Spring of Paring Down

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with cooking or how to shop for the perfect paring knife. Foodies be warned!

If I counted how many coats, t-shirts and shoes I have I would be ashamed to write the number here. If I added all of my purses, scarves and gloves you’d think I was joking. I have a habit of holding onto clothes and shoes in case (“What if? What if?!”) I need them in the future. I always dread the day I’ll search for an item in my closet and then woefully remember, “Oh yeah, I donated that last year.”

My closet is like a time capsule. I can recall where I bought almost every item and which ones were gifts. I remember how much of a discount I got and the significant events I wore them to. Giving away a shirt or a hoodie is like giving away a packet of memories. For the past few months I’ve had a “To donate” pile in my bathroom. It just sits there. Every once in a while I add to the pile. Occasionally I pull an item out for rescue.

Clothes and shoes are only the tip of the iceberg. For lack of better words I have a lot of “just about everything.” I have a ton of inexpensive jewelry (hello Forever 21!), lotion (a popular birthday gift), old birthday cards and playbills. My collection of nail polish is so extensive I can hardly close my bathroom drawer without routine reorganizations. The presence of three different curling irons in said drawer isn’t much help.

I also have a problem area in my living room which has been boiling over for a while. My collection of scrap fabric and ribbon for craft projects is out of control! It used to fit in a plastic drawer set but lately it has spread to a few additional baskets and boxes and every once in a while it escapes onto the kitchen counter. Naughty, naughty!

I decided on this “Spring of Paring Down” seasonal theme almost a month ago. I tackled my fabric drawers first and made this entire wreath using fabric I already had. Not a bad start, right?

Looking around my apartment I know there is more I can do. I need to cut down my leftover inventory from my out-of-commission Etsy shop. I absolutely have to turn my old clothes and shoes in to Deseret Industries. I need to paste all of my souvenir tickets into my long-abandoned scrap book. Literally I want to get rid of half the stuff in my apartment. I am going to use the month of April to tackle all of this and then I’m going to spend May and June maintaining the new-found sanity.

In short Phase One will involve attacking these problem areas:

A. Closet: Pull every item out of my closet which I haven’t worn for one year. Say goodbye.

B. Bathroom drawers: Chuck all old nail polishes. Get rid of superfluous items.

C. Desk: Collect all tickets and other sentimental scraps. Slap them into scrapbook.

D. Fabric drawers & Etsy inventory: Organize all remaining fabric and ribbon. Re-open Etsy shop and sell everything at a deep discount.

E. Basement storage area: Remove all unused furniture/decoration items. Give them away.

Phase Two (read: maintenance) will test my resolve but I think if I make it all the way to June without re-cluttering my life then I can probably make it the rest of the year. If I can make it the rest of the year then maybe I can make it the rest of my life. Well, the rest of my “single” life at least.

If this doesn’t count as “paring down” I don’t know what does. I am already excited to see the progress. Happy Spring Cleaning to all and to all a good night!