I jumped on the Marie Kondo Tidying Up bandwagon.

I admit, I heard rumor about this Netflix show on cleaning up or tidying up or something up and thought "I should see what all the fuss is about." But then there just seemed to be other things to watch and I never revisited it. Then my cousin texted "Have you seen Tidying Up yet!?" Nope. It wasn't until she said "she has a way of folding that will change your life!" 

That little nugget was all I needed to look in to the show. Secretly I was already working up the motivation to clean out my closet. It was overflowing with old clothes, too many shoes (ok wait...that's not really possible. Maybe I should say too many shoes I don't wear and need to make room for new shoes I will!) 

You get the picture. 

So here we go - my Tidying Up experience.

I did NOT...

1. Greet my house. 
2. Thank my items as I tossed them. 
3. Empty my entire closet and drawers at one time. I would have just quit at that point. And we would have had to sleep on the floor. 

However I DID...

1. Hold each piece/item and ask if it brought me joy. That really seems to work! 
2. Organize by category. So that's why I did #3 instead of everything at one time. 
3. Emptied my shelves first and dealt with those. Then moved to hanging clothes then to my drawers. It was definitely a multi-day, multi-week process. 
4. Move on to other closets once mine was done.

This is what I started with...a hot mess. 

And because I hate putting up clothes because I have to force and shove them in my closet or drawers, I end up with this often times.

And I also had to store my scarves behind the bathroom door, which was bulky and a mess.

So once I decided to embark on this journey...because believe me, it was a journey and not one to be done when you only have a few hours...I went over to Bed, Bath & Beyond to see what might be useful. I knew I needed a new over the door shoe holder and a new shoe rack for the floor.  Then it was time to get to work. 

And now...

Do you hear the angels singing!? Do you see those empty hangers!? That means not only do I have extra hangers but I also have SPACE. It's glorious. And this new shoe rack for over the door holds shoes so much better...

I organized by color and style so that my wedges are in the floor rack, athletic shoes and boots on the left side of my floor and then everything else is in this shoe holder. So much easier to find my shoes! (don't judge the volume. I have issues.)

The shelves are also much better. I now have everything coordinated so it's easily seen and quick to grab...

Those clear containers holding my clutches are the other storage items I bought at BB&B. 

Take a look at my fabulously organized jeans. Thanks to the new folding method, I can now fit all my jeans in these recycled china boxes. 

Once my closet was complete, it was time to start my drawers. I had several bedside table drawers, 3 drawers from the tall dresser and 2 from the long dresser. Not to mention the scarves and a plethora of misc. in a basket behind the bathroom door. 

All done! 

And all those scarves? Turns out when you clean out, you have an extra drawer that they can fit in. 

I got rid of bags and bags and bags of old clothes. Some went to donation, some went to consignment and a lot went to trash. 

I can't tell you how much nicer it is to get dressed now. I can easily find everything - I feel more inspired by my clothes (maybe because I can find them now) - and I know what extra toiletries I have (apparently I'm set for deodorant in 2019!)

I've since moved on to a few other closets and have just two left. If you take nothing away but how to fold better, it's worth it! I feel so much more put together now. 

Now remind me of this when we have to tackle the attic this spring. I'm sure tears will be "springing" when that starts!