Note: This is a post by Liz Becker-so this personal story does not belong to me, but it’s a good one!
Like a lot of people, I’m guilty of collecting more stuff than I actually need. I’m not a candidate for Hoarding: Buried Alive or anything, but my space can definitely get a little cluttered with stuff I may have needed once, but have no use for now. It’s to the point where what storage space I do have is steadily reaching capacity and, like George Carlin used to joke, I’m going to have to get a bigger house for my stuff… Or start getting rid of things.
Making the Decision
Deciding to get rid of stuff is easy; deciding what to get rid of is another thing entirely. The first thing I needed to do is sort through all of my stuff; but since I have three large closets, it was a lot easier said than done.
The Hall Closet
I decided to start with the large hall closet, where I store all of my holiday decorations, linens, and clothing that is either out of season, or no longer fits. The closet was actually fairly easy. Since I no longer host big holiday gatherings at my place, I could easily donate a lot of the decorations to charity, or give them to family members. I had managed to get down to just the Christmas tree, a wreath, a couple strings of lights, and several ornaments that had sentimental value.
The linens were also easy-I managed to get rid of the bulk of my table cloths and napkins-giving them new homes with my kids, as well as any sheets or towels that were faded, frayed, or otherwise worn.
The clothing was a little more difficult, mainly because there were things that I keep convincing myself that I would wear again, if only I could lose that last fifteen pounds. Once I was willing to accept that they were doing me no good gathering dust, I was able to bag them up and send them to Goodwill.
The hall closet finished, I decided to tackle the next monster: the closet in the spare bedroom.
The Spare Bedroom
The spare bedroom was a little more problematic because that was where I stored all of my fashion accessories, like my belts, scarves, shoes, and designer handbags. My friend told me that if I had any Gucci Replica bags she would take them in a heart beat, I’ve heard that the high-quality replicas are great quality which is why my friend asked me if I had any. These were all items that I’d spent a lot of money on, and which were still in great condition, but I just didn’t use them often.
Still, each item had been selected with care, or gifted to me, and they had a certain degree of sentimental, as well as monetary value. I couldn’t just ship them off to Goodwill-these items needed special care.
I sorted them into three groups:
- Things I loved, and couldn’t get rid of.
- Things I liked, and would like to keep.
- Things I’d bought because they were fashionable, but if I were really honest, I didn’t really like them that much.
Once I finished sorting, I returned the stuff I loved to the closet. I decided to re-gift the things I liked to friends and family members who I thought would appreciate them. I also started looking for places to sell designer handbags and other luxury items. Once these have been sold, you may want to look at how beautiful replica purses are, identifiably similar but with a much less expensive price tag.
The closet in the spare bedroom done, I moved on to the last project: the closet in my bedroom.
The Bedroom Closet
I thought this closet would be the easiest of all, because it held all of the stuff I was currently using. It turns out that I didn’t regularly use nearly as much as I’d thought. For example, I had found several clothing items that I had only worn a few times before hanging them in the back of the closet to be forgotten.
Yet, even though they had been forgotten, I had been reluctant to let them go once I’d remembered them.
Ultimately, I did manage to cull things, and either donate them or send them off to good homes, but it took some time. After all is said and done, I now have a lot more space in my closets, and I even got a little cash from selling some of my handbags.
