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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Spring Cleaning: My Closet


I was inspired last week by Tsh over at Simple Mom to get going on my spring cleaning. I read her post on Friday morning before the kids got up and by the time #1 was awake, I was knee-deep in a huge pile of clothes, shoes and alas, dust.

Here's what was going on in my half of the closet:



Quite the mess. And yes, that's my wedding dress hanging up in a lovely plastic bag in the second picture. I have no idea who to take it to for cleaning/preserving so I have defaulted to taking it nowhere for 5 1/2 years now. Nice.

The idea from Simple Mom was not just to clean out your closet, it was to actually clean your closet. Like with a vacuum and stuff.

So I pulled everything out, had one of those dear Lord why did I think this was a good idea moments, and proceeded to vacuum, dust and scrub my little heart out.


The other condition Simple Mom put on the task was that you had to try everything on before it went back in. EVERYTHING. And then evaluate it to make sure it fit, it was in good condition (no holes, stains, etc.) and in style.

Yikes. My closet was housing a pre-both-pregnancies wardrobe, a maternity wardrobe and a post-baby #1 wardrobe all at the same time. Let's just say it was not pretty. But I tried EVERYTHING on. There had to have been a dozen items I was hanging on to because they were gifts and I felt bad giving them away. One of which was lingerie. Seriously! I was holding on to lingerie I had never worn because something in me thought the gifter would somehow be offended by my giving it away. I seriously doubt they're going to ask me if I've worn that item lately. Out it went.

I bagged up a lot of lovely things for Goodwill. I also re-discovered several pairs of shoes in the process. Hello Red Wedges!


It was a seriously big undertaking, but I'm excited about my new streamlined closet. I have far fewer things to look through and far more options for what to wear now. I think I've worn something "new" everyday since Friday. It makes such a difference when the only things you see in your closet fit, are in style and in good condition. Which sounds ridiculous. Everything in your closet should always fit that bill.


I even gained a whole shelf for my sewing machine and craft-type supplies.


Are any of you big spring cleaners? Does anyone know a good dry cleaner I can trust with my wedding dress? Is there any point in trying to clean a gown that has had a dirty hemline for almost 6 years now? : )

6 comments:

  1. Love it. All of it. Wanna come over? I don't think mine's too bad but after your "vacuuming and stuff" apparently it's worse than I may believe it to be.
    As far as the wedding dress: I, too, am guilty as charged. She's been sitting there for 8 yrs and 1 week to the day. Slightly grassy hemline but otherwise lookin' good...with no where to go. Yes, I really should dry clean it...ah hem, her. Apparently around here we must give proper nouns to our clothing.
    One tip: I was told by several dry cleaners never to have your dress boxed after having it cleaned, unless you've given it a once over. Word is that it is often found that if a dry cleaner is asked to box up a dress immediately after cleaning it (ie: prior to pick up), that they'll do a poor job cleaning it b/c they assume (correctly so, I would say) that no one with look at it up close so who cares about those hem stains.
    Food for thought, anyway. :)
    Take care my friend.

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  2. Congrats on a beautiful new closet. As for the wedding dress, I can't help you. I was one of those rare few that sold their dress following the wedding to get a start on the new life with hubby. I sold it to the lady who did my alterations. Everything looks amazing. So proud of you. I won't lie, organizing is my very favorite thing to do. :)

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  3. I LOVE spring cleaning and organizing! You did a great job on the closet. Did you build/buy the shelves or were they in the closet when you bought the house?

    I am like Melanie in that I sold my dress two weeks after my wedding. It was a rather big thing that I had no space nor need for and who knows if I'll have a daughter or if she'd even want to wear it someday :)

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  4. The shelves came with the closet! One of the nicest things about it for keeping life organized. And I have kept the wedding dress in hopes that one day it can be altered for Britain or if she gets a new dress I can cut it up and make heirloom type gifts for our kids. hahaha....but maybe that's just wishful thinking!

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  5. Wow I love your closet! Great job! I had my wedding dress cleaned a year or so after I was married, Not sure what the name of the place was, Scotts? Legacy? anyway it was no where fancy. Cost me about a $100 bucks but it was worth it, I just stuffed "her" in a rubber maid and keep "her" under the bed. It's nice to know it's done and "shes" clean.

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  6. my mom had her dress "restored" probably about ten to twelve years ago (and you figure they've been married for ~35 years, and it looked fantastic after she had it done. definitely worth it i'd say if you're thinking about it. am sure if hers looked that good after sitting in plastic for 20+ yrs your dress will look as good as new. she did it in chicago, so doesn't matter what the name of the place was. they did set it up in a nice display-type box (roughly the size of a boot shoe box). don't think it was outrageously expensive. maybe $100. good investment though :)

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