My parents are arriving for a quick stay this afternoon, so to prepare I cleaned out the spare room (formerly the nursery, formerly the TV room). It was chock-a-block with unsorted laundry and sundry items that hadn't quite found a home. I put away the laundry (having to redo most of it, because it had been sitting in a stale heap for so long) and found places for the other bits and pieces. I left Lydia's Moses basket in there, because I just can't seem to put that into storage. It's comforting to have it around, somehow. Anyway, putting order into that room forced me to go in and out of my closet quite a bit (I use the closet in this room, because it's bigger than the one in the "master" bedroom), and it was a sight to behold:






Despite the appearance, there is a basic method to the closet's madness -- dresses to the far left, then blouses, then skirts, then jackets and suits. Mind you, most of this stuff gets worn fairly infrequently. Ironing is one of my least favourite chores, so the clothes that get worn most often is wash and wear stuff that I just fold and put into my dresser. And since my waistline expanded (seemingly permanently!) during pregnancy, I hardly ever wear blouses. If it has to be tucked in, I stay far away.





The side of my closet is stacked with items that need repair, and sweaters & fluffy red bathrobe that my mom helped me sew a few years ago. I wore it for a while, but then I lost the belt and it's hung here ever since. Note the tiny white sleeve hanging down from the top shelf. That was a vintage infant nightgown that I bought when my first husband and I started trying for a baby. I really thought that it would have gotten some use by now...





This is where the real disaster lies -- shoe tree covered by leather suitcases (gift from my first wedding -- too nice to let a little thing like a divorce make me get rid of them!) and handbags that I do occasionally use when the mood strikes. As you might guess, the shoes don't get much use. The shoes I wear on a daily basis are lined up under my side of the bed... You can't see it well, but there's a lovely vintage 80s mustard Chanel (knock-off) suit on the right-hand side. It was my first "grown-up" suit (high-school gradution present from my mom) and it's a size 4, so you can imagine how much wear that gets nowadays!


And last and least, the closet door:



Scarves I don't wear and I bag I bought in Greece during a backpacking trip I took when I was studying in Germany.

So, basically my closet is full of close I don't wear and stuff I barely use. I might as well rent a storage locker and turn this space into a darkroom or a ganja nursery (with proper lighting, of course).

I find that moving does wonders for the motivation to get rid of old stuff. In fact, I rarely get rid of unworn/unwearable stuff until I have to move. The husband has offered the revelation of buy one thing = get rid of another thing. That works wonders too.

Two years now, and I still have the crib up though.