closet downsizing

ok. this is really embarrassing for me to make this post.  as i have a real obsession with shopping and a desire to own all the clothes.  but i have finally come to the conclusion that i have too much and i need to help myself downsize.

my problem is that i haven't really changed sizes since high school (hello, class of 2005) and so i keep everything that still fits and is still in style.  buuuuuuuut i don't stop shopping.  i keep adding.  and my real true problem is that if i find something i like, say a crew neck tshirt, i get it in every color.  it's awful.  i have a problem.  i admit it.

i'm also in the belief that i wear most of what i own.  however, my darling husband would say otherwise.  so, to tackle my excessive shopping and to test my theory of how much of it i wear, i'm trying some downsizing tricks.

the first thing i did was to decide my time frame.  i live in ohio where the weather is finicky and so i obviously have winter clothes and summer clothes.  my closet is large enough (an entire bedroom, whatever) that i don't put away clothes due to seasons.  it all stays out year round and some pieces i do end up wearing year round.  originally i thought i would do jan 2016-jan 2017 but then i'd have to wait all year to go through my clothes since jan-mar is more snow weather, apr-sept is summer weather and oct-dec is fall weather.  and i'm impatient.  so, i finally decided on sept 2016-sept 2017.  that way i can start the process now and hit all the different weather experiences without having to break up in the middle for the warmer months.

after sorting all that out, i actually got started.  i ran to target and bought some dot stickers - the kind you normally use for rummage sales, grabbed a pen and paper and stood in the middle of my closet.  overwhelmed.

i decided i wanted to know what i spend my money on - heels?  sweats?  work clothes?  sneakers???  so, in the process, i created categories and counted as i labeled.  your categories can be as broad or specific as you want if you do this step.  i just wanted to get a better handle on what i tend to buy so i know to stop buying it.  my categories were mostly broad - pants, tshirts, long sleeve, shorts, dresses/skirts, sweats/leggings/gym shorts, spaghetti tanks, casual tanks, work tops, flannels, sweaters.. and i did the same for shoes - heels, sneakers, flats, sandals, boots..

i began with taking my hangers and hanging them backwards on the rod.  i counted each jacket, cardigan, tank top, dress and work shirt i have and recorded that number.  the idea behind this trick is once you wear the piece and you go to hang it back up, then you flip the hanger back the correct way.  then at the end of the season or year you'll know exactly what you did or didn't wear based on the hanger position.  easy enough.

but i was dumbfounded on what to do with my folding clothes.  most of my clothes are folded.  so, i came up with the stickers.  i went through each cubby and pulled out each item and stickered and counted it.  my advice for this is to put the sticker in the fold so that way when you pull out a shirt the sticker doesn't come off or fall off in the process giving you a false report at the end of the season or year.

sticker is on the inside of the fold

stickers are on the inside of the fold

i used the stickers on my shoes as well.  mostly putting the stickers on the bottom of the shoes or inside on the soles.  stickered and counted.

as i wear the folded clothes or shoes, i'll remove the stickers.  somethings i didn't sticker like my pj bottoms, sweats and leggings.  i have so many and most of them are tossed in a basket and so there was no easy way to sticker them.  and if i needed to downsize them i could just force myself to stick with a certain number like 5 pairs of sweatpants and get rid of the rest..

this is really customizable based on your needs.

once i was done counting everything, i really realized my buying habits.  (please do not judge me - harshly.  may i remind you i've been collecting for well over 10 years..) i have over 60 pairs of sweatpants/leggings/pj shorts/gym shorts.  SIXTY.  i have enough shirts that i wouldn't have to do a single load of laundry in 9 months because i can wear a new shirt everyday for NINE MONTHS.  pants/dress wise, i could not do laundry for THREE MONTHS.  who am i??  i'm not famous or special that i can't repeat clothes.  i know collecting and not getting rid of things for over 10 years would make my closet huge.  but that huge???  put down the shopping cards and lets reevaluate your priorities, girl.

my plan is to maybe go through my winter clothes at the beginning of summer next year and then go through absolutely all of it next september.  anything that i didn't wear this year will either be donated or i may end up keeping it.  items that i do keep i plan to write down and do this process all over again next september.  then if i don't wear it by sept 2018, it has to be donated.  no ifs, ands or buts.  some pieces, like my sequin dress, i may keep even if i don't wear it for a few years for the off chance that we do something for nye.  and obviously if it doesn't fit or it's out of style or it's been 5 years and i need to let the dream go, i'll donate it.

