Decluttering Your Closet through Smart Clothing Purchases

Does anyone constantly struggle with the state of their closet like I do? It feels like a never-ending battle to both keep things organized and actually find stuff that I want to wear. In the past 12 months I've removed many more things from my closet - including virtually all clothing items purchased in the 1990s - than I've added. And honestly? I think the sheer number of things I used to have was keeping me from making good clothing choices. I think that closets are another one of those things where "more" doesn't necessarily equal "easier". Even though Cher had an awesome closet, she still had a hell of a time deciding what to wear every day!

Who didn't want Cher Horowitz's closet in the 1990s?

What I've learned about my closet and my clothing in the last year is this: the way to keep your closet under control is to closely monitor what goes into your closet - if you don't buy it, you don't have to worry about it! I've cut down on the things I buy by ensuring that the majority of new items adhere to one major rule: multi-seasonality!

Perfect example: I need a cardigan for summer; I also need a cardigan for winter. Why not choose a cardigan in a color close to neutral, and a style that can be worn alone (summer) or layered (winter)? The short-sleeved cardigan from Anthropologie above can be paired with shorts and a tank-top for a light summer look, or layered under a turtleneck for a warmer winter look. One piece, multiple ways. Now instead of needing 2 pieces, I've found a cute way to get by with just one.

I love love love patterned and embellished skirts, which are a little trickier to get so that they are wearable in both summer and winter. However, I've found that patterns using browns and lighter grays (as opposed to black and darker grays) as their neutral are more versatile for varying seasons. The example above is a brown and yellow skirt: for summer, play up the yellow and throw in a complementary color of accessories (I chose blue). For winter, play up the neutral tone, and work in the pattern's colors in the accessories. Again, I've found this works well with patterns that have lighter neutral tones, as opposed to the heavy black and dark gray that tends to scream "WINTER!" no matter what.

So when you're shopping, buy pieces that can be used in both summer and winter - you'll save space in your closet and keep more money in your pocket! Happy shopping!

Project 17: The Office/Guestroom - Completed!

So a little over two weeks ago, I wrote about how I needed to clean up our guest bedroom to make it livable for our guests and also an office for me (and Matt if he decides to use it that way). I thought it would only take me a few days, but there was a lot more stuff in the room than I thought! So, after a lot of sorting and organizing, as well as some shopping, I've finally created a space that fits all the requirements!

Again, here are some before pictures. And here we go with the afters!

A new book-shelf to hold all of our books, and everything in its place.

The desk and window with new curtains, as well as a glimpse of the guest nightstand.

The new workout corner with the inspirational Rosie the Riveter poster to motivate!

A close up of the desk space, complete with new laptop.

In all, the room transformation cost about $70 - for the bookcase, the curtain rod, and the curtains. Not bad for how different the room looks overall! For the most part, I reused other furniture and organizational pieces that we already had that weren't being used to their full potential, and I'm really pleased with the results! It's so nice to finally have a workspace, I've been sitting at the desk just to sit at it! And you'd better believe I'm writing this from my chair new desk right now.

Gym Bag of DOOM

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I take to the gym lately. My shoulders and upper back have been bothering me, and I think it's because of all of the stuff I carry in my gym bag every day! Seriously, when I got an official gym bag months ago, it had just the basics of gym-going staples. Now, it's expanded to a 20 pound beast that I don't know what to do with!

What's in the bag?

• Running skirt
• Shorts
• 2 t-shirts
• Sports bra
• Extra pair of underwear
• Flip-flops
• Athletic shoes
• Bath towel
• Hand towel
• Brush
• Loofah
• Hair dryer
• Trial size shampoo, conditioner, and body wash
• Combination lock
• Tampon
• Water bottle
• Lotion
• Sun screen
• iPod
• Not pictured: running sunglasses, gym card, extra socks

I mean, looking at the picture, it seems like a lot. But it all fits in the bag, and I can't think of a single thing in there that I don't use on at least 50% of my workouts. I just wish it wasn't so darned HEAVY.

What does the inside of your gym bag look like?

Getting Rid of a DVD Collection

DVDs got me through college - on my good days I popped in Legally Blonde and thought of all the things I could accomplish against the odds; on my bad days I'd pop in Legally Blonde and yell "EFF YOU!" at the TV when Elle got dumped, and then turned Warner down at the end. Let's face it: Elle Woods is responsible for my college degree. And for driving every one of my roommates/housemates crazy in the past 6 years. HA!

Well, now that I've been out of college for almost 2 years, and I've discovered the joy of watching movies on my iPod (or on the TV when Matt sets it up), I decided it was time to get rid of the DVD collection. And let's be honest, not many people want a collection of teen- and 80s-movies into their late (post college) 20s.

Well folks, I have to tell you - the power of eBay and Half.com are wondrous things when it comes to getting rid of DVDs. I started posting them on Half.com in February, and have less than 10 left! I've made $107.01 (minus shipping costs) on 27 DVDs - which is way better than the $1 average they go for at garage sales. I'll be putting that extra money towards some California clothes (YES!) and that extra space towards some more effective storage of other media items. The only downside is that it's kind of time consuming to mail off 27 DVDs individually - not for people who are super busy or out of town a lot!

