Sort It Out

January 9, 2010

One of the challenges of living in a condo is the lack of storage space. I suppose you could say that about any home or room you live in, but you definitely feel it in a smaller place. Especially if you have to share a closet with someone and that someone is taking up more of it than you are! {Ahem. Behold our closet. Frightening, isn't it?}


Now that Christmas has passed, we have even more stuff in our tiny, crowded space. So this morning as I was cleaning, I felt it was time to get rid of some of our old stuff.

This was a little tough for me because I'm one of those people who hold on to things. I keep things for sentimental reasons, and I keep things because I can't seem to let go, even when I know there's no real reason for me to keep something. This is especially true when it comes to my clothes. I just want to keep it. Just in case. (Of what? Who knows.)

But with our closets stuffed to the brim and our church holding a clothing drive next month, I thought this was the best time for me to do some purging.

However, I knew I wouldn't be able to just throw everything away. So I developed a system for sorting my stuff.


First, take everything out of where you store it. Yes, that's how I clean. Things just have to get worse (... much worse) before they get better.

Second, put everything that you're definitely going to keep. For example, I keep clothes I have consistently been wearing back into the closet/drawer.

Third, I go through the piles and get rid of anything that is damaged. Broken? Worn? GONE!

Fourth, I put everything left into the "Last Chance" pile. I leave them out and readily accessible so I have no excuse, because here's the deal: if I don't touch these things for a month or two, they're gone. If I use them, I can keep them. Otherwise, it's sayonara.

And that, is generally how I sort through my clothes... and just about anything else, now that I think about it.