Simplicity: Purging part duex

Okay - so I was with my bible study girls last night and I was trying to figure out what I was going to blog about next.  It struck me that I felt incomplete with my purging post, so I was going to continue - can you tell I a passionate about purging?  So anyway, today, the kids are at my cousins for the day and thus marks the beginning of Spring Cleaning.  Now I am not "cleaning" the house per se, that will come, but not before I clean OUT the house.  So we're finally facing some nice weather and I can objectively look at our clothes and closets and see what stays, what goes and what gets trashed.  

I'm a lucky girl, my kids are pretty easy going about clothes.  Jeans and t-shirts and a warm fuzzy sweatshirt and you've got two of the happiest boys on the planet.  Penny is too young to know better, so that is a battle I don't have, YET.  I have been extremely blessed by getting hand-me-downs from friends for all of my kids so I usually don't have to buy too much.  Before the hand-me-downs my mom was our personal shopper - we do miss that tremendously. I digress.  

My point today is to go through our winter stuff, clothes, socks, jammies, etc.  Remove what's too small, make sure everything is mended if need be and in good condition.  The bottom line is we don't need a ton of clothes.  The other part is that my boys wear the same size in everything except for pants - Jon is a slim, Drew is a loose fit guy.  So its essentially like having twins.  They even where the same size shoes, socks and underwear, which isn't too bad of a gig in those departments.  

I had the misunderstanding that when I had a girl that we needed lots of dresses, now I've not bought any for her, but I have come to the conclusion that I can make her one special dress a season, I can count on  few hand-me-downs from our cousins and friends and my dad always likes to get her something pretty.  The bottom line is I have a girlie/tomboy on my hands and she is best when she can wear jeans and cute top so she can dive into the sandbox or color her body with markers. So I am going to be more objective of what she actually  NEEDS, versus what might be fun to have.

For me, it's hard, I've been a million sizes since I've had children, I'm almost to the prepregnancy weight that I was my happiest at - so I've kept four pairs of pants from those skinny days - but otherwise, if I didn't wear it this season - its gone, if it doesn't fit exactly right, its gone.  I would rather other people benefit from my excess than to perpetuate hoarding.  While I don't want you to think I am extreme, I just know that we don't need as much as we have.  I also know that I have gotten to a point in my life where I would rather buy something a bit more expensive and well made over something cheap and quick - those things don't last.  I've also gotten to a point where I have dresses that I've owned for 6 years - but their classic and they aren't out of style and I'm confident they'll last 6 more, at least.  Fortunately I have pretty classic taste so I'm not turning my wardrobe over every season .  If I am compelled to jump on a trend, that's where I'll spend a little less, knowing it isn't a lifetime investment.  

Along with purging, I review HOW I store things in my closets, now that the kids are getting bigger - the kiddie hangers are getting to be too small.  Their pants aren't laying nicely on the shelf because their too big and their shoes don't fit in the bin originally intended for them - so with this purging I need to figure out how to better organize their closet making it neat, but also accessible to them since they dress them selves (with minimal guidance).

So for today, I am going to throw open my windows, enjoy the 70 degree temps and let the dust blow out of my house - I will clean in a week or so, once all my closets and drawers are purged and reorganized.  There is this big joke amongst my girlfriends about me and my organizing - how can I have something to organize, when I am already organized?  Well what I will say to that is that organizing is not static - you have to keep it up, review it, make sure it is working for you and for others.  With kids it's hard, where I hung Drew's clothes last year, doesn't work this year because they drag on the ground.  So I make a new plan. Sometimes organizing takes many attempts because you need to think about it and digest it and use it a bit to see that one part or another is or isn't working well.  So I say to all of you, enjoy this rainy, warm weekend, if you live local come to my pancake breakfast at Jon's school tomorrow and go home and go through your closets - you'd be surprised what you will find.  And if you are desperate - I'm available for hire - I work cheap - coffee in the am, wine in the pm! ;o)

Stay tuned and please comment, comment, comment.  I love all the emails, but you can also comment anonymously if you don't have a blogger acct.  Thanks again and take care - happy spring cleaning!