How Many Rooms Have You Decluttered?

Okay, before you get all upset that you didn’t know February is National Decluttering Month and here it is the end of February and you didn’t get to partake of the celebration, there’s no such thing as National Decluttering Month.

I just wanted to get your attention. Cheap, I know. 

But what if it were? And what if you focused on organizing your closets, cupboards and drawers in the master suite for a start? Would that make you happy if they were organized and they only held what you love to wear? Here’s an experiment I did today and I thought I’d share it with you because it really opened my eyes and made me happy to find yet another way to get rid of what isn’t making me happy!

Use it or lose it!

Remember when it was fashionable to say, “Lose the belt,” meaning for the person to dump the belt because it didn’t look good or was out of fashion? Today I was in my closet and I spied a pair of leather boots I hadn’t worn for at least a year. That’s when that use of the verb to lose struck me. I decided I’d make a new rule, Use it or lose it.

My goal was streamlining my closet. I looked through my wardrobe and found a blouse that had a stain even the dry cleaners couldn’t get out. It was the first item I put on. Then I pulled on a pair of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans that were too tight, (but still zippable) and looked for some kind of sweater I hadn’t worn in a long time to cover the stain on the blouse. Then I put on the pair of boots that started this whole experiment. I chose a scarf I don’t think I’ve ever worn from my collection and wound it around my neck in a less than fashionable way and chose some earrings and a necklace I never wear. I ended up with an outfit that made me realize why I’d chronically passed up each one of these garments and accessories. I felt horrible in the outfit! Use it or lose it!

Gloria’s jeans were driving me nuts.

Terry and I headed to town (he didn’t even notice my “new” outfit) and after walking in the boots for about ten minutes, I remembered why I never wear them. They make my right foot click on the inside, between my big toe and the one next to it. It feels like two little bones are rubbing against each other. It’s some way the boots are shaped that make for the clicking and if I kept them on for very long my foot would get really mad, I remembered from the last time I’d worn them.

By the time we got home from running errands, Gloria’s jeans were driving me nuts. The blouse with the stain also had a label with some kind of metal stitching that was turning the back of my neck all red and itchy, and the sweater’s arms were too short for my liking. The scarf was too puffy and kept getting in the way of my mouth, one of the earrings kept falling off (I don’t have pierced ears, because I let the holes grow back for lack of use) and I truly didn’t like the necklace I was wearing.

Straight from my body to a bag for Goodwill

There’s always a reason why you persistently pass up garments until they become almost invisible to you. What were you thinking? One thing for sure, you remember what you paid for each thing or who gave it to you.

By wearing an entire outfit of stuff I'd been passing up routinely, it took less than an hour to know I needed to take every item straight from my body to a bag for Goodwill.

A good rule is, if you haven’t danced in it, slept in it, cooked in it, cleaned in it, walked in it, talked in it, read in it, typed in it, laughed in it, cried in it in the last year, lose it.

If this article inspired you to declutter your closet, here's another experiment that works: 

http://blog.cluborganized.com/lose-50-pounds-in-one-day-5-decluttering-questions-to-ask-yourself 

Love,

P.S. If you're looking for peace in your home, here's how to achieve it. Read The JOY of Being Disorganized.