Capsule Wardrobes

I guess the big thing now in the Kon-Mari mentality is the idea of a 'Capsule Wardrobe' which is, as I think I've figured out, 37 items of clothing in your wardrobe, total, per season (not counting accessories, workout gear, certain specialized items needed for specialized activities).

It's an interesting thought and it might be impetus to go through my drawers and closet to simplify a little more...or at least to divide by 'season'.

However, it doesn't really take into account the fact that I LIKE clothes. I like having a LOT of clothes. Hell, I MAKE clothes -- I have two very, very full hanging cubbies full of handmade sweaters. I like being able to go into my closet and say 'Ooh, I haven't worn this in a while! I'll wear it today!'

That being said, I know that I wear certain items more than others. I have a pair of black work pants and a pair of brown workpants that I wear a lot during 3 out of the 4 seasons. I have T-shirts that I like wearing more often. Does that mean I should get rid of the other ones that I don't wear as often even though I'm the type to say 'Ooh...I want to wear this today even if I haven't worn it yet all year'?

I've already done the 'hold each item' thing and I did pare out a lot. But I also kept a lot. Because I like clothes. Can I get rid of some more? Possibly. Will I? Maybe.

While I understand this movement for simplification and against consumerism, I do have to wonder about those of us who use our clothes to express our personality. I know that some people aren't into clothes. I get that. I bet this method would be great for them. But what of us who are excited about a new dress we ordered or this great shirt that we found? Do we then have to get rid of something else to make room for it?

I also get the idea of 'Don't get it if you don't love it' but again, it all goes back to those of us who like to dress up. I like the idea of being able to go into my closet and pull out costume pieces. Sure, those are 'specialty items' but I like the 47 sweaters that I've made for myself. That there takes up the 37 item capsule wardrobe even though not all of them are strictly 'Winter' sweaters.

Maybe this 'capsule wardrobe' thing isn't for me, but I think it will give me things to think about this season as I think about what I wear most often and what gets left in the drawer/closet and why. Maybe there will be another bunch of clothes to be donated in the near future. Maybe I'll look at what I have and realize I should be wearing them more often.

It's done. It's done.

The Landlady has inspected the apartment and deemed it 'very good work'! So she's going to write up another lease! Hooray! She was really patronizing although some of my friends think that she's thinking of herself as 1) a sort of Bubbe to me, and 2) that I'm a LOT younger than I really am. But, with some cleaning help from two of my friends and a borrowed vacuum, the apartment has passed muster! Here are the photos of most of the rooms! The Guest room still isn't done...but she accepted my 'I'm using this room for storage for things I'm going to be donating right now' explanation.

Now my family is all 'You better keep it this way in case she comes up again. Yes, I understand the need for maintenance and I'm going to continue with the KonMari method as I unpack items, but actually taking things to be donated is still hard for me. I gave a friend of mine 3 bags of clothes I was going to consign to look through to see if she wanted any and she said she would then donate the rest if I wanted her to (I told her to consign the jeans since they were Designer). I said that she should go ahead and do that. I hope she keeps at least something!

I have another week or so to get the Guest room ready since my dad will be coming in a week from Friday and he'll need a place to stay. I think it's possible...? Maybe?

Timing is everything?

So, part of my excuse for not putting things away and the like has always been 'IT TAKES TOO LONG!' I would explain that when I got home, it would be late after a show or rehearsal and I'd just want to go to bed. Or I was running late and it would just take too long in the morning.

I started timing these tasks.

Cleaning Cat Litter = 90 seconds Now, I haven't timed cleaning the box completely, i.e. emptying all the litter and scrubbing it down with the wipes and putting the litter back in. But a daily scoop of the clumps for two litterboxes TOTAL is around 90 seconds or less.

Putting my clothes away = 45-60 seconds This was my biggest whining. It really doesn't take long at all. This is including folding the bra's and putting them in the drawer as well as hanging the clothes up in the closet/folding them back into the drawers.

Making my bed = 2 minutes, tops Usually less. Now, it's not made to my mom's specifications with the sheets perfectly smooth and all, but it's made, up to and including my stuffed animals displayed on the front.

I haven't timed vacuuming, but I honestly don't mind that chore. It's kind of magical to see the carpet become all clean. I haven't timed washing the dishes either because...well, that's not necessarily a daily thing.

Am I falling back on old habits? Maybe. I'm trying not to, though. It's not the easiest since I really haven't had a lot of time at home these past few weeks and the time I did have, I wanted to spend watching bad TV and knitting.

Tonight, however, I shall return to vacuuming and finding places for things. The attic is its own repository but I'm trying to make it somewhat contained. I'll have to spend some time going through the stuff up there, but not right now. I should, though, look into getting rid of some of my gowns that I don't wear.

Not EXACTLY going by the book...

As I sort of stopped at clothes and haven't really gone on all that much. I've already culled most of my books but after going through the one still-intact bookcase and realizing all my other books are still packed, I won't be doing this until I have a new lease in my hot little hands. That said, we are nearing completion, I think! I haven't had a chance to tackle the Guest room which is really the last room I need to take care of. Maybe this weekend? Since my show opens Saturday, it's going to be rough finding the time...but I feel really good about how things look. I still haven't donated things yet. I definitely want to try and consign some items but again, that requires time. I've already culled most of my papers...mostly. I need to collect some to bring to work to shred. Nothing too exciting. Sorry to anyone who is actually reading this.

