Closet War Zone

Dear Jill: My closet looks like a war zone! How do I delve into this overwhelming disaster?

Dear Fellow Warrior,

Take heart, you are not alone! The average woman wears about 10% of the clothes in her closet, 90% of the time.

Swing open those closet doors and prepare to divide and conquer! Everything is a matter of simple categorization so toss everything into one of the following four piles: Finders, Keepers, Losers, Weepers.

• Finders: remnants that hang dormant until we find something to make them work before they can be utilized (i.e. “Someday when I find my natural shade of blond and lose two sizes,” or “If only I could find the right shade of pink to wear with this printed skirt…”
• Keepers: clothes and accessories we love to wear—often. They are the jewels that generate compliments or make us feel fabulous—that prime “10 percent.”
• Losers: the pieces we wish we’d never bought or make us feel miserable. For example: a) the pants that have been just a little bit too small for the past 3 years, b) the color that washes me out, but I paid a fortune for it, c) the outfit I put on once a year for 10 minutes to justify keeping it.
• Weepers: tokens of love—things I’ll never use, but would be ashamed to discard: the outfit from my sister’s wedding, the designer suit I “invested” in generations back and the “places-my-family-and-friends-have-been” t-shirt collection (and perish the thought should they see one for sale at my neighbor’s rummage sale!).

To bring this mission to completion:

1. Set a date for the Finders. Alter, accessorize or lose weight by the deadline—if it isn’t met, get rid of it! DO NOT park these items in the closet until they are wearable.
2. Choose a new home for the Losers (the Salvation Army, a mission donation or a women’s shelter).
3. Weepers should be stored in a trunk upstairs and out of your closet where they can be visited once a year.
4. Return the Keepers to the closet. Place clothing on hangers with the hooks facing outward. Once you’ve worn something, flip the hanger in the correct direction (so the open end is away from you). At the end of the season you will know what you wore and what you can get rid of next year.

When you’re finished, take a minute, sit down and thank the Good Lord for what you do have left in that closet and how set free you can feel now that you’ve thrown off everything that hinders and so easily entangles…

Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear.  —Romans 13:14a (CEV)