in doing this, i have a few expectations or goals in mind.  (1) i want to find out where i spend my money.  is it so much on casual clothes when i need to invest in work clothes? (2) what do i wear? do i think i wear 80% of my closet but i'm really wearing the same five things? (3) again, what do i wear? do i wear mostly black and white but i have 85 things of hot pink i don't wear? (4) because i will buy the same item in every color or sometimes even in the same color, am i wearing them? do i really need 5 white tshirts?  or should i just keep 2 on hand in rotation?

i'm really excited to see how it turns out and to see if i can prove my husband wrong on what percentage i do actually wear..

simplify your morning

my shift starts at 8am at work.  i used to be the kind of person that would have to get up at 6ish to try and accomplish pulling myself together enough to leave and get to work on time.  this included a 30 minute commute to my office. but after a few years of modifying my habits i have found ways to get myself up and ready in 30 minutes.  here's a few steps of how i simplified my mornings.
                            
1. originally i showered every single morning.  i typically have longer hair.  and i have a two inch section that NEVER seems to dry.  so when i showered in the morning, i would need a full half hour to include the ten minute shower and the 20 minutes it would take to get my hair mostly dried.  but one day i realized if i showered after work and dried/fixed my hair for like dinner or something, then it would still look presentable by morning.  and then i realized if i washed it at night and then mostly dried it by bedtime, i could easily curl it with my wand and it would look perfectly fine!  and so now, i typically shower at night and dry my hair mostly before bed and then i just need 10 minutes in the morning to roughly wand my hair in to messy beach waves.  and now, i'm trying to not wash my hair every single day.  so every other day i just bathe in the evening and then wear my hair up if it's looking a little greasy on my non wash hair day.  (this really helped my budget of not spending so much money on shampoo and conditioner!)

2. makeup is my fav.  but i have allowed myself 15 minutes in the morning to do my whole face.  this is really the largest part of my morning routine.  i originally would do a full face and eye makeup.  but who in the heck am i impressing in my office?? no one.  so why go through all the trouble when i rarely leave this cell?  i still do a lot.  but i mostly focus on my face.  so, i do a primer, liquid foundation, powder, bronzer, blush and mascara.  that's about it.  sometimes if i do have a little bit of extra time, i'll do some eye shadow or line my upper lashes.  but mostly i just don't bother.  it gives me a fresh face with a nice complexion but i'm not going overboard with my eyes or lips.  i do store some lipsticks in my desk in case i do feel frisky when i get to work.

3. my biggest time savers is clothes.  you remember when you were little and your mom would pick out your school clothes the night before and then threaten you an inch of your life if you changed your mind and threw a fit in the morning?  no?  just my mom?  well, i started implementing the same concept in my adult life.  i realized when i picked my clothes out in the morning during my rushed hazy routine, i would always choose basics - white and black, black and grey, grey and white, khaki and black, khaki and white (repeat) and i never wore my fun purple cardigan or that flowy floral top.  who has time in the morning to think about matching clothes?  let alone if that shirt really fits properly?  is this a tube top!?  or a skirt!?  and i have enough clothes for the entire neighborhood and i wasn't wearing any of it.  i now pick out my outfits usually on sunday after i finish doing all my laundry.  i hung a 6 cube organizer in my closet and i'll lay out 5 pairs of pants for the week.  i'll go through my tops and try to mix up blazers, sweaters, button ups, cardigans and scarves so that i'm not wearing the same outfit everyday and i am spicing up my wardrobe with color, patterns and layering.  i now wear 90% of my closet and i'm not getting bored with the same ol same ol.  literally takes me 2 minutes to get dressed now since i have everything in it's own cube including accessories. 

4.  i typically do not eat breakfast at home.  my work has a cafeteria that offers breakfast and lunch.  i sometimes will go there and get breakfast.  but most mornings (to save money) i eat breakfast bars or protein bars at my desk while i check my emails in the morning.  sometimes for lunch i'll pack my lunch.  and if i do that, i typically pack my lunch the night before and put everything in a lunch box so that in the morning i can just grab that bag and go.  if i don't pack my lunch, then i will either go downtown or the cafeteria to eat.

