Remember last week when I told you all about the Nutrisystem article showing the correlation between clutter and weight gain? Remember how I said I have been working on decluttering my home? Well, this weekend I worked on my closet. It was a huge task! Some of the clothes in that closet I have had for over a decade. A decade! And I probably haven’t worn many of them since before Peyton was born. Well, she’s 7 now. It’s time for them to go.
I didn’t realize how oppressive having an overflowing closet was until I cleaned it out. I knew, every morning when I would get ready for work that I would dig through looking for something to wear but I never realized how mentally exhausting that was. So, this weekend I took all the clothes out and started to go through each piece. If I had worn it in the past year I put it back in the closet. If I had not worn it, or it was stained, ripped or missing a button it went in the donation pile.
I was amazed at how much I got rid of. My closet used to be bursting at the seems. I had the door full of sweaters, jackets, scarves and what not. Then 2 rows of shirts and the other side were long dresses and pants. Now I am down to one row of shirts, just scarves on my door and a few dresses and pants on the other bar. It feels so good! I can walk into my closet and look around. I can find what I want to wear without digging through a ton of clothes.
It also felt really good to donate all those clothes. They were 95% from Lane Bryant and most in excellent condition. I know there is some woman getting ready for an interview that will now have clothes for it. But it was also a big shock to see I filled up my whole trunk and backseat with just items from my closet! You know that 40 bag challenge? I think I did it with just one closet! Well, maybe not 40 bags but pretty darn close.
The point is when I started to gain weight I also started to hoard things. Why? I’m not sure. I think it’s just a side effect of depression, at least for me it was. I didn’t want to let anything go. Now I’m ready to let a ton of crap go. Tonight I’ll be working on my bedroom. My goal is to take another car load of items I no longer want over to donate by Friday. And I think I can do it. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not. But either way, my house is going to start looking more spacious, organized and clean. Which will make me less stressed. All this will help me reach my goals of living a healthier lifestyle.
Here are a few tips to help get you started on clearing the clutter –
- Pick one space to work on at a time.
- Before you start, grab a trash bag for anything that will need to be tossed and bags or boxes to put everything in you are going to donate.
- Grab a pad of paper and pen. Make an itemized list of everything as you toss it in the box. You’ll need this come tax time if you want to write off your donation. Also, take a picture of the donation pile and attach it to your list. Again, for tax records.
- Set aside plenty of time so you don’t feel rushed. I say take how long you think it will take you and double it.
- Put some music on and start sorting!
When I first started I found it hard to let go, but by the time I was on the third bag, I was cruising. I found myself filling up bags faster than I could sort. It was somewhat addicting!
Follow along on my weight loss journey. I’ll be posting more tips, tricks, recipes, and stories!
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