As I chose my theme for this quarter (closets) I quickly realized my own closet was in need of a good purging. So in honor of that, I'm going to humbly share some things I found in my closet! I'll share something that I came across that surprised me, something else that gave me a good cry. A system that I had to change that wasn't working, and any other insight I gained while tackling my own closet!
What items surprised me? Tucked WAY in the back corner of my closet, were about 10 shirts that belonged to my ex-husband. What? He's been gone for over two years, how on earth are those still in there??! I was SO glad to clear that energy out of there! I was super shocked to see them, and it also gave me a timeline that I have not done much in closet for over two years. No shame here, I was going through a lot, as we often do, but I'm dealing with it now!
Going through the clothing wasn't too hard. I don't shop a lot, It was pretty easy to eliminate what I needed to eliminate there. Same with shoes (and I was a little surprised how many old worn out shoes I had!)
I keep a decent amount of memorabilia in my closet along with my clothes.
The thing that I came across that I knew was time to part with, was this large photo of my son who passed away in 2011 from cancer. I had a handful of large, blown up photos to use at his memorial service. I have parted with most of them, but this was the last one I had left in my closet....tucked away collecting dust. I do not need to keep the large photo in a frame, as I had no intention of displaying it anywhere.
I have the photo in my digital collection, so there just was no point in keeping it there just because. Yes, I shed some tears. That's my beautiful boy Jonah, and anyone who has grieved a loved one knows that no matter what it is, it always feels like a constant "getting rid of" reminders of them....when really, I could have nothing at all, and still would easily think of him every day. I don't need this as a reminder. I also had kept the black dress I wore to his funeral service. I decided it was time to go ahead and let it go. I also have no intention of wearing it again, I'm not even sure why I held onto it for so long!
Now onto the system that wasn't working! I have a bookcase in my closet for shelving. On one shelf, I keep my jewelry.
Yeah, it was a mess, and not working for me!
I don't wear jewelry super often, the thing I do wear the most are earrings!
So, the system I thought would be great, is to put studs on a washcloth.
Seems simple enough! Keeps the studs together and visible, which was GREAT when it came time to pick a pair....where it did NOT work well for me was putting them back. It just felt too tedious. I found once I removed them, I tossed them into a cup on the shelf. But of course, there ended up being too many earrings in the cup. So I knew I had to come up with a better solution. I ended up getting these covered ice trays on Amazon!! I LOVE THEM!
They also work perfect for most of my necklaces!
This has been such a game changer for me to be able to keep the shelf tidy and my earrings easy to spot and use, AND put away!
Lastly, I had a shelf with years and years worth of cards. When I got cards, ones that I didn't want to throw away, I would toss them onto this shelf to get to "later". See those cute little binders?
I just sorted through (of course 80% of the papers and cards were tossed) and the cards I wanted to keep (mostly from my kiddos) I 3 hole punched them and inserted them into the binders!
Thanks for allowing me to share my own closet cleanout!
It was enlightening! A good reminder that maybe I should make a point to do this before it gets so out of hand. But at the same time, life can get so busy and stressful, it's understandable that an area like a closet, where you can just shut the door and not have to look at it all the time, could get out of hand.
What surprised me the most was that despite the fact that my closet doesn't open up into my bedroom or anything like that, my ENTIRE bedroom felt lighter! Just clearing out the closet affected the entire room. I truly believe in energy and that clearing things affects how energy flows, and how spaces feel to our senses! And now when I walk into my closet, it's ridiculously easy to find things, choose my earrings (AND put them away!), and I feel good being able to release some relics of the past that I knew no longer served me in the present.