I am going through my closet right now, pulling out what I really don't wear, plus the things that are just not attractive on me. I am putting things aside for charity.

One of my issues is winter hats. I love hats and have a lot of warm cute hats - i hate a cold head. But how many warm hats do i NEED? That's the question.

Okay, I got it down to four hats. I know that is still too many, but for me, this is pretty good. And i am not talking about ones for backpacking, just stylish little winter hats.

I am looking next at my hoodies and jackets, another thing I have too many of.

I got rid of a few more tee shirts and a pair of light capris.

I THOUGHT I had things down to the minimum, but alas, I still have problems. I have skinny clothes I am holding onto, plus belts and a few nice outfits/shoes that I KNOW I will never get to wear with my new lifestyle.

Arg.

Going back to the closet...

How are other people doing? Do you have more clothes than you actually ever wear?

Okay, oops, FIVE winter hats. But two of them are cute little caps I can wear all year when it's chilly, and three are for actual wintry conditions.

I have it down to one winter scarf though (matches one of the hats - Jeanne made them for me from New Orleans marino wool yarn).

And four sets of fuzzy gloves, which is also too many. I will eliminate one of those right now. So one set for actual winter conditions and two sets for chilly evenings all year.

Shoes. I have a bunch of cute little flip flops and sandals, which again is ridiculous since I only really wear a few shoes each day, and reserve one set of flip flops for the pool/showers.

It is always hard when you get down to the cute ones Take pictures!

We have an attic so we can put winter stuff up into the attic so it's completely out of the way all summer long, and visa versa. So having a few extra pairs of mittens aren't that bad in that situation. I hate to suggest you put more things IN your storage cubes but maybe you can do that for now while you sort this all out?

I am moving onto a boat fairly soon and I LOVE clothes. There won't be much room for even my very favorite things. I am in a quandry. My husband refuses to have a storage unit. The only solution I seem to have come upon is to fill up some plastic boxes that people put under beds, and put in my favorite clothes and treasures. Then give one to each of my good friends. It's looming over me.

I'm having fun. Pictures, yes. heh. I can put them up on facebook and all my friends can wonder why I have pictures of flip flops posted there.

Okay, two less belts. I have a nice collection of leather belts but hardly EVER wear pants that belts can be worn with. So I now have five belts. That's good enough for now. I can go back to it later.

What next? I really don't want to put anything in my black hole, AKA storage. I want to take things OUT of storage and eliminate them from my life.

Susistra - that does seem to be a challenge! Do you have any relatives you could leave some things with, in their attic or something?

Jilly - I understand completely about not wanting to add to the "storage problem". So it sounds like you're taking the right approach!

I am moving across town into my old house on the hill. I have so many clothes! I keep buying them at garage sales -- and the sizes go from 9 to 4X in my closet. I had a gastric bypass in 2005 and really need to just get rid of the bigger stuff. Everytime I open the closet I am reminded of my old larger self and I really hate that. Our gastric bypass group has a free clothing exchange and a lot fo this stuff is going to them. But the rest ---- Goodwill here I come! Sheryl

Susistra, moving into a boat is cool! What kind of boat? How exciting.

I suggest rolling your clothes instead of folding them. They take up less space and don't wrinkle that way.

I also suggest getting those hanging shoes shelves, the kind you hang from closet rods, and put your folded clothes in those. Limit what actually has to hang from hangers, as that is not a good use of space. That's what I do in the RV.

I am trying to remember the 80-20 rule: in this case, that we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. I am trying to let the 80% go from my life.

The holiday wear, things like xmas sweaters and st patrick's day attire, those are tough to get rid of, but are kinda necessary to eliminate. I am trying to have festive jewelry and scarves instead - they take up little room vs the 'occasional wear' clothes.

I think your treasure chest gifts idea sounds lovely.

Sheryl, that sounds really mentally healthy - you SHOULD get rid of the clothes that make you unhappy and bring back bad memories. And I am sure someone else will appreciate those clothes! Good for you.

I've begun taking a hard look at the clothes in my closet. I hesitate giving away winter items at this time so I will sort into keep and look at in the fall. I'm going through my spring and summer things now and know what I want to keep and will look at the other pile. A lot of that needs to go to Goodwill.

It is so easy to keep stuff you like but doesn't fit or is dated.

