie die tees and jeans with holes in them. Unless you really love these things then wear them in the house.

3. Does it make you look like a hooker when you wear it? Can you see more bra then shirt? If you were walking down the strip would you be mistaken for a hooker wearing this?

4. Is it torn, stained or missing buttons? Just toss these unless you are truly going to fix them. If you still haven't fixed them by the following week toss them or take them to a trusted seamstress (a great person to know well).

5. Have you worn the item in the last 2 years? If not, you probably wont wear it again.

6. Are you keeping it because someone gave it to you as a gift but its not your style, or because you have an emotional attachment to it? OkI believe that if you have a perfectly good article of clothing that someone gave you, but you don't like it and you are guilty to give it up that you should take it as quickly as possible to the nearest Goodwill or women's shelter and let someone else love it. Your friend will never know. Now, if you still have your first boyfriends sweater decide honestly whether you really need to keep it or if you can give it away to a thrift store. Don't feel guilty about keeping a few items that are meaningful to you. If you just cant part with it then don't.

7. Do you LOVE it? Do you even like it? Recently I bought a shirt from a certain worldwide retailer of everything, this was at a time when I had just had a baby, nothing fit, and I had to go to a wedding. I was in a huge hurry and I bought the first shirt that fit. After the wedding and I was home I looked at this shirt and realized that I hated it. I have never worn this shirt again even though I have had occations when it would have been nice. My mom was at my house and I told her how much I hated the shirt and she (of course) said she liked it. So I insisted that she take it. She loves it and wears it often. I am happy that it can be worn and loved by someone instead of despised and hidden away in the dark recesses of my closet. I actually have a few shirts like this. They were all bought in a hurry and I never wore any of them again. I plan on getting rid of them as soon as I have money to buy shirts I love to replace them. Only wear what makes you feel good and makes you look good.

Make 5 piles- Keep, throw away, give away, mend, maybe
~The keep pile is for the clothes that fit, look good, and you love them.
~The throw away pile is for the clothes that are torn, stained, or stretched beyond repair. Or for clothes that you wouldn't give your worst enemy (like those acrylic Christmas sweaters).
~The give away pile is for those clothes that are going to a second hand store or a charity.
~The mend pile you are taking right over to your seamstress. You can also add clothes that are too big for you and need to be taken in or clothes that need a little adjusting, a seamstress can turn an ok dress to a wow dress with a few pins and tucks.
~The maybe pile is for those items that you just cant throw away but they just don't belong in the keep pile. Usually if you go through this pile when you are all finished most will go to the give away pile.

After the sorting is finished, clean and vacuum out all the cobwebs and dust. Then put your keep clothes on PLASTIC (no wire please) hangers or fabric hangers. Hang them properly. Those little annoying strings on the insides of your nice shirts and dresses are there for a reason.

Separate summer and winter if your closet is big enough. Put the appropriate season away in plastic vacuum seal garment bags. These are great!

Separate the shirts, skirts, pants, sweaters, evening wear, work clothes and hang each group together. Its much easier to find things this way. Color code if you want to. Keep outfits separate. You will have 3 times the outfits that way.

After everything is put away you are done. Be proud of your work. Load everything up in your car and take it all to goodwill or the seamstress tomorrow. Then take a bath and read a sexy book you deserve it.