I like to look at the small closets in my house as a good thing. At the very least, they force me to keep the extra stuff to a minimum. Right?*
The problem is that even though I love to get rid of things, I still have more stuff than closet space. If things are perfectly organized and arranged, there is exactly the right amount of space, but how often does that happen? About twice a year. Do you think anybody would mind if I wear yellow sandals every day? They’re really easy to spot in the heap of shoes on the closet floor. Anyway, I need to get rid of more stuff.
In order to do that, I have to make deep cuts. Do you know what I mean? I’ve already culled through my stuff a couple of times since I added any significant number of items to the stash (read: there’s been more getting rid of things than buying going on). So what’s left to give away? The stuff you can never quite bring yourself to get rid of–the shirt that you love, but that doesn’t fit or the pants that don’t go with anything. The favorite shoes with the ever-increasing hole in the sole. The shirts that have multiple holes in them from way too much wear.
Who wants to get rid of a favorite t-shirt? Not me, that’s for sure. I know I still need to do it though. And while I’m at it, I think I’ll try to gather the clothes that are missing buttons and do something about that.
photo by Zimmergimmer
I have this habit of wearing things in a way that accommodates their missing buttons. The sweater that I’m wearing now, for example, has two missing buttons. They’re both at the bottom of the sweater, so I just don’t button it up all the way anymore, and I pretend it’s a conscious fashion choice. Some shirts are missing buttons near the top, in which case a good undershirt does the trick. I have a few skirts that lost buttons at the waist, so they require belts. Yeah, it’s getting kind of ridiculous how many items of clothing I deal with in that way. Time for some button-sewing-on, folks.
Why the interest in cleaning out closets today? A) Free time, and B) New roommate for the summer starting on Sunday night. (Excited about that.) I like to at least start out any roommate situation with my junk in order and out of the way. It doesn’t always stay that way, but it’s a helpful beginning.
*Just to clarify, I have three closets in my house, and I choose to only use one of them for my clothes. I used to spread out among all of the closets, but that seems unnecessary, and I couldn’t ever find anything. It’s nice to have open closets that aren’t full of junk you never use.
