Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Pull an Eminem on your Closet
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“…yesterday reminded me that spring here is, quite simply, a medical imperative. You let what I call “Kafka season” go on long enough and you’re in a locked ward wearing the paper slippers. Yesterday… I watched men and women rejoin the human race like miners exiting a mineshaft, stunned by the shock of sunlight after a long shift below ground.” Sam Allis in “The Observer,” Boston Globe, April 22.
Around town this weekend we saw no sign of paper slippers, but we did see a lot of sandals and flip flops. Summer clothes, somehow, have instantly come out of hiding.
Rather than pulling everything wooly and thick out and stowing it all in the guest room til next fall, take the opportunity to free up some space. This is the time to pull an Eminem. Time to clean out your closet.
Much as you cherish that purple tweed skirt your aunt gave you in ‘89, it’s got a side zipper, a waist up to here, and hello – it doesn’t fit! Take a serious look at what you really wear and those things you really shouldn’t be wearing. If you haven’t worn it in two years, you’ve missed two years’ opportunity to replace it; don’t lose any more.
Consign current season things with shops like Second Time Around and the Closet. Things that you can’t consign go to Good Will or your cousin in Nebraska, anyplace but back in your closet. Be brutal, purge. It’s not called “spring moving things to the other room” after all.
Once you have decided what to keep and what to lose, put the keepers back in a way that makes it easy to shop your closet. Spend some time at the Container Store or, better yet, the Boston Design Center with a full-access Plush membership. Buy a whole bunch of the same hangers so that your clothes hang at the same level, cedar hearts for your sweater storage, and clear storage boxes.
If doing the job is starting to make you cry, try a professional organization service like Atmosphere Consulting. Nothing wrong with getting a little help from someone who knows what they’re doing.
Cleaning out your closet can be traumatic (oh the drama Slim Shady!) or it can be liberating. Try to enjoy the lightening, the giving away, the cleansing, and just think of the room you’ll make for NEW stuff.
Got a good story about cleaning out your closet? Post it here, and let us help you air it out!
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