Closet revamp

If we're connected on Instagram, you may have noticed that I've been majorly cleaning out my closet. My personal style is changing, and I have things hanging in my closet that I haven't worn in a couple years (or EVER!) that I'm finally willing to let go of.

I plan to spend the weekend sorting and pulling my stuff to sell and swap and to do the same for my kids' stuff. By next weekend, I'd like to list items on both Poshmark and Swapdom. If you're on either of those sites, we should connect!

I'll list most of my own clothing and trendy accessories for sale on Poshmark:

[more info on Poshmark here]

You can find my Poshmark closet under "Indiana. The first ten people who use code BGUII to download the mobile app on a device will get a $5 credit when you sign up at poshmark.com/getapp. I sold a couple things back in 2012, and I recently bought a couple things. The community has really grown since 2012, and I'm looking forward to trying it out as a seller again.

As for my kids' stuff and for a few of my favorite dresses, I want to list those to swap on Swapdom:

[more info on Swapdom here]

You can find my Swapdom profile under "Indiana" as well. New members can use my referral code if you'd like. I haven't used Swapdom at all yet, but I think it's a great way to get new items without having to spend a lot of money. A few bloggers that I really like are on Swapdom, and I want to see for myself how it works, especially since they have a kids' category.

I'm excited to downsize my closet and to swap items thoughtfully. I haven't listed anything on either site yet, but I'll Tweet when I start uploading things. In the meantime, I'd love to follow other sellers on Poshmark and other swappers on Swapdom, so if you're on there, let me know!

I'm curious: If you've used Poshmark or Swapdom, how was your experience?

Seven bags!

Warning: I don't get all super serious on here often, but I'm about to wander into that territory tonight. Eeek.

I mentioned back in April that I had been trying to re-do my closet since January. I got 90% of the reorganizing done, and then one day last week, I looked in my closet and it was a complete disaster again. I've come to realize that it's not about the space that I have, it's about the stuff I accumulate. My closet took over my guest room, so on Monday I finally bagged up some stuff and immediately loaded it into my car and drove it away to donate:

It wound up being seven bags of clothes and shoes from the guest room alone. I imagine that when I go through my closet again, I'll have another couple of bags of clothes to give away.

I've been wanting to write about this since my (failed) 30x30 run last spring. I read What I Wore's new book over the weekend (review to come later!), and it really got me thinking about putting together a smaller, more thoughtful wardrobe.

I mean, what kind of person have I become? How can I complain about only being able to use thirty items of clothing for thirty days? Seriously? It wasn't that long ago when I was a child in a blue collar family who would have been amazed to have thirty pieces of clothing, total! How in the world did I come to own so much clothing that I could fill seven trash bags full of clothing that I don't really wear anymore?

I have a lot more I want to say about all this, but I need the weekend to really think about what I'm trying to say here.

Chuggin' along

The closet reorganization project is a much larger task that I had anticipated. I can now see why there are such things are professional closet organizers. Never in my life had I contemplated hiring one until now.

I did step one of Kendi's closet guide: purging. Irrelevant side note: the word purging sounds gross to me. It ranks right up there with moist. Blerg!

This is just my first pass of things I've decided I can do without. Again, I'm embarrassed by the sheer amount of waste/ consumerism of this, but nonetheless, I have committed to documenting this in hopes that I never, ever, EVER let it get like this again:

And this is just my first pass! I plan to do two more passes after I wash the three loads of laundry that were in a pile on the closet floor. Can you believe it? That is an entire full sized bed filled with stuff that I don't wear or use often enough to merit keeping. There's a pink Jansport backpack in there that I've held on to since college, a t-shirt that says "My dog barks louder than yours" that I got specifically to wear to Jimi's obedience classes... five years ago, and my cheerleading shoes also left over from college. You didn't believe me, but I told y'all I was a candidate for Hoarders! Do you believe me now?

I am excited about freeing up some precious closet space. I have stacks of clothes that are going bye-bye:

A couple of you have asked if I plan to do a "Shop My Closet" thing. I thought about it, and the answer is no. I just want this stuff gone. I don't want to have to photograph, price, and list everything, then hang onto it until it sells. I'm going to iron everything, fold it neatly, then take some stuff to Buffalo Exchange for some cash and drop the rest off at my favorite Savers in small sacks. As Annie pointed out to me via Twitter, every time you donate a sack of clothes to Savers, you get a 20% coupon. I'll just keep the unsellable clothes packed in bags in the garage, and every time I feel the need to get something at the thrift store, I'll grab a donation bag to take in. One bag= one item!

Something else I'm chuggin' along in is photography. One Saturday, Amy showed me how to white balance and choose an ISO. On Sunday, Matt and Andrew showed me how to get off auto-focus and learn how to do it myself. I took a picture of Jude this morning using my new tricks, and it turned out super cute:

I am so excited about upping the quality of my self-style photos. I could never dream that my photos could be as good as say, Keiko's, but I hope to get better and better from where I started day by day!

It never should have come to this...

Late last night, I joked about scrapping 90% of my current wardrobe and starting over from scratch. Ever since then, I cannot stop thinking about it.

This is, perhaps, the most embarrassing post I've ever done or ever will do. All joking aside, people, I have a very serious problem. Internet, meet my closet:
It didn't always look this way (proof 1 and 2), but ever since I had Jude, my closet has become overwhelmingly messy. My clothes have taken over. Truly, I'm cringing about posting this photo, but I can feel that I've lost control. I honestly feel like I should be on the tv Hoarders! My laundry room looks the same, and my closet is spilling over into my bedroom now. I even have clothes stashed in my guest room closet, my office, and our fall coat closet. Most of these are clothes from thrift stores or things I've had since college and have kept them thinking, "Oh, it still fits and it's still in great condition, so I'll just hang on to it."

I am very scared. I can't find matching shoes, I've lost my favorite belt, and I haven't seen my short, black slip in ages. So I'm doing it. I've posted this photo as a BEFORE. I'm purging and I'm making a solemn promise to myself, my husband, and my readers that I will never, ever let this happen again.

Now someone send in the bulldozer and excavation team! This time next week, expect me to show you a completely different photo. I'm using Kendi's guides to get things done. [see purging, assessing, and organizing]. Afterward, I'll do one trip to Buffalo Exchange and donate the rest to Savers. From here on out, I will let things go.

You cannot even believe how nervous I am.

Where my clothes live

I really like closets. It's been like this my entire life. I used to sleep in my bedroom closet as a child and it wasn't even a walk-in! I currently use the closet under my stairs as a tiny, little writing space. As for my real closet, I just realized that aside from this video from a while back, I've never shown my readers where I store my clothes:

It's incredibly modest, but it's all mine (Hubs has his own walk-in closet which is surprsingly larger than mine). I use cheap, plastic hangers from Target, and since I don't own a dresser, I hang up everything except for workout clothes, socks, and underpants.

This is the standard closet configuration that came with the house. I didn't mod it out or anything. I just make do with what I have. Every inch of bar space is used, so I have to be very picky about what comes in. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it... but would I sleep in there? Probably not!

What about y'all? Do you love or loath your own closets?

Help: Time to clean out the closet

It's that time of year again. These are some of the items of clothing in my "to sell to Buffalo Exchange or give to Goodwill" pile. Is there anything I should consider keeping for another season? Or should I go ahead and give all of these up? Watch the video and let me know which pieces I should consider hanging onto for little bit more.

[music "The Swtich" by Hey Mercedes]