Project Simplify - Week 1

Project Simplify is a five week decluttering challenge.  Week One started yesterday, so it is not too late to join in.  You can read all about Project Simplify by clicking on either one of the links.

Week One's project is your wardrobe and/or closet.  This is something I had been working on since last Summer, slowly weeding out clothing that I never wear, that no longer fits, is out of style, was a case of buyer's remorse, etc.  Slowly getting my closet down to things I actually wear.  So I had a good head start on this project.

Here is the "before" photo of my side of the closet.  And considering all of the weeding out I had already done, my closet didn't look too bad!

Unfortunately, I didn't realize when I snapped this that half of my sweaters were downstairs hanging in the laundry room.  And I had already pulled a bunch of stuff from the closet before I went and got the sweaters!

And this is the "After Photo" overall view of the closet.  Minus several pair of shoes.  That bag of clothing is summer shorts and pajamas.  That will be reevaluated when summer gets here!

"Before" close up of the clothing, not including the sweaters that were in the laundry room.

"After" close up of the clothing.  Things are sorted by how often I need to get to them.  Right now Winter sweaters are near the front.  When the weather changes, the summer tops come forward and the winter sweaters go to the back of the closet.  In the far back, in bags - my wedding dress and all three girls christening gowns.

I found it very serendipitous that at the time this closet exercise comes up, I am reading this in Simple Abundance:  "Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have." - quote from Doris Mortman.

In fact, the next several days of essays are about how you look, the image you project, and being authentic.  And the tips for implementing the closet exercise on Project Simplify play right into this.  One of the questions was about your best colors - my closet is full of my best colors.  Any guesses what they are? 

I have also learned what colors are not my best colors.  For instance, with work clothes I always thought I needed/wanted variety.  Basic dress colors - black, grey, navy, brown.  But when I pull pants out of my closet to get dressed for work, I always choose black or grey.  On the rare occasions that I've worn navy or brown, I feel really uncomfortable.  And since I am only in the office one or two days a week, I really don't need many choices.  Hence this:

These were the clothes I added to the Goodwill pile today. Dress slacks in navy and brown, a dress jacket in brown, a bunch of blouses I haven't worn in at least two years.  Despite all the paring down I've been doing, I was still able to find more that didn't need to be taking up space in my closet.

A couple of other projects I've done within the last few weeks:

I tossed a lot of makeup that was old or that I didn't use.  This is it now.  All the makeup I own in this one little organizer!

I also pared down my jewelry, getting rid of a lot of costume jewelry that I never wear.  Aside from a couple strands of pearls, this is every necklace I now own... hung on the dresser mirror where I can actually see them and choose from them each day.  The hooks are the Command Hooks by 3M that come off cleanly - the idea was Sarah's - it is how she organizes her jewelry at school!

A close-up of some of the jewelry that survived the cut.  Since many of these have sentimental value, having them displayed this way really makes me HAPPY!

One Little Word - 2011

What a journey this past week has been - just chillin' with the family and spending a lot of time reading, napping, thinking. 

One of the things I've been thinking about was my One Little Word.  In 2009 it was "Enrich" and I really felt I did well with this one - enriching my life with learning Photoshop and beginning to gather an online tribe.  My word for 2010 was Wholehearted.  While the word meant a lot to me in theory and concept, I'm not sure how well it translated into action.  It was on my mind all year though!

As you all know, I had been considering "focus" as my One Little Word for 2011 but hadn't quite committed to it.  Honestly, the more I thought about it, the more "focus" sounded like a lot of work and not a lot of fun.  So, maybe next year.  For 2011 my word is:

 Yes, HAPPY!  This word chose me. I was reading "Manifesting Change" by Mike Dooley and this word just jumped off the page at me.  And just thinking about having happy as my word made me happy. So I decided to just go with it.

This is my title page for "One Little Word" - the album I'm making in the Ali Edwards class of the same name over at Big Picture Classes.  Prompts for this class are only once a month (title page was pre-class word), but the content we got for month one totally wowed me!  And I love the idea of making my one little word a more regular presence in my life. I'll be back in a few days with my first content page.

 Here's the back side of the opening page. Ali asked us to do a recent (as in take it today) photo - but I thought this one from 2010 just really captured me and my word Happy. Don't you think?  So I went with it.

Oh yeah, starting 2011 in the zone and going with the flow just feels so good!

I also thought I'd have a go at participating in Jill's One Little Word | Captured challenge for 2011. So for week one, here is my one little word captured... in a balloon Rachel brought home from work last night.

And Happy New Year to you all!