Deck the Halls with Bags of Clothing
December 18th, 2005
Before moving into my current apartment, I gave bags of clothes away to charity as I went through my closets and drawers. I have lived here for almost three years and during that time I have never done a Spring cleaning of my closets. And it is no secret that I like to shop. Not to mention the friends I have accepted clothes from as they went through their own closets, and found perfectly nice things that they simply don’t wear anymore. They ended up in my closet, because who can say “no” to free clothes?
So picture my overstuffed bedroom and office closets, two large overstuffed chest of drawers, and the two large shelves at the top of my closet, all bursting with shirts and skirts and jeans and sweaters and more shirts. It was time to get busy.
Enter Mom. She was here when I got home from work on Friday. We had intentions of possibly doing some baking while she was here, but we both knew the closets were my priority. By the end of the night we had filled four big green garbage bags with clothes (some shirts I don’t even remember buying. I had so much in my closet I didn’t even know what was in there. Plus, how many basic t-shirts does one person NEED?) We separated my clothes into summer stuff and things-I-hope-to-fit-into-one-day-soon (some still have tags. Heh) and put those in my office closet. In my bedroom closet are the clothes I wear now; casual on one side, dressy on the other, lingerie at the back with the least often worn stuff haha. I am missing a pair of grey pin-striped dress pants though. Seriously. How do you lose a pair of pants?? Who’s in my pants?
The next morning after getting home from our chiropractor we tackled the rest of it. We pulled everything down off the shelves and everything out of the drawers and folded and organized. I ended up with a 5th bag of clothes and my mom has a pile of casual shirts to take home. One big drawer is dedicated to “band” T-shirts and my closet shelves are dedicated to bulky sweaters and hoodies. I have a nice lingerie drawer and I got rid of a ton of old bras and socks-without-partners. I now even have on empty drawer!
That feels SO good.
At first the plan was for mom and Bob to take all the bags and drop them at the women’s shelter or something, but I have decided to keep them here for awhile. The hardest part is over, and now I can go through the bags again and pull out the really good stuff that is ready-to-wear and get it to a consignment store (one day?) There are a few really nice sweaters, dresses and blouses that are only going because they are too big. I’ll still end up with 4 bags for charity, but if I can make a few bucks, that would be good for me too!
The process to de-clutter for the new year is underway. Next stop: my Office. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
An empty drawer??? Just ready to fill up??? Heehee.
Man, there is just something about de-cluttering one’s life that one feel so much better. You have inspired me!
you have a whole drawer of band t-shirts!? geez. i only have 5 band t-shirts in all. i’m jealous. when i come to calgary i won’t bring any with me and i’ll just wear all of your’s. it will save room in my suitcases.
oh and by the way, i’m in your pants. i forgot to tell you that i came over a couple of weeks ago while you were out and stole your pants.
yep.
love emmo
Well I hear ya about how good it is to get rid of those clothes. Isn’t it amazing at how much we can pile up for months and even YEARS before we do anything about it?? Apparently there is this Native Women’s Shelter that comes to your house and picks up the items themselves! Not a bad idea. I always feel better after I clean out my room,but that doesn’t stop me from putting more junk where the empty spots USED to be. It never ends!