clean my closet

to see all my shoes. WOW i have a lot of shoes…there must be some kind of syndrome. Shoes always fit!

And miraculously, everything fits either inside the closet or on the open hooks closer to the front door.

Best find (from going through each item’s pockets before hanging it up again): the credit card I misplaced yesterday. (Didn’t cancel it because I knew it was here somewhere.)

• Finish considering best place to store occasional-use items (see previous entry)
• Organize footwear
• Purge and reorganize top shelf of this closet
• Purge and reorganize top shelf of bedroom closet
• Reorganize linen closet
• Tackle ensuite storage closet

OK, I’m taking a short break, so I thought I’d update this goal. (I’ve been warming up to this task under the get rid of all my clutter goal.) Finally started it today, after a late lunch.

• Took every garment off the rack
• Sorted garments into several categories: heavy winter coats and jackets, lightweight coats and jackets (suitable for spring or fall), and sweaters/fleeces/flannel shirts (most of which also fall into the previous category, but which I often wear indoors as well – e.g., in overly air-conditioned offices and restaurants)
• Removed all the plastic shopping bags that had somehow made their way into the closet, and set them near the door (to be dropped off to the neighbours who adopted my dog last spring: dog owners are always in dire need of stoop-and-scoop bags)

• Remove all garments from the three coat hooks that live behind my apartment door (outside the coat closet) and sort them into the appropriate categories
• Put back into coat closet (with 3 “overflow” garments – those I’m currently using a lot – allowed on the outside-the-closet hooks) only those items that fit and flatter me and that I love; if closet becomes too crowded, pare down as necessary
• Straighten up top shelf (which isn’t in terrible shape)
• Consider whether shoes, recycling bins, out-of-season handbags, and occasional-use items (e.g., dance bag, backpack, duffle bags) are best stored here or elsewhere; move as necessary

As a last bow to Poetry Month, I had an impulse to unearth the only poems I’ve ever had “published.” (In my teens, I wrote reams of the stuff, working out all that adolescent angst. The last time I committed a poem to paper was 1983. I now “write” poetry with one of those fridge-magnet kits, and I haven’t been recording those efforts for posterity.)

I thought the yearbooks might have been stashed in the IKEA wardrobe that’s currently occupying one corner of my dining room. Access to that cupboard, though, was blocked by two Rubbermaid bins and a rocking chair that had gotten buried behind them.

Rather than just shove the bins out of the way, I decided to empty them. So I flipped on my decluttering playlist and set to work.

An hour later, here’s what I’ve painlessly accomplished:

• Emptied Bin 1, which contained miscellany that I’d cleared out of a dresser drawer last summer while organizing my home office and reclaiming my bedroom and just never gotten around to relocating. Put stuff I no longer need or want into a “to donate” box, and moved the remaining batteries, matches, candles, and whatnot to one of the drawers in my makeshift dining-room “sideboard” – three small IKEA dressers lined up in a row.
• Emptied Bin 2, which contained the rest of my summer clothes. Along with some casual favourites, I scored more clothes suitable for the office: four dresses (including the one that I want to have a seamstress copy in multiple fabrics), three pairs of slacks (one pair of which will actually need to be taken in before I can them again, having been roomy even when I was 45 pounds heavier), and four nice tops. The mending pile by my couch acquired two more projects, and the “to donate” box grew by three or four items.
• While hanging up the work clothes item by item – after trying each on to make sure it fits and flatters – I seized the opportunity to gradually whittle away at the mound of stuff that had accumulated in front of the bedroom closet. One by one, as I went back and forth between Bin #2 (still in the dining room, because I’m not supposed to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds lest I herniate the ileostomy) and the closet, I distributed all of these items appropriately: the laundry hamper, the linen closet, the “to donate” pile, a newly created pile of borrowed items and/or books to return to friends (near the apartment’s front door, where I’m somewhat more likely to remember to grab a given item when heading out to visit those friends). Oh yeah, and I found my misplaced tape measure and $14 in the pocket of a pair of sweatpants that I frisked before tossing them into the laundry hamper.

