Cleaning out the bedroom closet - Oh my

[eleny]

Hubby and I share a bedroom closet in an older home built after WWII. You can walk into it and we each get a side for hanging clothes and 2 shelves each above our respective hanging rod.

It all started when I decided to switch from wearing pullover tees to cotton blouses and figured I might need to go shop. That was until I discovered a dozen blouses buried on hangers way back in the closet.

Many loads of laundry are getting done today. Tomorrow I'll iron the blouses. Then I'll have at all the blue jeans. Cutting down the frayed ones to clam digger length and make some knee patches for padding for working out in the yard. Later in the week I'll tackle my shelves above the hanging rod. It's a nightmare up there on my side.

The upshot is that we've got several bags of clean, usable clothing and accessories for the thrift, enough summer blouses & pants for several years for myself and a closet that's a "walk-in" not a "reach-in". My feet may be achy but my shoulders feel lighter.

[Warpy]

1. I do a cleanout at the end of both summer and winter

and decide what goes in the storage trunk and what goes to the thrift shop. If I haven't worn it all season (and it's one of 2 "posh" outfits), out it goes. It doesn't matter how much I liked it when I bought it. If I don't wear it, it's gone. If it's no longer wearable, it's rags for dusting, mopping, or to be cut and woven into rugs.

The bags that go to the thrift shop twice a year get lighter and lighter.

[eleny]

2. That's a great plan worth sticking to

I made some hard choices today and don't have any regrets. I kept a couple of pairs of black slacks for going out and other events. We don't do ultra posh things but I did keep a couple of pieces for emergency needs like a funeral where there's little time to plan.

One thing I find hard to ditch is blue jeans. When they get frayed I wear them for doing yard work and general cleaning. But they do stack up since you can't in good conscience donate frayed pants. Maybe I ought to learn to braid a rug and use them for that. There's so many uses for denim.

[Warpy]

3. Jeans are different

and I kept all my old tapered leg jeans for yardwork and painting and cleaning out the scuzz in the bottom of the fridge and other disgusting jobs. I won't wear them out the front door, but I will wear them out.

Jeans I like don't get donated. After I pop through the knees and seat to the point that the remaining fabric is too thin to hold patches, I cut them into rug material.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Sparkly, aided by SparklyJr, have been sorting clothes and creating a line of bags of cast-offs

in our upstairs hallway. I'll bet there are ten garbage bags full of good used clothing and even some new, never worn clothing.

I don't want to make it seem as if Sparkly's an extravagant or wasteful shopper. She is the picture of frugality. I can honestly say that only twice in the years I have known her has she ever shopped at first tier clothing stores. She can almost always find what she needs at off-price, off-off-price, and final closeout stores. The highest up scale she goes is Kohl's, but more often it is a $100 garment for $3 at final sale at places like Marshall's.

Not all such purchases work out, but the hunt makes her happy and she deserves that!

[eleny]

6. Must be something in the air that's got us going

It's nice to get Spring cleaning done in the Springtime!

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Latest update: We will also be making a dump run

SparklyJr said she was doing archeology in the dimmer corners of her room. More trash than will fit in our garbage cans was removed.

She is in the room formerly occupied by StinkyJr1. As bad as it was under her residency, it was worse under his. When he left, there was, very literally, "stuff" a foot deep that he abandoned as he went to start the next chapter of his life. But there's hope. He currently lives in a townhouse and the floors are all visible.

[troubleinwinter]

5. My husband is doing an estimate for building a home.

Budget is $16,000,000. ONE bedroom. He says the walk-in closet is half the size of our (3br, 2 ba, family rm) house. 18,000 sq. ft. There is also to be a guest house, as a separate contract.

I asked if they own a winery, he said, no, that's why they want the house so they can then build a winery.

The couple is in their late 30s and he is retired. Retired from what industry? Healthcare insurance company.

[eleny]

7. Falling down backwards *plop*

[yy4me]

8. Seems to have been the weekend for clean-outs. My daughter

and I are having huge yard sale(which I swore I'd never do again). The proceeds will go toward helping pay a Vet Hospital bill for her dog. Major life saving efforts and 3 weeks in the Vet hospital intensive care and she is now healthy but my daughter has a huge bill for the service. Her Vet emergency was as a result of a reaction to the painkiller Previcox. She had a minor operation to remove a benign cyst and reacted to this very controversial medicine. Check into this stuff before your animal has any operation and needs painkillers.

Stuff is going that I haven't touched for years. Still getting it together, the attic is a challenge but I'll feel better when it is done. Maybe I'll be able to walk up there again.

[eleny]

9. About going up into your attic and walking around

I can relate. Yesterday, more than once, I walked into our closet, turned on the light and did a 360 just for the fun of it.

Once you get to clearing out a place the idea can stick with you. As I sat here this morning reading DU I glanced at the bookcase next to my desk. In one glance I saw 10 hardback books I'd be more than willing to part with. I'll donate them, too.

Best of luck with the sale and thanks for the heads up about the medication. We don't have pets right now but friends do. I'll pass the word along.

[mopinko]

10. make a good inventory so that you can get the max tax deduction. and

i think that most thrift shops "rag out" things that are not in good condition, or that don't sell.

turbo tax has a good itemization tool, but you have to count that stuff. we have been doing tons of that the last year or so. did some remodeling that required some soul searching and big time heave ho.

[eleny]

11. Thanks, we do fill out the donation slips right away

I took the donations right over to the ARC store yesterday to get them out of the way. Filled out the slip as soon as I got home and into the donations folder. We've used Turbo Tax for years. It's great.

Today, I reorganized my upper shelves. I found a couple of nice hand knit winter hats I forgot I had! All my winter gloves, scarves and hats are now in a bag up there ready for later this year. Summer stuff is in front easy to grab.

The closet is now officially cleared out of things we don't use. When we're ready to enlarge it, I can temporarily hang our clothes on the rolling coat rack I use to dry laundry in the summer sun. We're all set.

:hi:

[mopinko]

12. you are a better woman than i.

i almost never get to the bottom of these things. i would get a bunch of bags out of there, be happy, and take weeks to get them to sally's.

[yy4me]

14. I just remembered about the ARC stores. They are great. Wish

we had them in my neck of the woods. I remember when my daughter was in Medical School in Richmond, she used to take me there when we went to visit her. We always found goodies to take home. Everything was nice,clean and fairly priced. Not much in the way of Thrifts here except the Salvation Army. I use their donation box at the grocery store but it is quite a long ride to the store. We recently had a "Savers" open fairly near but I have not gone for a while. I promised myself that I'd resist the bug for a few months and clean out before any for rummaging around.

[eleny]

15. When I dropped off my donations at the ARC I didn't go inside

Just drove around back where they take the stuff and then beat a path home. It's hard not to find something good at the ARC!

:hi: