Closet Case

So I'm in the midst of this massive fall cleaning.

I'm doing pretty okay. My house looks otherwise, but I'm doing okay. A large part of that is probably that I spend as little time as possible in my house, and if I am there, I'm cleaning. So I'm not just like, sitting in a pile of purses, ATM receipts and expired salad dressing.

Well, I decided to tackle my closet on Saturday. I'd been sick all week and took a half day on Friday. After sleeping the night away heavily drugged, I got up feeling pretty okay.

And I knew I needed to clean.

Confession time: Remember that trip I went on? Yeah, in July? Um, my suitcase was still sitting at the foot of my bed unpacked. I'd step over it on my way into bed each night. If I needed something inside of it, I'd just rifle through the contents and find the wrinkled article of clothing and put it on.

Don't judge me.

So, I didn't want to do too much on my first day not feeling horrible, so I figured unpacking the suitcase would be a worthwhile venture. But then I realized something: the reason I hadn't unpacked was because I had nowhere to put anything. My walk in closet (yes, it's fantastic) was jammed pack.

Yet I had nothing to wear. Peculiar? I think so.

Tackling the closet was no easy task. As I mentioned, I'm a semi-pack rat, so it pained me to consider throwing out club shirts I hadn't worn since I was 18, shoes I'd worn until the soles flapped, or bags that were perfectly fine except for the gaping hole in the lining. But slowly, I tackled the closet. Taking out the papers, cleaning out the purses, putting every ill fitting, ugly, or just ridiculously old piece of clothing into a trash bag and tossing it into the living room. (That pile of bags, by the way, is beginning to take over my living area. But I digress.)

When I finished hanging up the last skirt and restacking the last shoe box, I was amazed at what I saw. My closet was 1/2 full.

I panicked.

What would I wear? What if all of my clothes were dirty and I needed that short sleeved white polyester sweater that I'd gotten in 11th grade? And how would I ever replace my clothes?!

Then I realized I'd just done laundry and a bunch of clothes were still in the laundry basket.

Relief.

Still, it made me realize that this is the perfect opportunity to re-up my closet. I'm tossing some old jackets and winter coats next -- and my prom dress may have to go as well -- so when it gets cold, I'll have to buy stylish replacements to keep me going through these tough New England winters.

This might not be so bad after all.