Another week in my closet

For the first time since classes started--requiring four days (or more) weekly when I dress for teaching and meetings out of my house--I feel as if everything has fallen into place gracefully.

This week, for instance, I made a two-week list of possible outfits, including accessories and shoes, and posted it inside my closet. Every morning, I am ready to go... although there have been tweaks.

What a relief! Outside of ironing something every day since almost every piece is linen or cotton, this has made my life so much easier.

To be honest, I have managed to make it easier by:

• consistently wearing one of three pairs of shoes: black ballerines, black sandals, brown sandals
• almost consistently wearing one of two pairs of earrings: my amber-silver drops or gold hoops
• carrying the same orange-pink tote/purse daily
• going with simple blouse/tunic/t-shirt + skirt combinations and dressing them up

But this week I didn't feel as if I was simply grabbing something from my closet. The time put in to make a list (for two weeks!) and post it has definitely been worth it. Not only am I sure what I plan to wear is clean and pressed, but I have accessories selected.

Which in turn means that I am making it a point to include all my summer scarves, necklaces, and bracelets as I move toward--you guessed it!--weeding them out. I have already added several necklaces, several pairs of summer shoes, and another summer scarf to the donation bin building for the next big end-of-month donation run. I also made a point to turn my hangers backwards and am keeping track of which pieces of clothing don't get into regular rotation: again, end purpose is donation of those same items.

It is not as if I didn't take these actions before: weeding out closets, donating or discarding items, finding new ways to include less-used items. I always did, but without really connecting these actions or putting them in a bigger picture, especially economically. Now, by doing all this consciously, I have a closet full of clothes and accessories I love and wear, I don't feel guilty about the unused items (they're gone or going!), and I don't impulse shop. Sigh of pleasure....

I really cannot wait to do this soon with my autumn clothes, but the other part of this is the big, open closet in which I keep my in-season clothes, compared with the smaller, cramped out-of-season closet. When I can see my clothes hanging in an organized, not cramped manner, it is so much easier to realize what has to go, what I love, and what I love that needs to be worn--or donated.

And pick out those 20 items that will form the basis of that checkout experiment challenge.