organizing my closet

my closet has been seriously bugging me as of late. i had way too many clothes stuffed in there that i did not wear any more. it also just seemed more cluttered and therefore claustrophobic because it was way smaller than any other closet i have ever, ever had.

here is the before:

and a close up of the top

i didn’t get a shot of the shoe section before i started cleaning those out but it was pretty much a big jumbled mess down there.

i know you are supposed to start by taking everything out and going through it but i would rather go through a closet full of clothes and sort through things one piece at a time. one of the many blessings about my personality is that i am not a sentimental person so i don’t usually keep things/clothes/items of any sort for a sentimental reason unless it is very very important to me.

you might find it shocking, but the first thing to come out of the depths of my closet where it was essentially bunched into a ball was this…

why yes. that is my wedding dress. you can now find it here. i am selling it on craig’s list. i haven’t had any bites yet but i am hoping that someone who is looking for a wedding on a budget will find it to be exactly what they are looking for! 🙂

anywho. back to the closet decluttering. first thing to get organized was the shoes. i got rid of several pair of old navy dollar flip flops. seriously? why do i keep those around season after season? they are one dollar. why don’t i just wear them for the summer and then chunk them?? i also got three new pair of flats from maurice’s to replace the two pair i had nearly worn the sole out of. this is how it turned out:

ahh. so. so SO much better. what you can’t see (and what i can’t take a decent picture of) are the 5 pairs of boots to the left of that shoe rack that are all standing up straight and at attention thanks to packing paper i pilfered borrowed from work.

i packaged up two garbage bags full of clothes. i really thought i was pretty brutal with the selection process. if i hadn’t worn it in at least a year gone. if it didn’t make me look or feel fabulous – gone. if it didn’t fit – gone. if if made me feel bad to get rid of it because it was  gift from so-n-so or because i bought it on a special vacation i tried it on. if it didn’t give me an immediate “yes” to categories two or three – gone.

i feel about 100 pounds lighter every time i look in my closet now! (too bad i am not actually a few pounds lighter for actually getting rid of things that really don’t fit!)

ahhh. i still have a few things to do i would like to organize them either by color or style. i am thinking style since i can’t really see into the dark depths of the sides and probably won’t wear anything i can’t see immediately when i open the door. that way i can put all my short sleeve and tank top shirts in the back during the winter and then replace them with long sleeves and sweaters in the summers. hmmm. decisions decisions.

as for the bags. i am kind of a bag junkie. it falls in the same category as magazines (seriously, cannot walk by the category section at a grocery store or pharmacy. trouble. need help.). i just cannot pass up a good bag. and like a seventh grader who feels cool having her name embroidered on everything… most of my bags are personalized. i also had several bags that belonged to my mother (namely vera bradley limited edition pink elephant bags…) so really i can’t get rid of those. plus i like them and i use them on a pretty regular basis. but i did make a decision to get rid of anything that did not have my name on it that i don’t use regularly. here is the top of the closet now.

i also organized a few of my magazines (storage and organizing magazines no less!) in my magazine holders.
oh.. so that is what those are for! lol

i think sadie likes it.

wow. sorry about the glaring flash there. lighting was terrible and i am still playing with all the different settings on my camera 🙂

i am linking to beneath my heart and her closet makeover party!