Following yesterday’s Blog in regards to weeding out the clothing in your closets that really don’t suit your needs, Willow had this little gem she remembers reading somewhere…
Somewhere, I’m not sure where, I pulled the idea of putting all my hanging clothes in the closet with their hangers backward. At the end of the season, I will KNOW which clothes I didn’t wear. They will be the ones still hanging on backwards hangers.
This is a very good example of Natural Progression Decluttering, not much effort involved but easy to identify at the end of the season which clothing is languishing in your wardrobe and not being used.
As Willow stated this hint has been out there for sometime but they can get so lost in the big wide web and we need reminding of them occasionally. I for one had never come across this idea before. Thanks Willow.
ITEM 154 OF 365 LESS THINGS
This set of sheets were bought when we were using hired furniture when we lived in the USA but they don’t fit the mattress we own so they have to go.
About Colleen Madsen
I heard the idea on LIfehackers tipbox a while back.
Thanks Ben
I wil check that out.
You’re welcome 🙂
Hi Colleen. I have been reading your posts for some time, after already decluttering for some time, but I just want to say THANKYOU! for giving me the re-kickstart I needed. I had got overwhelmed and people were saying “just 5 things a day” or “just 15mins a day” but that was still intimidating! 1 thing a day however, TOTALLY manageable! I am enjoying decluttering again :o) Now that big boxand several garbage bags of clothes that were glaring at me on my front porch for so long are slowly getting chipped away at, painlessly. Fantastic!
Anyway, just wanted to also add that I first heard the clothes hanger thing on Oprah with Peter Walsh I think his name is. Google him, he’s great. Talks a lot about the psychological reasons behind clutter, and dealing with those in order to deal with clutter – as well as just getting in there and chucking, donating and putting away!
Hi Hannah,
thanks for dropping in with a comment. I am so glad I have been of help to you. It really is much less stressful not to look at the big picture and just chip away, as you said. There are plenty of people out there thrown into a situation where they have to do this in a hurry. If you aren’t one of those people why deal with that sort of stress. If you can start enjoying the process it is easy to just plod along and maybe even have a bit of a surge every now and again when you are in the mood. This is much more productive than being stressed to the point where you give up. I am glad you are happy with your new found enthusiasm.
Peter Walsh is an Aussie like me. He is so right in the the fact that it is all about the psychological reasons you keep and collect the clutter. Once you can discover and recover from these issues the job is easy. That is why you will rarely find me writing about organization but more about the psychological side of the problem. I have no training in psychology but it is not hard to figure out what causes the road blocks when it comes to clutter.
Thanks for joining in and I look forward to more comments from you in the future. If you ever have anything you want me to address I would be more than happy to give it my best shot.
As a matter of fact I do. I have just found a box full of the journals/diaries I have kept over the years! What to do! I dont think I’ll ever read them again, and I dont know if I want anyone else reading them either, although if I’m dead, who cares?! I think I actually know the answer for me as much as Idont want to face it, but would be interested in your thoughts, and those of your readers.
PS: Sentimental clutter is my BIGGEST stumbling block
Hi Hannah,
don’t feel bad, sentimetal clutter is pretty much everyones stumbling block. The further into decluttering you get the more ruthless you become.
As for the diary problem I will make that my post for tomorrow and see what response we get. I will save my suggestions for the post.
Journals? Let them go if you can. Your solution will be different for you no doubt but I was finally able to let most of mine go.
I started by shredding one and then started to let the others go too. I’m not that same 16 year old teen boy and don’t really want the world to get to know him really either.
I found this solution best for me rather than to leave it to one of my siblings after I’m gone. I started with 16 journals (I took a pic of them) and have only the last couple of years left which will go at some point. I still write in a journal daily but have begun to question if it’s time to let that go too.
Enjoying these archives… thanks.
Hi Ron B, it is nice to hear a mans point of view for a change. Our community here at 365 Less Things is mostly female but I love to hear from the men as well. And the subject of journals was an interesting one. I think back to my grandmother and wish I knew more about the person she was which would explain some of her paths in life. However she either never kept journals or destroyed them and I am not at all disappointed about that. Sometimes personal information is best kept personal. I have written personal stuff down occasionally through the years but destroyed it soon after. I wouldn’t want anyone to have read it either.