Minimizing the tragedy that is my closet

My closet is not exactly a tragedy, but it is filled with things I just do not wear. Since I mostly work from home there are suits and dress shirts I don't use any longer, things that don't fit, and some stuff that I only pull off the hanger when I've been too lazy to do laundry. Okay, so lets attack the closet with the same procedure as before...

First, decide what the closet is really for. Um, how about holding items of clothing that I actually like and wear, not just stuff I might wear or fit back into one of these days. And also, if I fit in something but just don't like wearing it, it doesn't need to be there.

Excellent. This is what the closet looks like before the minimize...

You will note that I am judiciously ONLY showing my, um, half of the closet.

This is all the stuff that came out of my half of the closet out on the bed...

After going through everything and making a fast judgement on a) does it fit, b) do I like it, and c) do I actually wear it, just the things that hit all the preceding criteria went back in the closet. This is the end result...

Pretty nice minimize, if I do say so myself. I kept my suit, two blazers, a few dress shirts, and the polo shirts that fit and look the best. I also retained all my ties, belts. A hand-knit sweater my wife gave me is on the top shelf.

The best thing is that the items left in the closet are the pieces of my wardrobe I actually wear and now they are not stuffed in with a bunch of things that never see the light of day.

More room for the good stuff, eh?

How to Minimize a Messy Desk...

Step One - Look at the mess you need to tackle...

Step Two - Go to Redwood Park and do a five mile trail run...

Step Three - Return to disaster-office and stare blankly at the calendar behind the desk, realizing the reason the month shows June is probably because it was the last time you could actually use the desk...
Step Four - Get to work by removing everything, to include all the running medals accumulated during the year (Not ready to let these go yet, but they can be thinned out for sure)...

Step Five - Get rid of the ridiculous junk that was cluttering up the space, to include race bib numbers that I have no idea what races they were associated with...


The end result was the removal of one huge box of papers and garbage, about fifteen books to deal with, and one medium sized box of papers to go through. The "Reveal" will be in the next post (bad lighting for a photo tonight), along with the steps to clean up a messy desk/office. The five mile run is optional but recommended.