Closets. Even the mere mention of the word can strike horror into the heart of most people. If I say, “How about we take a look inside your closet?”, Just about every one of my clients will jump at giving me a reason why we shouldn’t. All of our skeletons are in there, right? In feng shui, closets/cupboards/drawers, (everything that is hidden out of sight), represent things in our life that are going on below the surface. This can include self-sabotage, unexpressed emotions, negative self-talk, beliefs that no longer serve us, etc. Clutter in these spaces can block the flow of energy in all areas of our lives, stopping all good things from coming to us easily and effortlessly. We all want our lives to have a good flow and rhythm. We long for things to work smoothly and to ‘come together’ in ways that are almost miraculous. Most people put off these secret spaces until the very end of their de-cluttering process (which basically means they never get to it). Why put it off? Well, the number one reason is that they want everyone else to be able to SEE the end result. This sounds great, except it really is counter-intuitive. We should ALWAYS work from the inside out, clearing out the deepest recesses before we move on to surface and less ‘substantive’ change. It makes the entire process go SO MUCH more quickly and easily! What if we take on the challenge of clearing out these hidden spaces? Could you handle just 1 closet a week, or 3 drawers a week, or 3 cupboards? If we did this as fall progresses, we should be able to see significant improvement in our spaces before the snow flies! This week the challenge is to take on your WORST closet. You know, the one that vomits on you every time you open the door. We are going to take on the closet that is so stuffed you would never even IMAGINE letting ‘company’ open it! WOO HOO!!! Can you feel the excitement building?? Here are the steps: 1. Determine the purpose of the closet. (and, no, the purpose of the closet is not to hold sh*t) If it is an entry close, the purpose probably is to hold coats and outerwear. If it is a bedroom closet, the purpose is to store your beautiful wardrobe (the clothes that make you look like the rock star you are!), etc. 2. Remove every single thing from the closet 3. CLEAN the closet. Sweep/Vacuum the floor, scrub it down, make it shine. 4. Decide what belongs. Coats, boots, umbrellas probably belong in an entry closet, a microwave probably does not. Do not put something in the space just because you HAVE the space. It is about creating spaces that MAKE SENSE. 5. Sort. Here is an example: In my entry closet, the coats are hung according to individual, then by weight. So Darian’s coats are on the far left, and they are arranged by lighter weight wind-breakers all the way to her winter coat. Jordyn’s are in the middle, and mine are on the far right. When I sort like with like this way it makes it VERY easy to see if I have too much of any one thing. Darian does NOT need 3 wind-breakers. She certainly does not need 4 pairs of snow pants (we live in Michigan, sometimes confused with the arctic, but not REALLY!!!) 6. After the sorting I put everything back that BELONGS in that space. This is when I do the actual organizing. In my entry closet I have 2 baskets on the upper shelf which hold gloves, hats, umbrellas and scarves. Again, I stick with the ‘like with like’ theme. I have a hook on the inside of the door where I store my string style totes that I use all summer long (beaches, festivals, etc.) I am a big believer in ‘everything has a place and a place for everything’. This means that everyone in your family knows WHERE things are. I don’t need everyone asking me “where are my gloves, where is my coat, where is the microwave??” They KNOW where that thing lives, and WOWSERS does it make clean up EASY, because everyone knows where things go!! Talk about a great concept!!! Lastly, and I’m going to say this every week…YOU CANNOT ORGANIZE CLUTTER. If it isn’t supporting your life; if you don’t use it, need it and love it, it is clutter, and no matter what sort of pretty box you put it in it is still clutter and will continue to work against you and your energy. PERIOD. Here we go….
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 22:57:57 +0000
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