I used Half.com to sell of text books in college, and I'm happy to report that it's pretty cost-effective to use for selling off unused or unwanted DVDs these days, too! Give it a shot if you've got some extras!

Storing Magazines

I love love LOVE magazines. I love getting them in the mail. I love flipping through the pages and seeing all the glossy photos and the bold headlines. I even enjoy the ads; it's the bright colors, creative photography, and snappy wording that gets me every time. Unfortunately, this means I have a LOT of them, and there is nothing harder than trying to declutter a ridiculously huge stack of magazines.

My magazine storage bin at home.

You're probably wondering - what the heck is that binder in there for? Well, that's my magazine decluttering secret! Every time the bin gets full, I take all of them out and put them "in the binder". Let me show you how it works:

Magazine, binder, three-hole punch, paper, scissors.

Basically, the reason that I usually hold on to a magazine is for an article or two - but what's the point of keeping an entire magazine just for that? If the article is double-sided, I rip the whole page out, hole punch it, and stick it in the binder. If it's a smaller article, only taking up part of a page, I clip it and attach it to a sheet of notebook paper. Then the magazine gets recycled!

Finished product!

It is so much easier to flip through the pages of a notebook looking for an article than shifting through a stack of magazines trying to remember which one it was in. Anyway, I just thought I'd share this little tip with you all - it's helped me keep down the clutter tremendously.

A few random tidbits

A few little notes of interest for today that I thought I'd share! Tonight I made my cauliflower gratin and orange-roasted asparagus from this week's menu.

Some of the asparagus still on the pan.

Before we ate, Matt told me that he doesn't really care for cauliflower. After dinner, he told me I should definitely make that dish again the next time we get a head of cauliflower. There wasn't even any left to take a picture of! And I have to say, the asparagus was very interesting in a good way. Basically, both of these recipes will definitely be made in this house again, and I highly recommend them if you're looking for a good side (or main dish in the case of the gratin).

Also, I got my first delivery of books from PaperBack Swap today! I didn't have to pay anything for these books (not even shipping), and they came right to my door.

Some new books on my bookshelf!

So "Wicked", "The Secret Life of Bees", and "The Glass Castle" are on my reading list in the next month or so. What's on yours?

Project 12 - Entering the Self-Help World

I bought my first self-help book today. I've been on this quest to make my life easier and less stressful, and realized that I'd never taken a look at the methods that others have used in their own endeavors. A quick look through the local Borders' self help section led me to this:

I had never heard of Simple Steps before, but apparently these ladies have been on Oprah, and really, I trust Oprah on these things.

So why did I pick up this book? Honestly, it was the yellow flowers and the pink title. What can I say, I judge books by their covers! However, I bought it for three reasons:

1. The steps really are simple. The first week of the plan, which I plan on completing this week, includes the following 4 items: drinking enough water every day, taking a 20 minute walk every day, cleaning out one closet or drawer per week, and saving an extra $2 per day. Sounds easy enough, right?
2. The plan is really comprehensive, and will touch every part of your life - your home, your mind, your waistline, and your bank account. That's really what I need.
3. No drastic lifestyle changes are required. Everything is eased into one week at a time over 10 weeks, which is totally doable with my busy schedule.

I'll update as I get further into the process these ladies have proposed. It feels nice to finally have a tangible reference book for the kinds of things I'm trying to change about myself and my life, and to know that others have been successful at this exact process. Wish me luck!

PS - if you're interested in this book, find it here on Amazon, or here on Half.com, or here on Borders' website.

The never ending quest to get rid of books...

As a recent college graduate and a current grad student, I have a ridiculous number of books that I do not want. Okay, maybe it's not truly ridiculous, but they don't fit on the shelf, and I've already read them and determined that I don't need them. Previously I've listed lots on half.com and sold them back to the locally-owned bookstore. But what do you do when books don't sell on ebay and the bookstore won't buy them either?

A blog I read frequently, The Simple Dollar, wrote (relatively) recently about a great website that allows users to essentially swap books with each other - much like a library, except you don't have to return the books. And that's great, because I'm always horrible at remembering due dates and getting them back in time. It's called Paperback Swap, and is incredibly user friendly. Basically, you post the books you don't want on the site, someone finds a book of yours that they want, and you ship it to them (at your cost). When they get it, they register the book as received on the site, and you get a credit that you can use to get another book - which you pay nothing for. I'm still a little skeptical about the ordering part, mostly because I just did that yesterday and haven't received the books yet (I know, I know, I get antsy!). But as far as getting rid of unwanted books, I've already shipped off three that I couldn't sell, and it's nice to know that they're going to people who genuinely want them!

Anyway, I highly recommend this service if you've been unsuccessful using other book-selling methods. Plus it's nice and light on the budget. :D

I get by with a little help from my... neighborhood council?

