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Monday 7 May 2012

On the Run - Wardrobe de-clutter Part 2: the organising phase

Oh, what a day! It has been one of those typically chaotic Bank holidays where everyone is on top of one another, it's raining so everyone is in a bad mood, our son is unwell so feeling sorry for himself. If we had a dog that would be barking its head off.

Some of you may know that I featured in an article today in the Daily Mail.  I was given the heads up on it being in today's edition by one of the other bloggers featured.  So, I legged it to the newsagents first thing, reminiscent of the time that I arrived at the newsagents at 5am to buy one of the broadsheets, where they printed the results of the Law Society Finals. I suspect that at that age though I looked slightly better than I did today, having jumped out of bed and having grabbed the first clothes to hand (which fortunately turned out to be mine), doing some minor ablutions, before donning my running trainers (with jeans - so cool) and heading out.  

I thought that the article was well written and not in the least bit controversial - it appears that I was wrong, on the controversial stakes at least.  I got as far as reading the first three comments on the website when it became apparent where they were headed.  At which point I stopped reading, choosing to go and dye my hair instead which was a much better use of my time.

When I saw a reference to me having too much time on my hands I nearly wet myself laughing - and I wasn't even laughing that hard. Belive me, if I had any spare time, my pelvic floor muscles would be in a much better state than they are.

Anyway, the day continued. I dyed my hair, bathing the youngest as the colour developed, except I took a bit longer bathing her than I should so I am now a bit darker than I should be. However, the grey is so prolific that in a couple of weeks time it will look as though I have had quite expensive highlights put in - until it takes over completely.

The youngest then proceeded to cry whilst I cut her hair, until tempted to do a chocolate taste test by her Dad - which went down well.  We then baked a cake, which sank in the middle (I was one egg down and the extra milk and baking powder clearly wasn't a good enough substitute) but which the eldest proclaimed tasted delicious and could I make it like that again, other than perhaps when we had guests coming. The cheek!

Anyway, moving on to part 2 of my posts on Wardrobe Editing.  Having shown you the "editing" part yesterday, I am now moving onto the "organising" part. I firmly believe an organised Wardrobe  will work harder for you than a messy one where you can't see anything/can only find one shoe/everything is crumpled up etc. And yes, whilst it does take a couple of hours to get it how you want it, you will easily get that time back - and the cost of eliminating the hassle factor in the morning is priceless.

This isn't about what is in my Wardrobe  - rather it is about how it it is organised and what works for me. It won't work for everyone but sometimes seeing what doesn't work, helps you to decide what will work for you.

So here goes - this is the Wardrobe iteself, included purely so as to put everything into context. 



Left hand side of the Wadrobe:

Two shelves of clothing, having been organised with the things that I use most regularly (long sleeved tops/vests/striped items/often worn jeans and scarves) at eye level and all easy to grab in a jiffy.  These are the "building blocks" of my Wardrobe...




These are the shoes that I wear most often - not in any particular order but able to be seen easily.  I am not too hard on my clothes or shoes and rarely have to throw things away because I have trashed them.  Shoe trees help softer shoes keep their shape.


This is where my Wardrobe design failed me - not enough room for dresses!



Middle section of the Wardrobe

This is where I keep all of my dark knitwear - as you can see I am a bit of a fan of black and navy.  Again, these still fall into the "building blocks" catgory.  I have some accessories laid out so that they too are easy to see which means that they get used.


I have found a tie rack to be useful for hanging necklaces up - again, so that I see them and wear them.



Here I have hung my jackets and smarter trousers together and which I no longer wear very often.


This section contains pieces which I don't wear as often now - largely because they are my heaviest jumpers which I have moved to one side in anticipation of some warmer weather.


This is a separate rail on which I hang pieces that I want to wear but which I need to remind myself to wear - if you see what I mean. They aren't really the "building blocks" other than the darker items to the left, but rather the pieces which will add interest to an outfit, either in terms of colour, fabric or print.


I hope that you have found this useful. As I say, it won't work for everyone but even just taking a couple of tips away may help to make that mad morning rush a little easier!