As many of you know, I am always reluctant to change when the weather does - yes, I love seeing the colors change on the leaves and feeling the cool air at night when I sleep, but the concept of swapping out my clothes and adding coats and scarves still escapes me. Maybe it's because I grew up in a more moderate climate, maybe it's just silly stubbornness or a case of the lazies - not sure which, but it's a bugger when you go outside and realize that a cute t-shirt is no longer enough and your bare toes are cringing as they touch the cold ground.
This last week had me scrambling for a sweater and wondering why on earth I only had one pair of jeans. It was chilly, but the days beautiful and the night sky as clear as something out of a storybook. That single, cold day led to a chaotic evening as I decided to clean out my closet and scrambled to swap out my summer skirts and make room for sweater dresses and my beloved boots.
For many things in design, it has to be a process. You need to think about the outcome, plan your time accordingly and just know it is going to take longer than you ever thought. But when it comes to my clothes, all the nice organizing ideas in the world go out the window and it becomes a lesson in necessity and speed.
Being short on storage means I don't have the luxury of days spent sorting them into piles and trying every single thing on, but it does mean that I am very motivated :-) And, I have to be resourceful - my bed becomes my sorting center and my tiny closet kindly expands to absorb as much as it possibly can. The only other thing I have is a small dresser and a few drawers under my bed that store my off-season clothes. It's not fancy, but it works (and it helps to curb my e-bay buying habit because space is so limited and precious).
Because I am always short on time lately, I just had a few hours to get it all done, so here's what I did.
- Turned the music on (Funky 70's Pandora station).
- Dressed in an old t-shirt and leggings.
- All my summer stuff was taken out of the drawers and closet then put in a big pile on the bed.
- My winter clothes were pulled out of the drawers and put in another big pile.
- I sorted the winter clothes into two piles - "love-can't wait to wear it" and "meh".
- The "love-can't wait to wear it" pile got sorted into sweater dresses, sweaters and long-sleeved thingys. All of which went into my drawers (the sweater dresses can be rolled up).
- The "meh" pile went on my office floor. I later tried things on and donated most of it.
- The summer clothes that had nowhere to go and needed to stay in the closet went to the far left and the winter clothes that had to go in the closet went in the center and right hand side (sectioned by blouses, long-sleeved, fancy, date-night etc).
- The other summer clothes (t-shirts, dresses etc) went into the drawers under my bed.
- Leggings, jeans and skirts stayed in my dresser, with the summer ones underneath the winter ones.
Within three hours, I was happily tired, and both me and my tiny closet were ready for cooler days and excited for lots of wonderful, boot-wearing weather!
