So somehow my year of less has turned into a year of more. After being unemployed for nearly a year, I have found and started a new job. All within a week. With it I need an work wardrobe, since the atmosphere is business professional.
I went shopping. It had to be done. I donated 2/3 of my old work wardrobe with the 100 pieces of clothing challenge. Additionally, I have lost about 20 pounds since November, so much of what I used to be able to wear is now way too big for me (we are talking dragging the floor too big). The good news is that I kept a few good work pieces from my skinnier days, so I have a base to start from, but I was sorely in need of some more things to tide me over for the short term.
I bought:
1 belt
1 pair of pumps
3 shirts
2 sweaters/cardigans
2 skirts
2 dresses
2 new pairs of hose which will probably get ripped the first time I wear them.
You know what that means, I have to get rid of some things. We are looking to get a new flat-screen TV so we decided to get rid of the old entertainment center, which is only big enough to hold a 27 inch old-school TV. In its place we moved a dresser from another room. We have moved the entertainment center to the garage until we can take it to Goodwill. So, one thing down.
We also decided to pare down our video collection.
Bye to 30 VHS tapes!
So, I think we came out ahead. Meaning with less stuff afterwards.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
100 things...
So, reorganizing closets and painting is fine and good, but this is the Year of Less (YOL), so I need to step it up and actually get rid of some stuff. It can be a bit daunting to do.
I think the key for me is to break decluttering up into smaller, more manageable jobs. I decided that I had one hour to find 100 things to get rid of. I would have three categories, to throw away, to donate to charity, and to reuse in some way. I decided to start with clothing since I have lost some weight and a few things are too big for me now anyway.
I thought, there is no WAY that my husband and I have 100 pieces of clothing to get rid of, but maybe we could get 40 or so from clothing and I could find the other 60 somewhere else in the house. I am not a clotheshorse--I only own 4 pairs of jeans. My drawers are stuffed full or overflowing on any given day, but that is only because I don't have any storage for seasonal stuff, right?
Oh, and I cheated a little bit. Mr. YOL had come up with 18 clothing items the night before that he was ready to get rid of.
They included: 11 men's shirts and 7 pairs of men's pants.
So I was starting at +18 on my total.
Anyway, I started the timer at 60 minutes. I could do this. No problem. I took a deep breath, and started on mine...
I did try clothing on at times to see if I should keep it. If it was unflattering in the least, I got rid of it. I was surprised at how many things I had that either still had the tags or that I had never worn.
After one hour I had:
6 items for the trash, an incredible 65 items to donate to charity, and 15 items to reuse!
86 items total! All clothing! I couldn't believe it. I was so close to the 100 items...could I make it to 100 items on just clothing? I gave myself another 10 minutes. Trying so many of these on was taking quite a bit of time.
After nine minutes, I was so close. I had a minute left and I still needed 6 items....where could I look?.....
AH HA! The bra and sock drawer!! Why didn't I think of this before?
I got rid of two bras and 4 pairs of socks.
And I was at 100 items with 15 seconds to spare. Success! Whew!
I packaged the stuff to be donated in old diaper boxes. Here is a picture of it all:
Not pictured are the 16 items that I am going reuse by cutting them up for rags and the 5 shirts and a pair of underwear in the trash (silky fabrics so no good for rags).
Each box is about 2 cubic feet (1x2x1). So, 10 cubic feet of clutter gone, and now I have room in my drawers for everything.
I didn't think that I was even close to having 100 items of clothing to get rid of, but I sure did. It makes me wonder what else I have way too much of...
I think the key for me is to break decluttering up into smaller, more manageable jobs. I decided that I had one hour to find 100 things to get rid of. I would have three categories, to throw away, to donate to charity, and to reuse in some way. I decided to start with clothing since I have lost some weight and a few things are too big for me now anyway.
I thought, there is no WAY that my husband and I have 100 pieces of clothing to get rid of, but maybe we could get 40 or so from clothing and I could find the other 60 somewhere else in the house. I am not a clotheshorse--I only own 4 pairs of jeans. My drawers are stuffed full or overflowing on any given day, but that is only because I don't have any storage for seasonal stuff, right?
Oh, and I cheated a little bit. Mr. YOL had come up with 18 clothing items the night before that he was ready to get rid of.
They included: 11 men's shirts and 7 pairs of men's pants.
So I was starting at +18 on my total.
Anyway, I started the timer at 60 minutes. I could do this. No problem. I took a deep breath, and started on mine...
I did try clothing on at times to see if I should keep it. If it was unflattering in the least, I got rid of it. I was surprised at how many things I had that either still had the tags or that I had never worn.
After one hour I had:
6 items for the trash, an incredible 65 items to donate to charity, and 15 items to reuse!
86 items total! All clothing! I couldn't believe it. I was so close to the 100 items...could I make it to 100 items on just clothing? I gave myself another 10 minutes. Trying so many of these on was taking quite a bit of time.
After nine minutes, I was so close. I had a minute left and I still needed 6 items....where could I look?.....
AH HA! The bra and sock drawer!! Why didn't I think of this before?
I got rid of two bras and 4 pairs of socks.
And I was at 100 items with 15 seconds to spare. Success! Whew!
I packaged the stuff to be donated in old diaper boxes. Here is a picture of it all:
Not pictured are the 16 items that I am going reuse by cutting them up for rags and the 5 shirts and a pair of underwear in the trash (silky fabrics so no good for rags).
Each box is about 2 cubic feet (1x2x1). So, 10 cubic feet of clutter gone, and now I have room in my drawers for everything.
I didn't think that I was even close to having 100 items of clothing to get rid of, but I sure did. It makes me wonder what else I have way too much of...
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