5.  i will typically put everything i want to take to work in the morning by my coat rack by my front door.  if i have a few things i want to take to the office, i'll bag it up and stick it right next to my purse so i'll remember to take it.  when i'm completely finished getting ready and am ready to leave, i'll gather anything i may have that needs to go from the kitchen and then grab my purse and leave.  it's helpful to have it all together right by the door so i'm not running around like a crazy lady trying to gather my things.

by making these small changes i have gotten my routine down from one hour to 20-30 minutes in the morning.  i get to sleep in a little longer and am not stressed when i first wake up trying to get everything accomplished before i have to leave.  who doesn't love 30 extra minutes of sleep??

bridesmaid packet

for any of you that may know me, know that i am a control freak and an organized freak.  i am one for communication.  majorly drawn to everyone being in the know, on the same page.  and so, when i said yes to my fiance and my girls said yes to my wine bottle solicitation to be my bridesmaids, i created a bridesmaid packet with every bit of current information they would need.

i'm sure their response was "what did i just get myself in to"
and the answer to that is "the event of the century!!"  or the month of june of 2016.  whatever.

in this packet, i included who they are, what dresses i like, hairstyles and a tentative schedule.  which the last one was a total mistake on my part.  had i known what fire storm would have came with that, i would've left it out.  you'll see why in a moment.

so, i know you can barely read it.  maybe when you zoom in you can.  but basically i explain my crazy self and say thank you 900x for them wanting to be a part of my day.  this was the intro to the bridesmaid packet.

this is just a tiny section of my bridesmaids.  i have 3 more i didn't take a screenshot of to include in the blog.  but you get the point.  a picture of us, how i know them, where they're from, and something special about them.

important dates was just a little information regarding when certain things will or should take place.  i don't have specific dates for the bridal shower or the bachelorette party as they haven't been planned yet.  but i wanted everyone to know when the wedding was and wedding rehearsal.  my venue is very popular in town and so the night before when you normally do a walk through rehearsal, it is rented out to a different person and we will not have access.  instead, we will go over who everyone will be standing with at dinner on friday and then the morning of the wedding, do a quick walk through at the venue so everyone knows what's going on.

this is my blunder.  i included this schedule to give an idea of how the day will go.  including the time of rehearsal and hair and make up.  i mostly created this schedule because i needed a ceremony time to make the invitations.  and to remind myself that i have the venue on the wedding day from 8a-11p.  but when my maids saw that i had given us one hour to decorate and only a few moments to get ready before pictures, they PANICKED.  like stopped by my office and shake sense in to me panic.  however, i will be having family there helping to set up and will have people on site to do hair and make up and so if everyone shows up at 9a, we will not leave the venue until after the reception. yay to the longest day of my life!

the last items included in the packet were just dress ideas and hair ideas.  i want all my girls in black and i want their dresses to be different.  so i sent some styles i liked (more than the 3 pictured) for them to pick from or to give them ideas when they go out on the hunt.  i also don't really care about hair but do want their hair up as it will be june and hot.

aside from the panic over the schedule, i was expecting them to tell me i'm crazy but they love me for it.  however, i got a lot of feedback of appreciation of letting them know what's expected of them and when.  i know in the past, i have been in weddings where i had no idea what was happening (even up to the day of the wedding!) and i didn't want them to feel frustrated or unsure of what they'll be responsible of.  like, i will be paying for hair and providing it on site.  that eases their stress of having to make an appointment, pay for it, and be at the venue on time.  as much as they want this day to be easy on me, i want it to be on them.  they are my girls, my sisters and best friends.  i do not want them ever resenting saying yes to crazy ol' me :)

P.S. if you're curious about how i created the fun script for my page titles, i used the website www.fontmeme.com   they have a ton of different fonts to choose from.  they create it in picture format that you can copy and paste in to your documents.  i even used it for our possible programs i want to make in to fans for the ceremony.  obsessed with this website!!

laundry room redo

the bonus room that was created out of the garage included the bonus room, full bath and a laundry room.  the laundry room is on the back of the house which would have been the back wall of the garage.  it was a basic room with yellow walls and my water heater.  nothing special.

before:

my mom and dad painted it just like every other room.  and matt had a washer and dryer in storage from when he moved out to st louis for chiropractic school. (SCORE!) they're old machines he purchased at a yard sale but they work.  eventually i'd like to get new appliances but we may wait until we move in to our forever home or until these break.  we also had some wood shelves that we removed from various closets that matt hung above the appliances for us to store detergents and cleaning supplies.  the white baskets used to organize our cleaning supplies were purchased at home goods.

on the back of the door between our bedroom and the laundry room, i hung a rack that we use to store our wet jet supplies and sewing kits.  by the door to the garage, i purchased a rack to hang our brooms on and in the bags are rags we use for cleaning.

finally, in the small space between the washing machine and the side wall, we installed the old cabinet from the mauve master bathroom.  the counter top is what was leftover from what i purchased for the kitchen.  apparently when you buy counter tops you have to buy a certain length and whatever is not utilized is extra that you just get to keep for whatever??  who knew??  so it fit perfectly in this small space to store our laundry baskets.  there is about a foot or so between the counter top and the back wall that we just store our swiffers and floor steamer.  overall, i think the small space became a cute little laundry room.

