Project Simplify - Hot Spot #1: Closet & Wardrobe

I'm hoping to participate these next few week's with Simple Mom's "Project: Simplify".  This week our hot spot to tackle was our Master Closet and Wardrobe.  As instructed, I took EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM out of the closet and my drawers, wiped them down and vacuumed the floor.  Then it began. The tedious and not very fun task of trying on EVERY. SINGLE. PIECE. of clothing (except the sock and underclothes - who tries those on???).  It took me a night with expected interruptions from the kiddos, but I finally finished and was SO happy with my results!  I even decided to re-arrange my closet a bit too. :)

My Closet Before:

During:

Notice my little helper there on the bottom right?  She decided those shoes were keepers.

And After:

I moved a wicker trunk that used to sit outside my closet and hold piles of clothes on top of it that I had worn throughout the week or decided not to wear - now it sits inside the closet and holds toiletry items that I don't need access to very often.

At 4'11" (and that's stretching it a smidge), I was often frustrated as I would pull down one pair of jeans from the shelf in my closet (up above - they used to sit near that nice basket) and be covered in an avalanche of all the jeans that were sitting on top of it.  Rarely could I reach to put them back and thus, my big pile of items that often occurred on the wicker trunk.  To remedy this, I took two drawers out of my lightweight IKEA dresser and stacked my jeans at a much more accessible height and filled the drawers with other items I don't wear as often and found suitable spots for them.  I can't tell you how nice it was pulling out the exact jeans, and ONLY those jeans, this morning. :)

With all that was purged, extra space opened up that I quickly filled by moving extra pillows and all of our extra bedding into the closet so now we have more space for the children's art supplies and such in the hall closet.  Seriously - genius!

The Result?

I had too many clothes!  After two children and a plethora of body shapes these last 4 1/2 years to go along with that, I had clothes that were too big, clothes that were too small, clothes that were tattered and clothes that were just plain OUT OF STYLE & UGLY!

Many of my old "professional" clothes were dispensed with, I mean how often am I wearing a suit and button down shirts while chasing a preschooler and toddler around?  Um...NEVER.  Hopefully these clothes will be useful to someone as I donated them all today at our church's clothes closet.

I'm so excited about my paired down wardrobe and really hope to keep it organized and clutter free!  Also cleaning it out helped me realize those things I am missing and need to be on the lookout for when a good deal is spotted. Example:  New black flats because my old ones are scuffed beyond repair. :(