{"id":3897,"date":"2015-12-07T16:59:27","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T21:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/?p=3897"},"modified":"2015-12-07T16:59:27","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T21:59:27","slug":"a-new-happy-stuff-series-tidying-up-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/?p=3897","title":{"rendered":"a new happy stuff series: tidying up, part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMGP0071\"<\/a>like many, many other bloggers (and women in general), i recently read the life-changing magic of tidying up<\/a> and, like pretty much everyone i’ve spoken to who read this book, there were some bits of it that have really stuck with me and some bits that i didn’t find useful or found to be…. insufficient for me. i didn’t realize when i saw this little book come across the library desk that it was a “thing” and that tons of people were reading it, i was just attracted to the title and the cover (good job, book designers!). one of the messages in the book that i can’t seem to get out of my head is that she points out that you can either a) de-clutter your house and life now and enjoy living in a less cluttered space for the rest of your life or b) de-clutter later (and live in clutter between now and then) or c) live in clutter for the rest of your life and make someone else clean it up after you die. whoa.<\/p>\n

also, she encourages you to start the process by envisioning the space you’d like to live in.\u00c2\u00a0 what would it be like to live with less clutter, in a calm, organized environment surrounded only by the things you love?\u00c2\u00a0 i feel like other books i’ve read before have sort of said these things, but for some reason, i can’t stop thinking about it now.\u00c2\u00a0 especially since i’ve been feeling so overwhelmed for the past few years and mr. happy stuff is, in general not<\/em> happy about me bringing home purchases any time i go shopping.\u00c2\u00a0 not because of the money spent, but because of the space it takes up in our home and in our lives.\u00c2\u00a0 but it’s so overwhelming and where do i start?<\/p>\n

imagine my utter delight when one of my friends at our annual women’s retreat said that she had just gone through her closet to create a “capsule wardrobe<\/a>” and that she loved the process and would really enjoy helping other people to purge their own closets as well.\u00c2\u00a0 yes, please! the author of “tidying up” recommends starting with your clothes (specifically tops — shirts, sweaters, jackets, etc.), so a closet purge with the help of a friend would be perfect!\u00c2\u00a0 this dear friend also has a daughter just a little older than mine, so i hoped maybe they could play together long enough for us to get a bit of work done. we set a date and the morning before she arrived for the first day of reducing the stuff, i piled all of my tops onto my couch (the girls can play in our living room more easily than in my bedroom) and i wrote down how i was feeling just for a chance to pause and reflect. here is the mountain of tops i owned (plus a random cute elephant in a pirate hat peeking out from behind the couch):\"IMG_5964\"<\/a>here’s what i wrote:<\/p>\n

“I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m feeling actually heart-fluttery nervous. \u00c2\u00a0A little scared (really?) — that i won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t love any <\/em>of my clothes. \u00c2\u00a0That I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be embarrassed by how many clothes i own.\u00c2\u00a0 that i\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll end up with 3 shirts. \u00c2\u00a0That I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to get rid of enough. \u00c2\u00a0It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nervous\u00e2\u20ac\u009d feeling is also excitement. \u00c2\u00a0How awesome would it be to own an entire closet full of clothes that I only love? \u00c2\u00a0An entire house of only things that I love?”<\/p>\n

after she left, here’s what i kept:<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5967\"<\/a>and here’s what i got rid of:<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5968\"<\/a>and i wrote some more reflections:<\/p>\n

“It is SUPER exciting to see three garbage bags [*note, another bag was filled after this photo was taken] and one plastic bin full of clothes that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m saying goodbye to. \u00c2\u00a0It is very gratifying to be able to get rid of all the ugly plastic hangers and wire hangers and just keep the nice ones<\/strong>. [bonus side effect!]\u00c2\u00a0 I love how much \u00e2\u20ac\u0153breathing room\u00e2\u20ac\u009d my hanging clothes already have (still need to purge dresses and skirts), but the extra room in my dresser drawer where t-shirts once filled it so full that I could barely close it (I can see the bottom of the drawer in about half of the drawer) is frankly, terrifying. \u00c2\u00a0What if I chose poorly? \u00c2\u00a0What if I picked the wrong ones to keep and the wrong ones to toss? Why is there SO much purple? And yes, I love these shirts, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the ones I keep coming back to, the ones I feel most confident in, I love the way they fit, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m honest, some of them (because they get SO much wear) are starting to look a little faded. The collars are permanently wrinkled wrong. A few have teeny holes (some I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve even mended to keep them from growing larger). I think that perhaps the only way to remedy this slight feeling of panic is to make a list of all the things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to have\u00c2\u00a0better<\/em> versions of and when I find those better versions, get rid of these formerly beloved pieces.”<\/p>\n

My hunting list (steer clear of magenta<\/i>!):<\/p>\n

— a truly soft, comfy, flattering hoodie to wear to yoga or around the house. \u00c2\u00a0Maybe with thumb holes in the sleeves?<\/p>\n

— a flowy black cardigan to replace the one with teeny holes<\/p>\n

— New t-shirts with the hemline and fit like my favorite grape-colored one.<\/p>\n

— New mustard colored cardigan (maybe toss the orange one then?)<\/p>\n

— more big comfy sweaters like the new dark teal one<\/p>\n

my next post will include more reflections on what it’s been like to live with a reduced closet for the past few weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

like many, many other bloggers (and women in general), i recently read the life-changing magic of tidying up and, like pretty much everyone i’ve spoken to who read this book, there were some bits of it that have really stuck … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tidying-up"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3897"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3903,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897\/revisions\/3903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisishappystuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}