I got a postcard in the mail from my neighborhood council a few weeks ago, which advertised a yearly program that they put on for their residents. "Clean out your clutter", it read, saying that for one day and one day only, you could put basically whatever you wanted on the side of the road and they'd take it away - FOR FREE.

So one night this week, Matt and I cleaned out all of the gigantic boxes that we'd had in our garage storage room because they were too big for the regular weekly recycling, and we were too lazy to go to the dump. We also put in a large (broken) trunk that a friend had left at our place with the pile. Our pile on the curb ended up being pretty huge, but by 8am the next day, it was totally gone. And we didn't have to do anything but put it at the curb! Hooray!

So thanks, Neighborhood Council, for helping me live in a more clutter-free apartment. I highly recommend either participating in a program like this, or suggesting one if your neighborhood council doesn't offer something similar.

Selling Back Books

One of my classes for this quarter had a pretty hefty list of books for a leadership seminar. We're talking 4 books, priced together at around $200 (which included me scouring the bookstore for 2 used copies of books... so yeah). So imagine my surprise when, on the first night of class, my leadership seminar somehow magically transforms into a climate change policy class! Not that I'm complaining, because the topic is definitely more interesting, but this means that half of the $200 worth of books must go back to the school bookstore, and Thomas Friedman's latest book Hot, Flat, and Crowded must be purchased and read immediately (which the school bookstore defnitely DID NOT have).

But hey! Hadn't I been meaning to try selling some books back to Auntie's Bookstore to get in store credit for more books? I had! So today, I came to work armed with 2 plastic bags full of books to trade in for credit, with which I could buy Thomas Friedman's latest. The only negative about the exchange was that Auntie's wouldn't take half of the books I brought in. BUT, here's the awesome part: for the 6 books (1 hardcover, 5 paperbacks) that they DID take, they gave me a whopping $18.00 credit!!! Isn't that fantastic?? I was totally expecting like, 50 cents per book, tops.

So, my $28 hardcover new book required for class, minus the $18 credit, and with 20% taken off because it's a current New York Times bestseller, came to $6.25. YES.

Project 9: The Bathroom Junk Drawer

I guess this title is deceptive, as it's not really a drawer; it's more like a plastic tub that's been accumulating STUFF since I was a teenager. Unfortunately, it's been overflowing for quite some time now, and the things that didn't fit in the tub were starting to appear permanently as clutter in bathroom drawers and on the bathroom counter.


The overflowing drawer/tub.

I didn't even know what the heck was in this thing when I started. And MAN, you should've seen some of the expiration dates on this stuff.


A bird's eye view of everything from the tub spread out on my bed.

The finished product was a much smaller selection of nailpolish and a much emptier tub - which resulted in a cleaner bathroom counter and less-full drawers! And it only took half an hour. :D

Project 4: The Books - Part One

I spent most of my weekend doing laundry and other things that don't necessarily require new organization (and really don't photograph well -- sorry, but no one's getting before and after shots of my mopped floor). This is mostly because Matt and I will be taking a trip for over a week, beginning next Saturday, and need to have things cleaned and in order because we'll be having a house guest immediately upon getting back!

So anyway, we've had three huge tubs of books cluttering up our "guest room" that I've been wanting to sort through and figure out. So, long and short of it was this: I made three piles - the first was an "I'm going to read this in the next year" pile, the second was "I either loved this book or it has super important sentimental value", and the third was for donation/reselling. Pile 2 is on the right, and Pile 3 is on the left (along with a ton of my DVDs that I really haven't watched since college).



And finally, Pile 1 went into the bottom of the nightstands that I put together last week. Since I do most of my reading in bed, I thought it'd be the best place.



Now I just need to figure out a place for Pile 2, and get the books from Pile 3 to Auntie's to resell.

Project 3: The Make-Up Drawer

Pretty heinous, isn't it? There was all kinds of stuff in here, which of course makes it seriously difficult to find anything of course (especially when you're half asleep and running late!). A half hour of sorting and an $8 pack of drawer organizers later, this is what it turned in to:



All the old stuff go thrown out, and everything is sorted into containers based on frequency of use, and items likely to be paired together. Hopefully this will make my morning routine go much faster!

Donation Time!

I'm a big believer in donating things to those in need. This goes especially for thrift stores that tend to employ people that would otherwise be out of a job, and use parts of their proceeds to support programs for the needy and impoverished. Collecting items from around the house to donate also serves as a wake-up call to myself by putting me in my place about my own materialism, and reminding me that I need to use my hard-earned money for better things than a fashionable pair of boots (from 6 years ago), etc.

So last night, I took the two bags pictured above to Value Village. They contained... about 1/3 of my wardrobe - just about everything in my closet that was purchased in or before 2004. I brought Matt with me, and he also donated 2 bags of stuff that he's had in the trunk of his car since we moved 4 months ago.

And then, as our reward for our good deed, we got delicious take-out Thai food and went o home to watch the Olympics and thunderstorm for the rest of the night. Hooray!