also on a side note, our whole house is hardwood and tile.  i found that just sweeping up the dust and dirt wasn't cutting it.  and it appeared that every day more dust and dirt would appear around the house.  i wanted a better option to keeping my floors clean.  matt had brought a long with him a large sweeper that is great for our rugs but wasn't so great for our wood floors.  it did have the option to run on the hardwood but i noticed it was scuffing them up while i was running it.  and not to mention how bulky and heavy it was for lil ol' me.  so i wasn't keeping up with sweeping with that thing.  i wanted something lightweight, something that worked and wouldn't break the bank.  i did some research online and found this Bissell Hard Floor Expert Vacuum.  the price was very reasonable.  it's so lightweight that i can carry it around the house with one hand!  (i have zero upper body strength) and it sucks up everything!  if you have hardwood floors, i would highly recommend this vacuum!

organized freak - dream closet

i am slightly embarrassed by this post but slightly feel obligated to highlight some of my ocd organizing in my closet.  i have a lot of stuff.  i am more of the girl that finds comfort in quantity over quality.  most of my clothes or accessories come from walmart or target with my nicer items coming from express or american eagle.  honestly, i can't justify spending a bunch of money on pieces when my tastes change so regularly.

anyway.

because i have a shopping problem.  and a hoarding problem.  i must find ways to store these items and still make them pretty.  here's a zoomed in approach to some places in my closet.

we shall start with my make up.  i used acrylic drawers and lipstick holders.  i got the lipstick holders from amazon.  the drawers underneath the front lipstick holder i purchased at marshall's. i have my chapsticks, lipsticks and lip glosses in the lipstick holder.  in the drawers, i put my lip stains, extra lip gloss and any other lip product in pots.  the acrylic drawers on my actual make up table also came from amazon.  i have each drawer divided by eye shadows, eye liners and mascara.  the drawers under my mirror hold the make up i use every day.  so it's separated by face, eyes and finishing powder/spray.  next to my everyday make up drawers i have lotions and two cups with my general brushes and my everyday brushes.

lippies

eye make up

everyday make up

next to my make up table is a short bookshelf that stores my back up products and travel products.  on top of that, is my jewelry and perfume.  i have two more acrylic drawers that hold my back up products.  those are separated by foundation, powders, blush/bronzer, finishing sprays and concealers.  the silver box i purchased on sale at target.  it holds small jewelry bags for travel. the plastic bins are all from the dollar store.  they hold back up lotion, hair products and tons of travel size beauty products.  i also have a huge hand sanitizer bottle to use when i have hair product on my hands but don't feel like going to wash them off.  on top of the bookshelf, i have a silver platter i got from target to display my many perfumes.  another drawer set holds my earrings, rings and watches.  a small dish holds any jewelry i take off after work and am too lazy to put away.  on the wall is the custom jewelry holder my dad and i put together i mentioned earlier.

back up/travel products

perfume and jewelry

next to the short bookshelf, i have my folded clothes and then my shoes.  these photos are a little more zoomed in than my previous post pictures.  here you can see the cubes used to divide my folded clothes.  you can see the tall and short bookshelves holding my boots and heels.  and you can finally see the shoe racks i spoke of but never posted a picture.  it's also showing a closer view of the updated knobs on the drawers.  the pool noodles on my boot shelves are used to keep my boots standing up while they're on the shelf.

folded clothes

shoe rack

shoes!

next to my shoe shelves, are my nail polish and hair carts.  i took more detailed and zoomed photos of these carts.  first up is my nail polish cart.  i got this cart at ikea.  the black cups hooked on the front are from ikea but i ordered them off amazon.  i put my brushes, files, clippers and stickers in these.  the clear boxes i purchased at the dollar store.  i have my nail polish separated in them by color.  it is really convenient if i know i want to paint my nails a certain color to grab the box than the whole cart some times.  but i also like the convenience of dragging the cart to whatever room i want to do my nails in.  on top, are my nail polish removers, cotton balls and other small items i use to make designs.

finally, the hair cart is a wee bit more detailed..  i'm only going to show a few photos so the post won't be so long.  but each drawer is divided up to hold all my clips, hair bows and tools.  on the side of the cart i hung a container to hold my hair dryer and curling iron.  i believe i purchased this at marshall's.  on top, i used magazine holders i purchased at target to hold my hair products.  the lace cup is also from target and it holds my hair brushes.  most of the plastic dividers in the drawers are from the dollar store.

that's about as detailed as i want to get on how ocd i am about my organizing.  it's a little ridiculous.  but i make a looooooooooooot of crap fit in a tiny space with my ways. :)