Warning: This post is not intended to show an organized closet. While the author is ever-so-much closer to having an organized closet than she was last week, she is fully aware that she has a very long way to go. Please accept this post for its intended purpose which is to demonstrate how much of a difference purging things like two-year-old candy and too-small-and-out-of-style-anyway-dresses can make.
This is my before picture:
Which, as horrific as it looks, I was fairly proud of . . . because of this:
Floor.
Floor that can be walked on.
Floor that can be walked on without worrying about twisting an ankle.
My incredible excess of clothing has been weighing on me for a long time. When I decided to put some things in my Sister-in-Law’s garage sale this weekend, I realized it was time to stop procrastinating on the ever-so-miserable task of closet purging.
When my best friend came down for the day on Tuesday, I asked her to help me.
Ummmm, I knew that she’s more organized than I am. I knew that she’s more practical than I am. I knew that she would help me and that she’s pretty much the only person I would let see my closet.
I had no idea, however, that she can be so scary.
She took over.
I let her.
I stood wide-eyed and followed orders, and we knocked that purge out in much less time than it would have taken me on my own.
It went a little something like this:
Her: Grab ten things and hand them to me. NO, I don’t want to know if you want to keep that. Just hand me ten things!!!
Me: ok, here.
Her: Now grab ten more and bring them in here to the bed. HURRY UP!!! (She really didn’t say “Hurry up!” but it kind of felt like she did.)
Me: ok
Her: I’m going to make piles of long sleeve casual, short sleeve casual, blah, blah, blah and yadda, yadda, yadda.
Me: ok
Her: Go get 20 more things!!!
Me: ok
And so on and so forth.
Perhaps I’m exaggerating about how scary she really was. She wasn’t trying being scary. It’s just that organized people scare me.
Really, she was very understanding and didn’t even roll her eyes when my answer to every other “Do you actually need this?” question was, “It’s a costume!!!”
By the time she had to leave, I had created a four-foot-tall-or-so pile of clothing to put in the garage sale.
And instead of clothes being crammed onto the rod, never to be found, my closet looked more like this:
Big difference.
Other things she did that put me a little further down the path to having an organized closet:
- She turned all clothing right-side-out and made it face to the left when hung on the hanger. Totally makes sense. Totally something that never occurs to me.
- She hung certain types of clothing (short-sleeved casual tops or capri pants) together and in a specific section of the closet. I’m pretty sure this is normal for normal people.
The next day, yesterday, I decided to purge a little more in there. Now that the clothes were out, areas like this stood out a little more:
Besides, my closet is prime Garage Sale Inventory territory. It’s where I stick “good stuff” that I don’t actually need. In my big-time couponing days, I would store lots of things here that were perfect for giving as little gifts. But lately, I’ve noticed that I hesitate to give some of these things because I’m afraid that the packaging has since changed and it might be obvious that it has been sitting in my closet for . . . ummm . . . years.
I also found and purged random “gift closet” items that are for kids much younger than my kids. There’s always a chance that they’ll go to a three year old’s birthday party, but not enough of a chance to justify taking up space in my closet.
I found things that I never should have bought in the first place, and definitely never should have put in my closet:
And I’m sure my reasoning for keeping these sweat pants was logical at the time:
Trust me. That huge hole is in the worst possible place.
After purging and straightening, it looked like this:
No, it’s not organized, but it’s so much better.
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Check out my Decluttering page to see more of my decluttering projects and read what I’ve learned (from way too much experience) about how to declutter.
I’ll be linking this up over at Orgjunkie.comfor her 52 Weeks of Organizing.
OMG, girl!!!! That closet looks organized to me…. awwww, dang…. guess that means I'm not a 'normal person'… Awesome job!!!
I somehow missed the 3rd pearson part in the beginning. I'm glad I came back again.
And yes you are oh-so-much-closer to becoming a normal person, albeit self-created. Now you can start teaching others how to keep an orderly home.
Looks great! You are doing an amazing job!
You are a rock star. Just sayin.
Great job and I know how overwhelming a closet can be! Looks good!
I usually don’t comment to argue with you, but I’m going to make an exception. THIS IS AN ORGANIZED CLOSET. It may not be perfect, (though it looks pretty good to me) but it’s organized. You can see what you have, and you can find things when you need them. We all get seduced by shelter mags, and blogs and TV shows, to think that organized has to look a certain way. Julie Morgenstern is great about this, she makes a point that organized home doesn’t necessarily look like Japanese minimalism, sometimes it looks like random piles where the owner can put their hand on anything they need right away.
So it doesn’t like California closets just left, it does look like the closet of a real together woman, even if she doesn’t feel like one.
You’re one step ahead of me with a clear floor. I have however covered mine in 7 trash of donation clothes. just gotta get the bags out of the closet and into the car and into the donation bin. Only been a year or so.
” Now that the clothes were out, areas like this stood out a little more:” the picture that follows seriously just made me laugh out loud!!!! i should show you some pics i took around MY house last week as i’m switching rooms around. :/ and when i saw your “after” picture, i was shocked to see that there were actually TWO shelves up there! haha!! you did an AWESOME job!!! keep up the good work….you inspire me!!
I just wanted to say that I’m super impressed you let your friend in your bedroom. I have a project that I would LOVE some friend help with…but asking someone would involve letting them in my room. And I just can’t do that! (Yet.)
