This post is going up super late. So did Goal Getter. It's been a weekend. Mr. LL finally had a few days off thanks to Labor Day, so I've been spending some time recharging with him. It's been really nice to hang out together, playing video games, laughing, just being with each other. However, now it's Monday night and I'm doing laundry while trying to get some posts out! Everything has a price.
But, to the post at hand. I took the first step from Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and decluttered my closet. I don't have a lot of purses, belts or other accessories, so I just went through my clothes and shoes.
She has a whole system on how to go through your clothes, but I just did them all at once. Kondo instructs you to take all of your stuff and put it on the floor; well, I have three pets, so I was not about to put clean clothes on the floor. So I piled them on the bed. All of them, except what was in the laundry (but I figure that if it's in the laundry, it's probably something I wear with regularity, so I wasn't too concerned).
The mountain of clothes, plus Bigby. Gah, I've had that purple suit thing since I was 18. Not anymore!
Kondo's advice is to hold each item and ask yourself one question: Does this bring me joy? Some pieces of clothing were easy to answer. That ugly suit thing I've had since I was a teenager, that I got for a funeral, was an easy "no." My favorite maxi dress, easy "yes." There were some gray areas though. I had a few moments that I was like "I wear this top, I like the idea of this top but..." I just had to stop rationalizing why I was holding on to these items and ask "but does it bring me joy?" Every time I found myself rationalizing something, the answer to that question was "no." So, I put it away.
The hardest items for me to get rid of were two pairs of really cute wedges that I wore only once each. While I love how these shoes look, they hurt. I have a scar on my ankle from one pair. I spent money on these shoes and never wore them, but they brought me no joy. Just regret and disappointment and who needs that in there lives.
Here is the result of my purge, three garbage bags full of clothes and shoes that are going to a thrift store.
None of the items I got rid of are in bad condition. When we moved a few months ago, I got rid of those kind of items. These were just items that did not bring me joy or I hadn't worn in over a decade.
I then went through my keepers and put them away just as Kondo recommends...well, the best I could remember. I read this book from the library, so I just have my memory and a few notes to guide me. I do think she is a bit concerned about how much your socks are relaxing. ¬.¬ Just saying.
My closet and drawers are now all organized and full of only what brings me joy. It was very liberating to do this! I've always loved taking things out of a drawer and putting them back, organized and folded neatly. This was different though. I had been carrying around t-shirts for years that I don't want to wear. The material wasn't that soft, worn-in feel that I like in my t-shirts; they were just from my college clubs and I felt bad getting rid of them. But they don't bring me joy. At one time they did, and I thanked them for that time. But I don't want them any more. I kept my Jesters sweater and a Highlander sweatshirt, but the rest of those shirts were given up. My underwear didn't really need a lot of work, because this past New Year's I adopted a new tradition of throwing out all the undies that were past their prime and buying new pairs. I don't use socks that often, living in the south where sandals are a year round shoe style, so I didn't have much to do their either. I did get rid of some nice blouses, though. But the common theme among the majority of them was that they were button ups that just didn't button well across the bust area.
I am looking forward to tackling my books next, and a little apprehensive about that project, too. I'm a BIG reader, and I love my books. I love seeing full bookshelves. But it's time to let go of the clutter in my life.