My boyfriend is notoriously bad about ever getting rid of old clothes. So I have to take things in stages.

Right now he has his shirts / t-shirts in 2 closets. The rarely used ones are in the closet in the office, so if he never goes in there, it starts to indicate that those clothes are no longer needed

For the "active" closet, I take a different approach. I have hung every item in it "backwards" - that is, with the hook open part facing me. Usually when you hang clothes you hang them with the hook open part facing the back of the closet.

So everything is backwards in the closet. As he takes out and wears things, and they go back in, they'll go back in normally. So after say 3 months, anything that is still backwards hasn't been worn at all in 3 months.

Angie, this might be a *good* time to look at your winter items. Or at least your winter accessories, like hats, scarves and gloves. It might be easier to have less duplicates of things that are wintry when it's getting hotter out!

Lisa, that is pretty smart thinking. I wonder if Bob will be willing to let things go after you've proven that he really doesn't wear them?

Hmmm, what is next for me to look at? I think I still brought too many jackets into the RV. I pared them down to five or six for different weather conditions, but it's probably still too many when I keep reaching for the same one or two. Let me look at those now.

This is funny...I did all that closet cleaning a few months back, but now that it's time to make the switch and pull out the spring/summer clothes and pack away the winter stuff...I can't find what I did with the summer clothes...maybe I threw them away thinking that we needed new ones this year (stained, holes...etc...)

Too many sweaters and my slacks are getting that comfortable worn look. I've already begun a pile for discarding.

BigBrother BigSister is coming in three days! Hurrah! Now to go from room to room and find something in every room to put into boxes ...

Jill - my plan after 3 months is two fold. First, I'm going to seriously prune things in his "never used closet" when we've proven he hasn't even opened that closet door in 3 months. That will clear up space in there.

Then I will move everything that hasn't been touched in his main closet into that never used closet. We will see, again, if he ever goes into that never used closet at all. So that will be a staging area. He is very, very resistant to doing this so I have to go slowly.

Lisa - my ex was just as resistant. She went to visit her parents for a weekend and I boxed everything up that was a) in the attic, b)in the basement, c) in the hall closet and d) in the guestroom closet and put them in the garage. Two months went by and I took them all to Goodwill. It took her SIX months to notice any amiss. There was minor ranting and raving but she got over it. No long lasting marital harm!

Hmmmm I am not sure I'd ever go that far. If something is Bob's possession I would not make decisions about it. If it's a joint possession then I would, but not if it's his personal property. So this staging process is to help him with the weaning.

I admit I would be extremely furious if Bob took it on himself to get rid of something that was my personal possession

So even though I've gone through my clothes closet many times in the past when the BBBS came on their trips, I made myself get even more serious this time. I still had some gorgeous wool skirts that I adore, and a few sweaters. But I have not worn them literally in 10 years I think. I think they're beautiful but I just don't have any need to wear them. So I am going to take photos of them and send them out into the universe. Someone else might wear them every week and be simply ecstatic that they have such a lovely item.

I am hoarding them which isn't good! They should be worn So that is my self-encouragement-talking to get me to let them go.

So I'm feeling good about the music room, which is where my clothes closet is. I made a good dent in the clothes there even though like I said I've pruned several times before.

The other rooms will be harder, but I will get at least one thing from each room!

Jilly, I liked your ideas of the shoe holders for folded clothes and I am taking seriously your mention of the 80-20- rule. That might help a great deal! The boat is a 44 ft. sailboat, a pilothouse (meaning you can steer inside if the weather is bad),ketch (two masts). We live in Florida and hope to go up the eastcoast maybe this summer. I have a two pound Alphasmart keyboard so I can keep writing.

Susitra - that is such an amazing thing you are doing. You will have an absolute blast on the boat!

Find a few outfits you absolutely adore, that you will be just amazingly happy each time you wear them. Bring those with you, so that every day you are choosing from amongst your very favorite items

Lisa - I know not everyone would do that - it all depends on the relationship! I knew that she'd huff and puff but eventually be glad it was done and she didn't have to do it. I suppose that was an important bit that I left out!

Lisa, Thanks for your very encouraging words! I'll also have to see how I can continue eating as low carb as I can. I'm really into whole milk yogurt and have devised a way to make it in the sunlight in a jar.