Accidental KonMari Part 2

So #AccidentalKonMari is already snowballing, in a good way. Chris is psyched about this and said he is looking forward to maintaining the clothing situation. He learned the fold in a second and now every tee shirt, pair of jeans, and socks and undies are neat and tidy. We both culled easily 25-40% of our closets between us with just old clothing and clothing we were ready to let go.

Weirdly, saying thank you to several pieces *really worked*. I had a few pieces of clothing I kept tucking back in the drawer for sentimental reasons. I only felt a little silly to hold them, say thank you to them out loud, and throw them on the donate pile. Chris took out an old top he hadn't worn in years and said, "Thank you for reminding me I don't dress like this any more." LOL

Now to see if we do anything with other parts of our home with it in mind.

Today, we go to Lowes to see if we can fill in a couple organization gaps we are missing--we used every unused shoe box and bin we had and it just wasn't *quite* enough to finish the job. Also, I need a separate KonMari day for costuming alone.

You can see what my organization looked like before most days. Things just piled up, super cluttered. I hung a lot of stuff that didn't need to be hung just to keep it in view. And funny enough, I rarely used those drawers for much because I always found stacked clothing (like I grew up with) was too hard to access in a drawer. You can only see a couple top things, and when you try to pull something from underneath, the whole stack becomes a mess. I know I'm not alone in this frustration!

The before: When we decided to rearrange our "closet" wall, everything had to be taken out. I wanted to move my lesser used drawers higher up to a more functional level, and push the shelf down to become better shoe storage (right now many shoes are on a shelf I can't reach and I need a step stool or a hanger to pull the box down.

Taking everything out. And so glad we did! Chris decided he wanted to rework his end, taking out a hanging bar and moving some shelves, and we found a patch of mold in the corner. NO idea how or why it was growing there, but we scrubbed the hell out of it and am so glad we caught it!

The after: Stuff I wear the most--leggings, tees, and skirts I wear for teaching and everyday comfortable clothing.

Next drawer down, sweaters, jeans, and some seasonal and athletic stuff like sarongs and bathing suits. Part of my next step goal is to find a reasonable sized bin to put strictly seasonal clothing in and put in another room, to free up about 1/3 of this drawer for daily-wear items.

Dresses and blouses, plus a couple skirts are all that are hanging here now. The red bin is a temporary solution for my pajamas. Once I move the seasonal clothes to a separate bin, the jammies and go in the drawer. This red bin was holding a bunch of cholis in another room, which are now in an unceremonious pile on my old sewing table until they can go back in here. I really need to cull my costuming, but that's a huge project in itself.

The new closet run. This is IKEA Stolmen, which we got 12-15 years ago maybe (discontinued). We have one small closet in the bedroom so this was the way we addressed the dearth of clothing storage. There are some things on the bed that don't fit into the clothing category that is in a box waiting whatever next steps I am taking.

So that's what we accomplished in a single day, and it already looks and feels so much better. It is SO satisfying to pluck a little clothing envelope out of the drawer to get dressed. The red bin on top can be moved to the bed and I can use the top of my drawers to fold on. We'll see how long this lasts--I am curious if it feels sustainable.