(Are you happier after you’ve decluttered?)

I am going to tackle my closet today.  I have been through my closet many times getting rid of a few things here and there.  Last time I organized my closet I used the space saver bags that shrink your items down to a smaller mass.  I have about 5 of these bags.  3 with bedding and two with clothes.

This time I am going in with the idea of decluttering, which means give most of my stuff away that I haven’t used.  I still have some clothing from my 20’s, some from my pregnancy 26 years ago that were my favorite shirts during that time and many clothes for when I weighed less.

I am expecting to be very emotional.  I won’t be surprised if I cry.  I do know how great I will feel when I can find my favorite clothes without a lot of searching.  I have warned my husband that he may be sleeping on the couch tonight since the bed may be full.

HERE I GO!!!!                     10:45am             Tuesday Morning

OH MY GOODNESS!!!        10pm                 Tuesday Night (a week later)

That took way longer than I thought it would and I still have a little bit left.
This is how my closet started.

Full Closet    Empty Bed

I asked my husband if he could sleep on the couch the first night (it ended up being two nights.)  Then I first took out all my coats in my closet.  This isn’t including the two coats I have been wearing all winter.  What a pile already.  How many coats do I really need?

Coats on bed

I then proceeded to taking every single thing out of my closet.  All of my clothes and bedding went onto my bed with my coats.  I believe that my closet is small, but I sure took a lot out.

 Full bed      Clothes out

   Totally Empty  (Cool, but now the hard part)

My goal was to only put clothes back that were my size, things I liked, and what had room to go back in to the closet.  I wanted everything to have a space and for nothing to be in space saver shrink bags.

Just looking at the pile on my bed brought helplessness to my soul.  How am I going to tackle it?  Was this a mistake?  I had to get a couple of mantras going to get me through this.  “I can do this!”, “One item at a time.”, “Don’t give up.”  and “I am going to feel so good when I am done”.  I said these over and over to myself for the next week.

This took me longer than maybe other people because I had movies running almost constantly while working on the closet, which I would watch off and on.  Though I needed this distraction to get me though this horror.  I had many hours of staring at my clothes and closet.  I stared at my clothes because they were just over whelming.  Staring at my closet was to help me envision how I was going to organize it.

I really wanted a closet rod so I could hang up my shirts and the couple of dresses I own.  The side walls of the closet were not straight, though my husband and I figured how to get a rod installed.  This brought overwhelming happiness.  For over 6 years I have wanted a rod.     NOW I HAVE ONE.  Hanging up that first shirt was amazing.
Don’t overlook the small things in life.  Enjoy the simple things that bring you happiness and take a moment to appreciate them.

My Procedure:
I made a pile of things I knew I could give away, a pile for maybes, and a pile of clothing I knew I was going to keep.  The maybe pile was really big.

Maybe pile  (it even got a bit bigger)

I went through the maybe pile 4 times getting rid of a few things at a time.  Once you start getting rid of things you get tired and fed up, which sometimes makes it easier to chuck more.  I came across this feeling a few times.
WARNING:  Once you put something in a giveaway box or bag…..  DO NOT LOOK AT IT AGAIN!
My box got overfull so I had to transfer some clothing to a bag.  While doing that I pulled out a shirt and decided to keep it.  I was not proud of myself.  From that moment on I tried not to look when I was packing clothes into bags.  I want to get rid of stuff!

During this time it did not help with my weight.  Since I am an emotional eater the stress of this project had me looking for snacks.  It was one way I could take a break.  I gained about 5 pounds this week.

Little by little the pile got smaller.  By the third night I had the clothes that I still needed to go through piled next to my bed so my hubby could use his side again.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I had days off from work then I was back at work.  (I work 7 days a week).  From Friday – Tuesday I only did a little each day.

My favorite was hanging up the shirts that I was keeping.  I would often go to them and rub my hands from the hanger to the bottom of the shirts.  I couldn’t believe how great it was to hang them up and see EVERY shirt I owned.  I found out that I like them colored coded.  It looked so nice and peaceful compared to the way my shirts use to be.

My hanging shirts.   (Makes me so happy)

I learned long time ago that if I think I will miss something I am giving away to take a picture of it.  At least that way I have a memory of it and a picture takes up a lot less room.  I use to wear this shirt a lot when younger and even my daughter mentioned, “You are going to give that one away?  But you wore that all the time.”  She had a connection to that shirt, but I was over it.  I took this picture for her.
One of my favorite tee shirts from 10 years ago.

I have taken many pictures of my daughters creations that we don’t have room for.  That way we can toss or recycle them.

One more thing before I show you the almost finished project.  As I was hanging up my shirts I hung them up with the hangers backward.  I heard about this system.  After you wear your clothes hang them up the right way.  That way in 6 months to a year you will see which ones you are not using and can down size more.  I will wait a year since I have long sleeve shirts that I mostly wear in the winter.  Summer is on the way and I actually know where my tank tops are now.  Yea!

My goal:  I actually changed my goal some.  I did save some clothes that didn’t fit, but only about 1-2 sizes smaller and they needed to fit in a cubical or else I couldn’t keep it.  I also kept some shirts from a past job that I couldn’t get myself to give up.  I was able to find a small space in the closet for them.  It took a lot of thinking, but I figured it out.
I found out I didn’t want my rod to be stuffed of hanging clothes.  I wanted room to move them, so I had to give more away.  I still have a small stack of shirts I want to keep, but don’t fit in my closet.  I may go through all the shirts that are hanging again and see if I can get rid of more.

My closet now.  (I still need to go through bedding and small piles of clothes.)

This was hard, but I knew I could do it and I do feel great about myself and my closet.
This is what I gave away (plus one more bag that is already in my van)

We don’t need as much as we think we need.  I want to spend time on me and not the stuff I own.  Keep the things that make you happy and give away the rest.
Are you happier after you’ve decluttered?

(Please remember to press like so I know I am being watched.  Help me stay motivated.)