I’m not too sure if The William Morris Project that Pancakes and French Fries began last year is going to be continuing in 2013, because she’s starting a new project of self improvement and better living — but around our house, there is still plenty of decluttering, repurposing and making use of things going. And our apartment is getting just a little more beautiful every day!
Before Christmas arrived, I had a serious nesting phase (I think the prospect of my in-laws spending time in our apartment for 5 days straight was making me nutty — even though they stayed at a hotel down the street and barely left our dining room when they were visiting) and I was about to stick a big, bulky container that we’ve been hauling around uselessly for year now on Freecycle when I had an idea…
You see, for years now…YEARS…I have had my shoes crammed into these two boxes:
Was it practical? Not at all.
Was it easy to find the shoes when I wanted to wear them? Hell no.
Did I end up wearing the same shoes all the time just because it was easier? Of course. 😉
Now, before I hear about how I should probably get rid of some of the shoes since I’m clearly not wearing them…it’s not that simple for me. In fact, I have reduced the number of shoes I have dramatically over the last year or two…and although I probably have around 25 pairs of shoes (mostly flip flops), I am not ready to part with any other shoes just yet. After the upcoming summer in Berlin, talk to me again because I’m pretty sure I’ll ditch a few more of them that I never wear. But until then, these will all remain.
We bought this big container which fits perfectly into a double PAX closet from IKEA because we intended for it to fit in the bottom of one of our closets about 4 years ago when we had to get closets for our bedroom since our new daughter was moving into the only bedroom in the farm with a real closet. But the planner software and real life don’t always align perfectly…and so the thing never really fit in the closet as intended.
Until recently. 
At the moment, my short clothes are a bit cramped on top of the box…but I’m also intending to purge some more stuff from my closet at the end of the summer as well. There’s many things I never wear in there…and I’m still trying to decide whether it’s just because I have no proper occasion to do so — or I just don’t like the clothes. The good news, though, is that the closet is still losing clothes more quickly than it gains them. So even though it looks a bit chaotic, I can actually find my clothes in there and wear different things on a regular basis. Heck, I even got rid of two more sweaters just last week! 😉
How are your closets looking? Do you have trouble letting go of clothes you know you never wear but could possibly one day decide to put on? 😉
Hi Tiffany,
I definitely struggle with letting go of clothes that I haven’t worn in ages but that are still fine and that I might wear again at some point down the road. In fact, I was recently thrilled when I discovered a pair of jeans in my closet that I hadn’t worn in probably 7 years because they didn’t fit any more but now they do again (after many months of breastfeeding!). I had kept them around because I used to love wearing them and they were still in great condition. Of course, that sort of thing almost never happens, and there are plenty of clothes in my closet that I will probably really never wear again because I just don’t like them very much. What do you do with the clothes that you get rid of? I don’t want to just throw them out if they are still perfectly fine and someone else might be able to use them.
Greetings from the other side of Berlin!
Nicole
Hey Nicole,
First off, congrats on fitting back into your old jeans. 😉
If they are name brand, you can look around for a second hand store in your area. We have a few near us that buy used clothing although I have no idea what the pricing would be since I’ve yet to visit the inside of one. lol
I usually just put mine into one of the clothing drop containers around the corner from us. And we have a friend that will take most of Stefan’s shirts. And Mack’s we have stored up to put on ebay since they generally fetch decent prices there — but we have been procrastinating on that project for a while now. 😉