Closet Organization Tips

1. PREPARE: Have large trash bags ready for charity and trash, boxes or plastic containers for off season or undecided items, label boxes. Also have a spiral notebook for making a list of what is needed to complete the job.
2. BEGIN: Take everything out of the closet (you can sort quickly as you go for obvious discarded items like stained worn out t shirts or maternity clothes, but do not take the time to decide difficult items, move quickly). 
3. DIVIDE: Divide clothes and shoes into seasons (I use 2 categories: warm weather or cool weather)
4. CLEAN: Clean closet well: dust, vacuum, wipe down shelves, But move quickly.
5. CATEGORIZE: Go through the clothes in current season first, hang back in the closet – arranged by type then color (pants from white to black, shirts from sleeveless to turtleneck by color, etc), discarding obvious items for trash or charity into
6. QUESTION: One category at a time, now go through and ask the hard questions: does it fit, do I love it, does it serve a purpose, does it go with other items (shoes, tops, etc), is it age appropriate, do I go places that allow me to wear this outfit? Still work as quickly as you can, placing undecided items on the bed, leaving only what you LOVE or use very often out of necessity in your closet.
7.  CHOOSE: After you have gone through each category, pulling out undecided items, see if there are obvious needs (like ‘I love this skirt but I never wear it because I don’t have a top or shoes that match’. Start making a list of what you need to complete those outfits. If you have room, place those misfit items at the back or side of the closet, out of the main view. At this stage I literally try clothes on to make sure they do in fact fit and enhance my appearance. (If I’m planning to loose weight, I choose a few very favorite pieces that are smaller and place them in a box or spare bedroom closet for one year, if I don’t loose the weight, I get rid of it, if I do, I pull those items out and place some of the larger ones in the spare closet 🙂
8. LIST: Now look at what you have left and go back to the pile of undecided items on the bed, fine tune the selection only keeping what currently fits, is loved and/or is really necessary (for instance, if you don’t love your black blazer but you have to wear it to work tomorrow…keep it until you can replace it, add those items to your notebook list). Also add the list containers or tools needed to keep your closet organized (plastic boxes for folded sweaters, hooks or hangers for belts, etc).
9. STORE: Now start the whole process with your off-season, if you have space place those clothes in a spare bedroom closet, by category, by color. If not, box them up and label them well (winter pants and sweaters, summer sandals, etc).
10. GIVE: Place bags and boxes of clothes for charity in your car and take to Goodwill or Salvation Army the next time you can leave the house during their open hours. I keep them there in the trunk so that it’s harder to go back through them after I’ve decided to let them go.
11. SHOP: Start the process of replacing the items you’ve discarded if they are really necessary. I like to live with less for a while and enjoy how freeing it feels to have fewer choices and less clutter before I start shopping. But for others the reward of getting to shop afterwards might help with motivation.

Distinguishing Good From Evil

Hebrews 5:14 (NIV)

^{14 “}But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

Current political debate seems to hinge on how one defines what is good and what is evil. I hate politics. I hate arguing. I understand the need for debate but I seldom see it handled well. I watch in awe when I visit friends where the family members move in and out of discussions with disagreements and the relationships and emotional health of all seems to be just as strong as before. I’m sure my anxiety around this subject is related to how disagreements were handled in my family growing up. I wanted  to handle conflict differently in my home. Model for our children a healthier way of discussing controversial subjects. We failed. Any attempts to discuss highly controversial subjects with our adult children seems to end in a few harsh statements or accusations and then complete avoidance of the subject for years…maybe forever.

More and more I have become silent when controversial subjects come up. I want to avoid the whole subject. I dread election years and simply hold my breath until they are over. But lately it seems there is always something stirring up controversy in such a way that I’m forced to admit an opinion. Or at least wrestle with the questions myself and try to come to some stance on the subject.

This morning I read the Book of Hebrews in one sitting. I like to do that from time to time so that I keep each verse in context and get the overall message. I’m always amazed how different verses catch my attention at different times in my life based on what I’ve been experiencing and thinking about. Today it was this verse.

I find I’m always internally asking ‘What is good or bad about any given situation.’ I don’t conscientiously want to be asking that question but I cannot seem to help myself. Sometimes in the shape of  ‘What is beautiful and what is ugly?’ Whether it be inside myself or in the environment around me. ‘What to feed and what to kill?’