Project Simplify Hot Spot#1

When Project Simplify first posted, there seemed to be a long wait before the first hot spot would be announced. But here I am, on the Saturday after the first hot spot was revealed, one day past due date, finally writing about the challenge which I took the "Before" picture on the due date... I guess it explains a lot why I am the the Messy Wife/Messy Mom here!


The first hot spot was our wardrobe and closet or our very own clothing collections. I was surprised by the choice at first, like Tsh anticipated in her post, it was not a common problematic area, not mine at least (or so I thought!) and it was not a high traffic area (so, who is there to appreciate my work ;P ) But I quickly see one thing - I have no excuses for not getting it done: 1. it is my own stuff, not something I need to wait on help or opinion from someone else; 2. it is a relatively small area in the house, more easily done. But still, it took me till Friday to start...


Here is what happened on Friday:


@ 1:30 pm: took "Before" pictures and started picking out clothes that I no longer wanted.

Before

@ 1:40 pm: took out my sweater "collection"

Sweaters

@ 2:00 pm: found more of my clothing in a box...
@ 2:30 pm: 18 months-old woke up to the "in between" scene...

In between scene

Then, I started juggling between finishing the tasks and taking care of my toddler, picking up the school-aged boys, geting them snacks, finishing the dishes, playing with my toddler, etc, etc and meanwhile dealing with my very runny nose... Finally, I had the clothes put away with the give away ones in bags before my husband arrived home.

After - 1st shot
Notice that the mess in the basket is gone and 2 of the coats to the right is gone

@ 8:30 pm: looked for the cable for uploading the pictures... Upon seeing the pictures and the first entry @ Project: Simplify: Master Closet Results I decided to organize a bit more, retook the "After" pictures.

After - 2nd shot
"nice" clothes to the left, long sleeves casual and then short sleeves T-shirts

and then flip the hangers and took another pictures ;)

After - 3rd shot
hangers flipped :)

And start writing this blog post :) I didn't get the writing done the same night because my runny nose wasn't getting any better. So, I decided to go to bed with some Benadryl. It always speed up the course of my cold.


After Thoughts


Before the challenge, I would not have thought that I have so many clothes to give away... We have moved just 3 years ago and on average we moved every 2 years. Every time I gave away some of my clothes and I did not like shopping for clothes. Yet, I bed was covered with unwanted clothing.

Of course, I need to give credit to this challenge's tips and to the book Organized Simplicity. There were clothing that I kept thinking I would wear some day but never did. Like these sweaters

Some of them were given to me and of very good quality but I haven't worn them even on my thinest days. Even if I could lose those baby weight before the coming winter, I would not put them on. They are just not what I like to wear! Besides, they looks like teenages' clothing to me now. I felt too old for them anyways.

Even though we are now in Southern California, I still decide to keep a few sweaters. These to me are more timeless. I am more likely to put these on when we visit colder places again.

I am glad to see the size of them in the basket, comparing to the before picture above.

In the process, I am also glad to find a women's shelter that may accept my items that may not be acceptable by other charity. You see, I cannot sew but I feel bad for throwing away clothing that can be repaired or repurposed. So, I almost always end up keeping them, thinking that I would repair them someday. But now, they are in my Give pile, except for a few long sleeves... because they are all that I've got. I think I need a few happy clothes to replace them and I am confident that I would hang on to them like I used to.

All in all, this is good exercise for me, both for me to warm up to the rest of the challenge and to understand myself better - I am still hanging onto things in an area that I thought I had always been living simple. I still have a lot to learn...