1 Year to an Organized Life - February Week 2

This week you can:

• understand how your attachment to clothes may be emotional
• clean out your closet of all unwanted and unrelated items
• make donations to charity or family and friends (or start planning your yard sale!)

Whenever I want do to a big job like this, my first instinct is to call a friend to come over.  It's not that I want someone to do it for me, but there is something about having a cheerleader reinforcing your decisions that make it so much easier....maybe even more fun.  But I like what Regina says on page 51, that your friend can't make the decision for you, you are trying to build your decision making muscle and you don't want to regret some of these choices later.

As with any other "ridding out" project you want to go in being prepared.  Have trash bags handy, or smaller shopping bags maybe if you are giving some things to family or friends.  OR, this is a great time to start planning your yard sale, so have bins to store these items in until then (see a bonus post about how to do this coming next) but be realistic!!  If you say you're going to have a yard sale, but never do, make sure this stuff goes straight to the donation pile or you will be repeating this process later on.  If you are donating and you want to itemize the donation for you tax returns, have a pad of paper handy to write down what you are donating.  This is not elaborate, here's what I do:

sweaters IIII

pants III

skirts II

shoes IIII

etc, making tick marks after each one as I put it into the bag.  Then use your list to look up the value you would be allowed to claim on your taxes and total it.  Be sure to get a receipt from the place you are donating, to attach to this list for your files.  If you are not concerned with the tax deduction, just start throwing it in the bag!

Work one section of the closet at a time focusing ONLY on that section and not what's left to do!  Regina suggests starting with hanging items first, then shelves, then the floor.  Then don't forget to go through things that you have in the chest of drawers, if you have them.

I had already done this in the summer, so I didn't have much, but I did manage to pull out the pile that you see in the picture.  I know it doesn't seem like much, but I wish I had taken a picture of everything I pulled out then...you would have been shocked!!  And I could have clothed a few people!!  I finally decided to follow Stacy London's advice and dress for who I am now.  I got rid of fat clothes, thin clothes, and clothes I had since high school....I know, HIGH SCHOOL!!!  As I am in the middle of another weight loss, I hope to pull out some more by the time my neighborhood has its annual yard sale (again, check out the next post for working on that now).

I hope you are having fun with this, and I'd love to hear about your progress.  Remember, Regina said she would be here if you have any questions!

Until Next Time.....

Franny