Rule #3 – Wear It Or Toss It

The season premier of my favorite show has inspired me to number my organizing tips in a Leroy Jethro Gibbs fashion.  Please take note of the important Rule #3.

Fall and winter clothing have been in stores since August, the temperatures finally seem to be dropping without the 100-degree spike thrown in the middle of the week and fall decorations and Halloween costumes are available for purchase.  Women are anxiously waiting to bust out the boots, sweaters and anything that says, “I am prepared for the slight chance I could get a little cold today”.  Maybe you store your winter things during the warm months or maybe they just hang in a separate part of your closet.  However you do it though, now is the best time to set the stage to PURGE all those things you aren’t wearing.   It seems that most women own so many clothes they can barely make space to squeeze in the clothes that are freshly laundered and ready to be rehung.  When you have a closet jammed packed with clothes I guarantee you are not wearing a majority of what you own, because you can’t see it!  So why own it?  It is probably a little worn, or needs repair or isn’t the most flattering style or color for you.   There is a reason you aren’t wearing it. 

I don’t remember where I read about this idea but I’ll call it the Hanger Trick.  This is the easiest most time efficient way I’ve seen and I do it myself twice a year.  As a clutter-hater I must warn you that I practice tough love when it comes to organizing.  So if you are faint of heart or easily offended, don’t read on.  No pain no gain, ladies.

First, turn all of your hangers backwards on either all of your clothing or just your cold weather clothing.  You can tackle the warm-weather items in the spring if you want.  The open hooks of the hangers should all be facing you instead of the wall as they rest on the rack. 

Second, when you wear and wash something just rehang it the normal way.  By the end of the season you can see every item you didn’t wear by the way it is still hung backwards.  It’s pretty much magical.

This is a picture of my warm weather shirts today.  After going through this process a few times over the past couple years there are not many items left ignored.  Wear it or toss it!

Next comes the hard part.  When the weather begins to change in your neck of the woods, you MUST follow through with this part of the plan or its pointless.  (If you are turning all hangers backwards and are going to make this an annual thing, mark the date on the calendar and consider using Labor Day weekend as your date.)   Pull out every single item that you didn’t wear all season (or year).  Pile them on your bed.  Be very discriminating as you consider each item and remember:

A)            You CHOSE not to wear it.

B)            Its now already out of your closet so you are halfway to donating the item!  Don’t lose your nerve now.

If you need further convincing on some items ask yourself these questions:

A)            "Do I need it?"  I know this is a matter of perspective considering we live in the gluttonous country of America.  Most of us are considered filthy rich on the world average.  But if you have three black sweaters can you convince yourself to part with one you didn’t choose to wear all season?

B)            "Can I live without it?"  Reread (A).

C)            "When did I last wear it?"  I know special occasion and formal items are a little different here.   But if there is a reason you go shopping every time you have a special event to attend, WHY are you not wearing what you already own?  As they say, “take a picture. It lasts longer”.

D)            "Is it damaged?"  If so, why hasn’t it been repaired?  Is it not important enough to mess with?  Has something else replaced it?  And…..

E)            "Is it a duplicate or substitute?"  For instance, I am well aware of a woman’s desire (“need”) to own at least six pairs of black dress shoes:  flats, platform, open toe, sling back, wedge, pointy toe, rounded toe, etc.  But again, if you haven’t worn it in a year or two, give them a hug and move on. (As a shoe-lover I say this with great empathy!)

F)             "If I didn’t already own it, would I buy it?"  I LOVE this question.  If it weren’t already sitting in your closet, would you spend the money to own it now? 

G)            "Is it out of style?"  I am aware styles come back around.  My dad has a pair of leather flops he has owned since college.  We used to give him a hard time about them but you know what?  That style came back around a few years ago and now my brother wears them.  There are some fads you should not participate in twice though.  Jelly shoes, leather mini-skirts and shoulder pads, just to name a few examples. 

Maybe after all of this you still need to have a little fashion show for an honest BFF or significant other so they can help you let go of some things.  My patient husband is a great help through this part of the process (he probably considers this skill of his more of a curse than a blessing though).  But the longer I do this the easier it is to let go of things on my own and the less he “gets” to help. 