I am right there with ya on this one. I sold my business in 08, have only gone in that tiny room about a dozen times since and that was only to throw some random officey clutter in there. Its a time capsule and I want it gone. Too ashamed too let anyone in. Not sure 2 people could actually fit. Im telling myself the 7 yrs is up and Now I can just shred all docs……so hard but soooo aggrivating. UGH !!!
Okay- that’s awesome. I think I should do some before pics of my closet before I try this purging… My closet is waaay worse than yours was!
awesome job!!! Now do you have a plan for the clothes that don’t sell at the yardsale? Tip- don’t bring them back in your house or even your garage. Put them in your car and drive them to the nearest donation center. 😉 and the clothes all facing the same way on the hanger thing helps keeps me sane.
WOW! That is inspirational, incredible, amazing and motivating! Thank you for sharing the before and after pics. (Now I just need to find a scary organized friend)
Well done! Focus on the progress you’ve made, not how far you still have to go. Your closet looks great and I bet you wear your clothes more now that you can see them
Just read this one, and boys o boys am I inspired!
I’m going to ” book” my “scary organized ” sister to come help me .
Thank you Dana, your honesty and humour are refreshing, but also your continued journey of life as a Slob coming clean makes me feel I belong in your great ” Club”
Now to text my sister…… lol
But your clothes were in the closet to begin with. Mine are either in trash bags or in a big pile in the floor. Much of my bed is covered in clothes. (Makes sleeping challenging.) And don’t even talk about floor space. There is NONE.
Have I purged? Oh yes. Many times. I keep Goodwill in business.
Part of it is lack of closet space. I have some ideas about how to fix this problem. It’s a matter of time and energy.
So everyone who is messy and disorganized, take heart. There is always someone messier than you are. I’m working on it. I promise.
I have clothes that I would really like to be able to wear so I hold on to them. My friend made a comment that when I finally could wear them I will want new ones. I’m trying to keep that in mind. But haven’t started yet.
Is that friend for hire? I totally need someone that can take charge, especially with all my paper clutter. You did an awesome job and your picks and your story telling is very inspiring.
Hahahaha! I know this is years old, but I’ve been slowly reading through this chronologically, and I’m absolutely in love with it! I’m a natural slob who had to learn to be organized to manage ADD symptoms. At this point, people think I was born as Inherently Organized Superwoman.
One thing about ADD, though, is that when I’m focused, I’m FOCUSED. I go into “project mode” like nobody’s business! If I’m in charge of something, I’ll definitely become that scary friend in no time flat! But I promise, it’s for a good cause!
I just wanted to add…(years later, I know) what helped me with my closet was getting an inexpensive bunch of velvety hangers (cos clothes don’t slide off) all in one colour & replacing all your hangers with them… Game Changer! I’m telling ya, it makes it easier to decide ‘what’s hanger worthy’ (your words) & what’s not plus it looks put together & neater!
Love from the UK!
Just yesterday I went through the items hanging in my closet and purged several things to donate. Today I plan to go through the clothing in my drawers. Thank you for this inspirational post!
We need to stop thinking “organized” is what we see on Pinterest or in magazines. Organized is what works for us to keep our inventory within the container and in the place where we would look for it first. Organized is having routines and systems in place that serve us and make our lives easier rather than forcing us to serve them.
This is amazing. Definitely looks organised to me. Another tip is to put the hangers on the wrong way, eg hooked from the back of the rail and turn them around each time you wear something. Then in 6 months or so you can see which items haven’t been worn and you can purge some more. I’m inspired!
Wow. This makes me want to go purge my clothes right now. My clothes would be so much happier if they had room to breathe, lol. Thanks for the inspiration! (And is your best friend for hire?) 🤗
I love it!!
I laughed as I recognised some of my own clothes storage tendencies….
relieved that others have similar clothes cupboards 🙂
A friend has had to spend way too much time in the hospital the last few years and is overwhelmed. I volunteered to provide hands and feet to put her home back together. She has to do the energy-consuming part, which is to tell me where she wants each thing I pick up: she tells me where it belongs and I put it there, or she says trash bag/donation box.) The trash goes in the trash toter before I leave, and the donate box goes with me since the location is on my way home! We work about two hours at a time maybe once a week because making all those decisions is hard work.
We had a room and a half cleared before her most recent hospital stay and will pick back up where we left off once she is back on her feet and feels up to it again..
I’m listening to your pod casts 3-4 times a week. I’m on your 1-6 podcasts for the 5th time. I’m 70 years old and may never catch up to where you are on this day May 31, 2024. How you describe yourself, it’s as if you are reading my life story, exactly! My husband and I had a new 3 bedroom 2 bathroom with huge basement, laundry room, and the kitchen / family room is massively huge built just 5 years ago. Right now, every room looks as if we’ve been living here for 40 years! Listening to you read my story back to me, today+tonight I am working on my kitchen island and counters. I was so envious of myself for having so much counter space when we moved in. Now I barely have room to sit a cup of coffee down. I went into a sad period because my family lives so far away and my husband’s family lives 2-10 miles away and some of them have never been here, but they seem upset when we don’t go visit them. So why bother cleaning everything so perfectly. I have been so shameful and I shut down, until I heard your pod cast and realize my mess isn’t just me, I’m not the only one. Thanks for doing all you do for people like “us” 😊