• I was able to move my enormous wicker laundry hamper over there from its former spot near the bedroom’s entrance, where it had been convenient but a bit obtrusive.
• Moving the laundry hamper led to the rediscovery of a beautiful and practical bed tray that I’ve owned since 1980, but that had been stashed away pending resolution of the bed issue. I’ve now restored it to its rightful spot on my new bed. All that’s missing is someone to make me breakfast in bed. :-D
• Also stuck behind the laundry hamper where it couldn’t be seen and enjoyed was a giant silk sunflower in a floor vase. That’s now the only item in the bedroom’s entrance, where its cheery presence can precipitate frequent smiling.
• Moving the laundry hamper freed up a bit of wall space on that side of the room, allowing me to bring in a small plastic storage unit (one of those wheeled thingies with two deepish drawers and two shallow drawers) that had been languishing in the dining room since being emptied last summer. It’ll serve nicely to hold the office supplies and related paraphernalia that have hitherto been scattered on or near my corner computer stand, which itself doesn’t have much in the way of storage space. Eventually I’ll replace the plastic storage unit with something more attractive, but for now it’ll do just fine.
• Brought that rocking chair – a beloved antique that I haven’t treated with much respect in the past few years – in from the dining room and placed it in front of the closet. The throw pillow propped on this chair bears a message that I’m sure will be good for me to contemplate upon waking each morning and before going to bed each night: “In the end what matters is / How well did you live / How well did you love / How well did you learn to let go” (apparently the pillow’s manufacturers – or the quote’s originator, who isn’t attributed – decided to “let go” of punctuation, perhaps in a gesture of poetic licence and perhaps because that passage would be devilishly tricky to punctuate properly).
• Finally, I had a brainstorm for improving the placement of the bed by repurposing a small bookcase to form a makeshift headboard. The shelves face away from the bed, into my little rocking-chair nook; the top surface replaces my former temporary nightstand (a wooden TV tray that has insufficient room for the stuff I like to keep handy); and the back faces the head of the bed. I’ve draped a colourful sarong over the back to cover up the less-than-lovely particleboard. I won’t be able to sit up and lean against it – e.g., to read or write or eat that mythical breakfast in bed – but I’d long ago gotten out of that habit, since I haven’t had a genuine headboard since dinosaurs roamed the earth. The other advantage to the new arrangement is that my head and shoulders will no longer be right under the window, a position that has proven to be a bit drafty in the weeks since the bed was delivered. I’ll also now be able to lie on the bed and gaze at the sky and the oak trees. What’s more, there’s room at what has become the foot of the bed for my grandmother’s cedar chest, currently taking up space in the living room by pretending (not very successfully) to be an end table. A friend will be here tomorrow afternoon, and together I think she and I can move the cedar chest into that spot without strain if we use the old “stick towels under it and drag it” trick.

If I didn’t have a doctor’s appointment shortly, I’d probably continue. I’m itching to finish cleaning out the bedroom closet as described in my previous entry and/or to make some headway in some other spot. (The kitchen counters are crying to be cleared off, and I’m also keen to start organizing the drawers and surfaces of the dining-room “sideboard.”)

Perhaps it’s just as well to take a bit of a break, though. Otherwise people are liable to start asking, “Who are you and what have you done with our friend Tink?”

Think I’ll treat myself to dinner while I’m out, to celebrate taking a number of significant decluttering steps.

... and started 2 loads of laundry – and set the first batch of dishes soaking.

It’s 6 a.m. on a Sunday. Wondering if I got abducted by aliens and had a motivation implant. :-D

Decided that before taking a nap, I wanted to make sure I knew what I’d be wearing tonight.

Somehow trying to pick an outfit -caused-inspired me to empty Bin 1 of the summer clothes.

Now, not everything’s put away properly: the dining room now sports a pile of lightweight cardigans that I need to sort through.

But I have hung up everything else that needed hanging, and folded and put away the various jersey tops that were in there.

And I’ve chosen a nice ensemble, quite suitable for dining with an old friend who’s treating me to a meal at one of my favourite special-occasion bistros.

Gonna curl my hair now, and then call my cab.

In just shy of an hour, I’ve dealt with one entire pile – all the dresses, blouses/shirts, and suits.

• Divided closet into a casual side and a can-be-worn-to-work side. Blouses and shirts are hung on four of those multi-hanger space-saver gizmos: one each for short sleeves and long sleeves on each side of closet.

• Seven items are in a to-be-stored pile – awaiting my emptying of the Rubbermaid totes that are currently holding my summer stuff.

• One dress is serving as the start of a to-be-mended pile in the living room, where (in theory) I can mend it while I watch TV.

• A small pile of jackets (outerwear) is all that’s left on the bed. Just need to move those to the hall closet, where they really belong. I’d stuck ‘em in the bedroom closet back when I was still sleeping on the couch, because at that time it was easier to keep my business clothes in the hall closet – which, in this tiny apartment – is between bathroom and living/dining area – and get dressed from there every morning. Now that I’ve got an actual bedroom again, I can just keep clothes in that closet and outerwear in the hall closet.

• So far, nothing for the donate pile.

Next steps (none of which will be done today, I suspect, ‘cause I need a nap before going out for dinner with a friend this evening):

• Empty the summer bins and go through the same process with those clothes. I’ll bet there are a few items in there that can go to charity. The rest are mainly casual stuff, because office air-conditioning means that my office stuff gets all-season wear.

• Clear off and reorganize the closet’s top shelf, which currently serves as storage for a bunch of unfinished knitting projects and assorted other craft-y stuff.

...and piled it all on my nice new bed.

The only things that are going back in there are things I can wear right now (at current weight). I’ll donate whatever no longer works, and store the off-season stuff.

And I’ll be sleeping on the couch again unless I take care of this today. Now that’s motivation.

Have tuned computer to accuradio.com’s “Motel California” ‘70s station – which almost makes me feel 18 again. Off to try stuff on. Will report back when I’m done or when I need a break, whichever comes first.

I have a walk in closet and stuff was piled OVER MY HEAD (I’m 5’8”) all packed in there. I cleaned for about three weeks, and I finally finished it! ^__

get rid of all the things i dont need anymore. either donate them or throw them away but out out out