Lint Progress: Closet Cleanout.

Today I did the big closet clean out as recommended on Ready to Wear. The plan was to go through everything and only keep things that I love and I am currently wearing. The rest go into piles and get put some where else. My piles were: Out of Season, Tailor, Donate, Other Closet, Like.

Tall order. I suspected that I wouldn’t love many of my clothes. Thus, the “Like” pile.

The closet before:


And with everything I love. That gives me 3 skirts, one pair of pants (I was wearing them) two tanks, 2 shirts, 4 sweaters/jackets. I added back in a lot of the “like” stuff. Loving everything will be a goal for the future.
I then moved onto my drawers. Before:

And after:



Here are my plies:
This is a pile that cropped up mid-sort. It is the “cut these t-shirts up to save for the quilt you are making someday” pile.
Here’s the “like” pile.
The “summer clothes” pile on the left and the “put it somewhere else” pile on the right.
On the left: the “donate” pile. On the right: I had nothing to go to the tailor, but these shoes are going to the cobbler before spring arrives. I love them.
Shoes I like that went back into the closet.
The following is a list of the “like” items I put back, and the reasons I’m not in love with them:

• 2 black tank tops–cut a bit too low for work.
• Orange striped shirt–faded
• Green sweater–nothing to wear with it. It also draws attention to the psoriasis on my arms
• red long sleeved shirt–faded
• black sweater–is a bit small, but I need it to complete outfits, so it has to stay for now.
• straight long black skirt–I wear it all the time, but I know it isn’t the most flattering thing.
• khaki pants–I had them hemmed before I washed them and they are a bit short. I’ve also gained weight since I bought them and so they are a bit tight. Until last week, my only pair of pants.
• black skirt–I’m on the fence about if this is a flattering skirt or not. Also, I don’t think it looks very good with flats, but I don’t wear heels.
• Long black skirt, a-line. I keep reading that short people shouldn’t wear long skirts.
• Running shoes–I really need a new pair, but if buy any new ones, I will destroy my clothing budget.
• Black heels–I hate heels because they hurt my feet. Still, it’s good to have them on hand, and these are more comfortable than most.
• Old running shoes–I wear these for project work. It doesn’t matter if they get paint or sawdust on them
• black birkenstocks–I’ve been wearing these every other day in fall, winter and spring since 2004. I’m a bit tired of them, but buying new shoes would (as above) destroy my clothing budget.
• sliver heels–I actually really like these shoes a lot. They aren’t really the kind of shoes you can walk in though, so they aren’t practical. I tend to carry them to events where I wear them. Then I don’t walk too much.

Now my closet is much less cluttered and I have an entire empty drawer in my dresser. The next step will be making outfits and generating a list of what I need. I’m starting to suspect that this project will be longer than 40 days.