Independence Day Freed Me From My Old Clothes And Other Junk.

OK, so it’s not directly related to personal finance, but I wanted to share something with you. I am very good at being organized and cleaning out our home from time to time. In fact, I normally go through everything every month or so just getting rid of things that we no longer use, either by selling them on Craigslist, recycling them or tossing them in the garbage. Case in point, the junk drawer in the kitchen. It seems that no matter how many times or how often I clean it out, it just fills back up with…stuff. Back when I sold all that stuff on Craigslist I mentioned that next up were our closets, and I finally got around to doing my side of the closet yesterday.

Three garbage bags full of clothes later, my closet looks like a showroom at Banana Republic. The suits are hung together, the pants are hung together, the long sleeve shirts are hung together and all the short sleeve shirts are lined up. Anal, yes. But what a site to behold when I open the closet now. I got rid of:

8 pairs of pants
5 long sleeve shirts
3 pairs of shoes
2 hats
2 sweatshirts
3 sweaters
2 belts
7 t-shirts

But I did not stop there, as I was on a rampage. Next I conquered my dresser, getting rid of old socks, shorts, etc that were either damaged or whatever. Now when I open my drawers, I can see what I have without trying to dig through piles of stuff I never would put on anyway. Think it stopped there? Oh no it didn’t…

Next I filed 2 months worth of paperwork into the file cabinet, which was a ton of fun. (Sarcasm anyone?) Creating folders, throwing away paper that I thought at one time needed to be saved, and creating 2 big bags of stuff that can be shredded when I get around to it. Unfortunately our shredder works for about 10 minutes before shutting down due to overheating, and I need something the size of a bonfire to get rid of all these papers. In time…

Overall I would say I spent about 4 hours yesterday going through my stuff and purging it. I am not one to hoard things, but the clothing was getting out of hand and I was starting to fall back into that “I will wear that someday” routine and I wanted out. I am not going to wear it, I have not worn it, and I work from home in jeans and t-shirts every day so it limits my need for dressy clothes. What a relief…I feel so much lighter this morning than I did yesterday. I can open the closet and see at a glance what I have, and I don’t miss what I got rid of. I probably did not know what I had anyway. I opened my sock drawer, and wow, look at all those matching pairs!

If you are going to start doing this around your house, and I suggest you do it asap, is that make sure you do not go out and replace what you got rid of with new stuff. Do not use it as an excuse to spend money and fill your closet back up; use it as a way to get organized, lighten the load, free yourself from clutter, and make a little extra cash on the side. See, although it was not directly related to personal finance, somehow I brought it around! It feels good to be free…of clutter.