As I write this I am in Georgia on a business trip for my job. A weird place to be writing about how to organize closet space, but I was inspired by the closet in my hotel room. I was not inspired by the fancy closet organizer systems that they have, but actually by how little I needed to pack in order to survive for the work week.
I packed up this morning, drove the five hours from my home in Kentucky and unpacked in my hotel room graciously provided to me for the week. Once I unpacked and hung everything up, I was amazed at how this closet compared to our closet at home. Specifically, how empty it was. I had five shirts, two pairs of shoes, two pairs of pants and my suitcase containing my unmentionables. That was it. No clutter. No extra baggage. There will be no hunting and searching for what I need in the morning.
This made me think about the things in my closet at home and how many of those things that I actually need. If we wash clothes once a week, we could actually get by with as few as 8 sets of clothes (unless you choose to do laundry in the nude then only 7 are needed). Now, this is only an example to get us to think and I am not suggesting that we trim your closet down that far. Variety is good and there are changing weather conditions to consider. It does raise the question, though: How many of my things in our closets are needs and how many are wants? Ultimately, I believe we could all help our “mess stress” by honestly answering that question.
As you organize closet space in your home, really ask yourself if you “need” each item or if you just “want” it. If space in your closet is cramped, try to filter out some of the “wants”. Closet organizer systems may help, but there are not magical closet organizer systems that will make our closets able to hold everything we may want them to hold. It is up to us to ask the question, “How much do we really need?”
July 1st, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Very interesting! It sure conveys the message that we have more than enough!