The 'What Ifs'

This was a pretty busy weekend so I didn't get all that much done, but I did clean up a lot of the living room. I got some bins and boxes out of the way and packed up a few more boxes which may or may not get moved into the attic; basically, I had already started to pack before the Landlady and I worked out this potential deal and I'm not going to unpack only to have to re-pack again if she deems the apartment not up to her standards.

That's the fear, really. That I will have put in all this work and the Landlady will say 'Nope, not good enough'. It is, however, nicer than it was when I was looking at the place to initially rent it last year.

I'm re-reading the book again and the more I think about it and the more I see my place 'tidy'-(er), the more I really, really like it. I even think it's liking me back -- as the book says, it sort of feels more welcoming and brighter. There's still further to go, but not much. The guest room is the biggest tackle but it's also, I think, where I'll be getting rid of most of the things. It's not that I don't have a space for them, but a lot of stuff I just don't need. There's yarn that I was pressured into buying or that I won't be using in there, there are cooking utensils that I don't use, etc. There's a bookshelf that I want in the Living Room. Then I may have a way to even make the guest bed and use the sewing machine desk. I might even be able to keep the door open and let the cats hang out in there.

But how sad would it be if the place looks amazing (yet still appropriately lived in) and the Landlady still says 'No'? After I've begun to fall in love with the place all over again? How heart-wrenching would it be? Maybe the apartment will help if it wants me to stay, knowing that I'm going to take good care of it now...but I can't help going to the worst outcome. Maybe it protects me from getting disappointed but I can't help but think about that potential outcome.

I might not have too much time this week with rehearsals and everything -- we're heading into Tech Week for show #1. I'm going to try to at least maintain and do a little more...somewhere and somehow!

That's one way to piss me off...

One of the Admins at work today asked me what I was doing for the weekend and I was all 'Oh, I have rehearsal and will probably work on cleaning my apartment some more," and one of the lawyers who overheard snarked, "How dirty is your apartment that it takes multiple days to clean?"

I blinks and said, "Well, I have a lot of stuff." He then said, "You mean you have a lot of JUNK!"

That pissed me off. For pretty much the whole day. He tried to backpedal some when I responded in a somewhat grumpy manner that I had a lot of clothes but he didn't succeed in mollifying me.

Who the Hell is he to judge me? He has no idea who I am or what I've been through or what this process means to me! How hard this is! How DARE he say that my apartment is full of JUNK!

I've finished the book.

Finally.

I actually want to read it again now that I've read it through once and have used some of the methods already. Then I'll lend it to my friend.

I actually really liked the last bit of the book...I'm trying to find what stuck out at me but there was quite a bit, actually. I think, though, it really was the section titled Your Possessions Want To Help You

Here it is: "Everything you own wants to be of use to you. Even if you throw it away or burn it, it will only leave behind the energy of wanting to be of service. Freed from its physical form, it will move about your world as energy, letting other things know that you are a special person, and come back to you as the thing that will be of most use to who you are now, the thing that will bring you the most happiness."

To be honest, when I read this section even now, I start to cry. Maybe it's because it's written so well or maybe because it's the idea that the things I get rid of never really leave - even though I'm getting rid of the physical item, its soul, if you will, remains and wants me to find happiness with its energy as it enters something else that will enter my life and make me happy. I'm crying even now and I'm not even too sure why.

I was looking at getting rid of some of my items as 'Now THEY will be happy, being played with/being worn/being used when I was just neglecting them' but this is saying that they will be free to release their energy to bring -me- happiness. Maybe that's selfish and maybe that's why I'm crying...or maybe I've been so unhappy for so long that the idea that doing this -- that the silly act of tidying -- could actually bring me happiness. It's not happiness because my living space is clean, necessarily, but because I've released the items who just want to help me and their energies will come back to me because they have always wanted to and always will want to help me.

There's something so generous about that and I think it makes me feel very selfish that I've held onto them for so long...and I've held onto so many things that just wanted to be set free. For me.

Not that I think I can just throw away perfectly good clothes or items because I still need to know that they won't be going into a landfill somewhere but...I don't know if this makes things easier or harder.

I'm not sure that I'll be able to look at my things the same way now. Maybe that's the real magic of this book. It's not that it tells you that your superfluous items are inanimate and getting rid of them should mean nothing...or that if they're not doing you any good, they will surely do someone else good. It's that, and this is my interpretation, your items made you happy once and they will continue to do so, whether or not they are in your possession. But when you set them free from your possession, you free their spirit which will then return to you through another form/item of happiness. So, in tidying and clearing your space of excess items that no longer bring you joy, you are in turn, bringing this positive, happy energy back into your life.

But now I think I feel sad because the items no longer bring me joy. I'm also torn though because I know that they can bring someone else joy if I give them that opportunity. So does it become a Win-Win situation? They get a new life and I get positive energy?