Before I set you loose to attack your closet and rehang your hangers, please let me put one toe on my soapbox.  My dislike of clutter has been significantly enhanced as our family tries to be intentional with our choices and focus on others. With our almost-4 year old son we call these “loving choices”.  The sight of things we haven’t been using and stockpile to just “have” has gone from just an annoyance to a matter of the heart.  Show some love.  Give it away. 

Rule #17 - Always defend yourself against the attack of the papers!

A few years ago, a friend and I started an organizing business we named 2NeatChicks.  She has since moved to Oklahoma and I went from no kids to two kids.  Needless to say, the organizing gig has been temporarily sidelined.   While I haven’t had the time to set up a Facebook page for our business much less maintain it with regular organizing tips, my need to keep an organized home is still ever present.  If anything, organizing is more necessary than ever.   While writing an organization themed blog may not be a regular occurrence for me right now, I would still like to share some ideas for organizing your kids’ schoolwork.  Whether this is a project you want to do now that the school year is over or take care of it at the end of the summer in preparation for the start of a new school year, hopefully you’ll leave this blog with a plan that helps you feel less overwhelmed.

Gabriel’s last day of preschool was this past Thursday.  His teachers sent home a wonderful gift – a scrapbook.  He wasn’t coming home with papers most days during the school year so the three ring binder chronicled the entire year with pictures he had painted or colored and photos of he and his classmates (as Gabriel says, “my school friends”).  The back is a very sweet reminder of his year in the Merry Monkey’s two year old class. 

 

However it isn’t realistic to assume every class my boys attend will handle their extraordinary artwork this way.  So how do you reign in and master the mess before the avalanche of papers has you buying ANOTHER storage tub before they even begin kindergarten? 

First let me offer you an “Aha!” moment.  Imagine your mother comes to your house and begins unloading every box and tub of artwork, writing, school project, etc that you did over the period of about 18 years.   Are you going to take the time to go through all of your old papers?  That is probably laughable to most mothers – extra time?  Ha!  What is THAT?  Visualize the amount of papers you have already saved for your child(ren) and multiply it through their senior year.  Overwhelming, yes.  Fire hazard, probably.  Just remember you are not doing your children any favors by keeping everything. 

Secondly, consider the large amount of paperwork you are keeping for your little prodigy.  Does that huge pile motivate you to take on a scrapbooking project?  Or does it overwhelm you?   By keeping the items to a manageable amount you are more likely to complete that memory book for your child.  And they are in turn more likely to look through a book with samples of their work than they are to dig through a box that may have become home to a mouse sometime in the last decade.

Here are some solutions you may consider using to protect your space and your sanity:

• Storage ideas:
• 14x14x3 plastic storage boxes - limit one per child per year.
• like this: http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/snaptop-scrapbook-case-763755
• Art folders - the example in the link below is a 10-pocket portfolio.  Use one pocket per year.
• like this:  http://www.cptoy.com/cgi-bin/pf.sh/2.0/product.htm?pf_id=EVG-50L
• Consider asking your older children for input on what items are significant to them.
• Take a picture of the project and toss the showboard.  Or take a picture with the child holding the project and use that in the memory book.
• Put the child's initials and the date on the back of the picture.  Pregnancy brain seems to almost always be replaced by Mommy brain.  I can't guarantee I'll remember if a Thanksgiving turkey hand print was Gabriel's or David's in ten years.
• Keep the most unique, special and distinctive items.  If the paper doesn't show any skill (for example, they glued things to a page or it is one of many finger paintings that year) then toss it.  Store items showing an improvement in their coloring or drawing, their letters and writing, etc.  Also, don't feel that you need to save every paper that has your child's precious hand print.  If your choice of storage becomes full before the school year is over, then you need to rethink some items.
• If not on the fridge, a display board is great for showcasing anything your child is excited about whether or not you end up keeping it as a memento later.  As new items enter your home and the display space is full, then take other pictures down and determine if they should stored or tossed.  

There is a common denominator for every organization project I have done for friends and clients.  So my motto is something like this:  “Organization is not about accommodation.  Organization is about elimination”.   In practice, organization doesn’t mean hitting up your local Container Store to buy storage for all the things you have, it’s first about reducing the “stuff” that is filling up your space.

 

Caryn Bell

2NeatChicks.com