The Great Closet Clean-Out

For months now I have been saying that my only goal around the house in January was going to be my closet.  When I think about the closet I share with the Hubs, so many adjectives come to mind.  Embarrassing.  Inefficient.  Treacherous.  Chaotic.  Possible Portal to Hell. Indeed, I cannot sufficiently describe in words how truly horrible my closet is.  See for yourself, but promise you won't laugh at me (too much):

Whaaa....???  Is this a closet or a scene from Hoarders?

What you see when you open the door.  You can see why
I'd occasionally rather hide out in a sewer than go in there.

Turning to the right, you see the lovely view of a currently empty dresser
and a vacuum.  Among a few other things.

The far back corner, where shoes and hangers apparently go to die.

Sigh.  As you can see, I have a HUGE job ahead of me.  On the bright side, the clothes are already purged and organized.  Here are just some of the items I took to the consignment store:

I actually got ride of half my clothes, most to consignment
but some to be donated.  Half!

Here's where living a simpler life and being frugal really become one goal.  Without all those extra clothes, my closet will be neater, more efficient, and more attractive.  Yes, it was an emotional moment when it came to giving up my old business suits.  But I haven't been to any sort of professional event in over four years.  It's time to suck it up and decide that if I ever need a suit I should go buy one that's in style.  (Just between you and me, I did keep one suit...shhh).  And, since I can consign most of what I don't need, I'm making money to go toward those Student Loans, Dave Ramsey style.  So I'm using what I have, shedding what I don't need, and making money to boot.  Meets my goal of simple, but it also meets my goal of frugal.

You may have noticed from the pictures of my closet (if they didn't burn your eyeballs out), that my clothes were only half the problem.  I caught my husband in my evil clutches a cooperative mood and managed to convince him to donate three garbage bags stuffed with old clothes of his.  Three heavy garbage bags.  Like, probably 90 pounds of clothing.  It was a major coup.  The only shred of clothing the man's ever gotten rid of in at least 9 years was when I discovered his 30 identical "Intra-Mural Champion" T-shirts, and we threw away like 25 of them.  I'm not exaggerating.  So, the Closet Purge was a serious exercise in letting go, and it was awesome.

I'll be showing you the finished result of the Great Closet Clean-Out in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!  Hopefully the 'After' pictures will justify the utter humiliation of the 'Befores.'  If they don't...please lie and tell me they do.



P.S. I'm lovin' --and I do mean LOVIN'--the Linky's at Decorchick's Real Messes Linky Party!