Making the hard choices

Well, you've all been waiting with bated breath, I can just tell, so here it is...wait not longer...my "Spring Fling in the Closet" post is now here! (hands clapping I'm so sure!) So, this is where I started, in my closet. Yes, it is super full and I was having a really hard time. Every time I went to get something to wear it would be crammed in so tight that it would get wrinkled and I was having to iron...Eee GADS! Not that!!!!

The first step to cleaning my closet and moving out the heavy winter things to make room for the lighter, cooler summer things is to first of all pick out all of the winter things into 2 stacks. One stack is to be hung in the spare bedroom closet to save until next winter, and the other stack is to get rid of. I made myself do some hard choices too. Things like this. Do I really need 2 gray turtlenecks? Um, no probably not. I mean seriously, how often do I actually wear a long sleeved turtleneck? The answer, not often. You see, I'm VERY hot natured. I get hot very easy. So, I looked at the 2 of these. One is a thick sweater like material, the other is a thin cotton. You guessed it, the thin cotton won out. The thick one got tossed in the "get rid of" stack.
Now comes another hard choice. The blouse below. I LOVE IT! Seriously I really love it. It's long and is perfect with jeans or with leggings and boots. The problem you ask? Well, every time I put it on, I ended up taking it right back off. The top part is just too damn tight around my boobs. So, while I still love this, it had to go. It was just taking up room and never getting worn. To the "to get rid of" stack you go. sniff sniff
Next, I have a serious addiction to ruffles. I ADORE them. I just went about ape shit crazy when ruffles made a come back. But, do I REALLY need 4 white ruffled shirts? REALLY? Probably not. I can see needing 2 of them, say you wear one on a Monday and don't do laundry until the weekend and want to wear it on Friday, then yeah, you could possibly need 2 of them, but not 4. So, I took all of my white ruffled shirts down, looked them over. Actually tried each of them on and picked out my favorite 2. The other 2...yep..."to get rid of" stack they went. Whew...it's getting easier now!
Oh now wait a minute. This one didn't actually qualify as a ruffled shirt per se. The collar has a slight ruffling on it, but it wasn't truly ruffled. What it is though is my all-time favorite white blouse of all time. It is from Cold Water Creek and it is iron free and they are serious when they claim that. I've never had to iron it. And, boy howdy did I wear this blouse. But, as you can see from the picture below, I've obviously worn it just a little too much. The cuffs on the sleeves were positively gross and I could not get them clean. Now, I still wore the blouse because I loved it that much. But, I found myself hiding my hands so people wouldn't see the stained cuffs, not good! So, as much as I hated it, I made myself get rid of my beloved favorite blouse. (pausing for a moment of silence here....)

Oh, and yet another white blouse. Go ahead, ask it. I know you want to. Just how many white blouses does this chick have? Well, it's a lot less now thank you very much! So, the blouse below, isn't it just adorable? You may be asking, well what is wrong with that one? The answer (which you probably can't tell from the picture) is it's too see through! I found myself being terribly uncomfortable whenever I wore it because you could see through it like it wasn't even there. Now while I do love many of my pretty bras I don't really want anyone besides the hubs to see them. :) To the "to get rid of" stack you go missy!

Whew! OK, white blouses are done and I actually have room now to move my black, white, and brown shirts around. How cool is that?

Moving on! OK, time to go through the jackets. I was on a roll at this point and decided to be good and keep the momentum going. First thing up, the jacket below. I bought it on clearance one day at New York and Company. I thought it would be so cute. Turns out, it was hot, and tight, and just didn't feel "right" for me and my age. Out it goes.


Next, is this really pretty jacket I got at Cold Water Creek. I loved this jacket, and still do as a matter of fact. The problem? It is too short waisted for me. The button would hit right below my breasts and that is definitely not where it was supposed to be hitting. Out it goes.

Now is the really hard choice. A long time favorite Harley jacket. I loved this! I asked my hubby for it for my birthday one year and he got it for me. Unfortunately they didn't have my size so he got it a size smaller. I wore it for a couple of years like this but now is the time. It just doesn't look good to wear clothes that are too small. Period. The. End. I'm not fooling myself anymore thinking "oh, when I lose weight it will look so good." Yeah, if that hasn't happened in the last 2-3 years, it's probably not going to happen. Time for my poor beautiful jacket to find someone else to cherish it. On the upside, the lady that does my nails is also a Harley girl and I know this jacket would fit her, so I'm going to give it to her next time I see her. Good bye old friend!

So, it's done! I've gone through all of my clothes and pulled out all the winter stuff. This is what I have decided to part with. Whew...that felt good!

And, this is how much more room I have in my closet now. It is looking so good!!!!!


Now, it's time to bring out the spring/summer stuff that's been stashed in the closet in the spare bedroom. Wow, I didn't realize I had so much back there!!!!


But, after using the logic from above and being super duper strict with myself, that stack whittled down to this stack! That's right, this is all that is going into the closet now.

And, this is what I'm getting rid of. Quite a difference don't you agree?

After bundling up everything to get rid off, I ended up with 5 large garbage bags full of clothes!

Now, back to the closet and let's start with the shoes! This is what it looks like before I start.

I moved the boots to the top since I won't be wearing them until next winter, and then I went through the rest of the shoes and got rid of anything that just seriously hurts my feet or I just won't wear or are just old and tired looking. For some reason my foot seems to have shrunk recently. I know! Go figure huh? Too bad the rest of my body didn't follow suit! ha ha ha So, I have all of these shoes that are really just too big. Out they go! I mean, how can I buy new cute shoes if I have no room for them right? ha ha ha

After going through them all, this is the stack to get rid of.
And, this is how my wonderful closet looks now! So much more room, I can actually see what I have now!
Now, there are 3 things that I've decided I love just too much to get rid of, even though there is something wrong with them. With these 3 things I've decided to get them fixed and/or altered. The shoes are some of my all-time favorite little summer sandals. I love them but they are super old and way worn out. I'm going to take them to a shoe shop and get them to put a new sole on them. The black and white pants are so cute but they are too long and really too wide at the bottom on the legs. I'm taking them to be altered to sew up the legs a little and take a little off the length. The jeans are these really cute Lucky's but they are too short. I'm taking them at the same time as the pants and having them turned into capris. So, you don't necessarily have to get rid of everything that isn't perfect. You can also have things fixed!

So, that's it! My closet is complete. I'm ready for Spring baby! Bring it on!!!!



How about you? Have you done the Winter/Spring switcheroo yet?