Jeni Goes On an Expotition

So I've spent the last 26 days on vacation, and of course you want to know all about it. Probably not, so you're in luck. More important than the rocks and trees and holes in the ground I ogled is the progress I made in my spiritual journey. I won't even go into all those details, because I want to live in the now, and in the now I've begun a new home project.

For the next little while, I'm using my blog to chronicle my journey of tidying up my home as I read about in the life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing. I read this book on the first two days of vacation, and then I spent the other 24 days thinking about it.

Now I'm doing something about it. I began with my clothes. First, a little background.  Two years ago I found out I was pregnant, and I packed away my normal clothes and exchanged them for maternity clothes. I had my baby 17 months ago, but due to my advanced age, my deteriorated health, and my state of mind, I haven't lost as much weight as quickly as I did with my seven other children. So here I am with a closet full of clothes that don't fit and won't for the foreseeable future. I've obviously purchased clothing for my current size and condition, so it's not like I need them.

I didn't reread what marie kondo wrote about discarding things, so I ended up changing it just a bit.

Step One: I put every article of clothing I owned on the bed. (That was a lot)

Step Two: I went through and threw away the junk clothing.

Step Three: I gathered together all the items that might be wanted by a pregnant friend and her teenage daughter.

Step Four: My ten-year old went through my shoes and decided which ones didn't look right, and asked me about all the others.

Step Five: All unwanted clothing ended up in 8 bags!

Step Six: I neatly folded and put away the remaining clothing, and it all fit in one dresser with a drawer left over for Josie's clothes.

Today while my friend and her daughter were "shopping" through my discards with my strict instructions to only take what they loved, I re-read the section on discarding clothing and realized I had done it wrong.

A side note: it gave me much more joy to see the excitement of my young friend who had just gone through a growth spurt and was in need of clothes take away a large shopping bag filled with clothes that she loves than to keep those same clothes until they fit me again.

After they left, I went back into my closet and, per instructions from the book, touched every item and asked myself if it gave me joy. The answer was often "no," and poof! another bag was gone from my closet.

Next week I'm planning to go through each subcategory of clothing separately and repeat the process until I know what I have left is what I truly love.

Then on to books. That will be a sight!