Closet clean out progress...

Last week I said I was going to be cleaning out my closet...again.

Straight off, let me tell you that this first photo was the 'before' photo from a couple of years ago when I did a previous closet clean out.  One of the things that drove me the craziest was the little cubby type shelves on the back wall...the ones the big white arrows are pointing to.  Uh-huh...didn't see them back there did ya?  The tall one in the center is built in and it's okay, but the little ones I brought with me from another room in another house, and they just were never accessible due to clothing hanging in front of them.  

 In fact, they weren't really even visible except when the closet was empty.  LOL

Work has been slow on the closet.  I had a headache all weekend.  And I had a little girl come spend the afternoon with me on Saturday.

This is the closet so far.  I have moved the four small shelves off of the back wall, and they now are installed just inside the right-hand door.  I also stacked them, so now they make two tall shelves instead of four short ones.

On the left, just inside the other door, I stacked two shoe cubbies.

When Carey gets home, I'm hoping that he will relocate the hanging rods for me.  He has promised awhile back that he would, he's just been waiting for me to make some working room for him.  

Instead of the rods hanging parallel to the side walls, I want them to hang across the back wall on either side of the tall shelf unit.   I think I have reduced my wardrobe enough to fit on shorter rods across the back, and I think **hope** that with the clothes hanging at the back I won't get that claustrophobic tunnel-like effect that I abhor.

While taking a break from my closet clean out, I was viewing an article on closet organization where I found a link to Project 333.  It is a minimalist fashion challenge to limit your wardrobe to 33 items or less for 3 months.  Apparently the 33 items do not include workout clothing, underwear, sleepwear, or outerwear; though I would imagine anyone participating in the challenge would cut back on those items as well.  Interesting concept.  I don't think I'm down that far, but I do think I donated about as much as I kept.

In the same article, I found a link to an interesting read on The Science of Simplicity which discusses decision fatigue.  Apparently when repeatedly faced with making numerous, albeit irrelevant, decisions, one's productivity suffers.  You may or may not have noticed that some very successful people have taken the decision of what to wear out of their day-to-day routine and simplified their everyday wardrobes to somewhat of a uniform.  Some of these include President Obama (he wears only blue or gray suits), Mark Zuckerberg (gray t-shirt, black hoodie, and jeans), Vera Wang (black top and jeans), and the late Steve Jobs (black turtleneck and jeans) and Albert Einstein (gray suits).

Maybe a properly simplified wardrobe/closet will spur me on to greater productivity!  One can only hope.