Cleaning the Closets

For all of you who are like me and decide once every 6 months to a year that it's time to clean those closets out - this post is probably not for you - except to laugh and say "I've been there!" The rest of you will get a quick glimpse into what it's like NOT being a fastidious cleaner! First I need to explain our room - it's not all that big and we have a queen size water bed. Funny thing with water beds - you need to know exactly how you want the furniture arranged when you set it up because you just can't pick it up and move it on a whim! Besides the bed, we also have a large 6 drawer dresser with a mirror, a two drawer nightstand which is on my husband's side, a four drawer bureau - also on his side closer to the foot of the bed along the wall, another 2 drawer nightstand that sits in my husband's closet right now, and a clothes hamper. That doesn't include the footstool at the end of the bed which was originally put there to serve as a place to sit to put on shoes, etc. Now it collects stuff we don't know what to do with or haven't gotten around to putting away. There's also a large plastic tub filled with all those blankets and pillows I need to store somewhere. On top of that is a box that I need to pitch - my daughter's huge display doll came shipped in it. Well, the hamper was on my side of the bed - the side where the closets are. I have to move the hamper to the other side of the room before I can even open the left hand folding door of my closet. On top of that I had a file box with all my genealogy stuff in it sitting by the closet and two boxes that lay away items from Christmas were packed in sitting there.
Yesterday, I thought I had better get in that closet. No telling how many clothes are in there that I haven't seen in - well - since I last cleaned the closet. Ever notice that when you go to clean something like that, the piles of stuff get bigger and bigger? Whittled away at my clothes in the closet - has a rip & I don't' want to fix it, too outdated and won't wear, never could wear to begin with (this is usually relegated to stuff my mom sent me that are her hand-me-downs!), and "what was I thinking when I bought that?" I sorted them - into one box went a bunch of clothes one of my daughters might want. Another box is for clothing that I will give to the local charity. I carted a bunch of clothes to an (almost) empty closet in another bedroom as I can't bear to part with them - stuff my mom made or wore or were my grandmother's. It's nice to know they are there and remember the history and stories behind those clothing items. Then there was the trash pile.
Shoes - I don't have as many pairs as my mom - but I have quite a few. Several pair were out of their boxes, strewn on the floor of the closet. I got all those paired up and put back in their places. Now you know what this means - the next time I want to slip on a pair of nice shoes I'll have to go digging around again! Once my husband got me a hanging shoe rack. Those big things encased in plastic that you hang in your closet. If I only had a few sets of clothes it would have been okay. As it happened, shoes would fall out of it, the sides would half way collapse, and of course I couldn't reach the ones I really wanted to wear.
The Closet Shelf - what's on yours? Mine has a box - inside are all my children's baby blankets - there is no way I can part with them. They were either hand made or hand crocheted by grandmothers or great-grandmothers. Those are things that I want to pass down someday. On top of that box are a few more blankets that the box is too small for. Purses - my mom likes purses as much as she likes shoes. Consequently when one purse has outlasted its usefulness or style, I get it. They are perfectly good. Several of them look brand new - that's because she swapped out purses so much, none of them got a lot of wear. These are the "nice" purses that you use when you go out for the evening or take to church. Not the everyday "going to the grocery store, running errands, taking kids places" purse. So I have 4-5 of those on my shelf. Plus two stacks of jeans. If I don't have room in my closet to hang all my clothes, I certainly do not have enough room to hang jeans. Which is what my mom used to do with all mine when I was growing up - they were always hung up so there wouldn't be any unnecessary wrinkles in them. This was before the days when everyone bought jeans that had the color bleached out, were baggy, or had holes in them. Next to the jeans is a large shoebox - top has been lost. Inside are items I pulled out of a box on the bottom of the closet - one of my kids' baby books, my school years book (with all my report cards and school pictures), memorabilia from my school dances, my junior high autograph book (no, none of those people who signed ever became famous!), school magazines that my poetry was published in, and school awards. I want to keep these separate so I can make a scrapbook of my own "growing up" years just as soon as I'm done doing all the other scrapbooks I have ideas for!
When I finished up, I decided that the hamper had to be moved. I was tired of never being able to get into half of my closet. So I found an empty spot (I have an empty spot in my room?!) along the wall by the door & set it in its new place. I even managed to sweep most of the floor while I was cleaning yesterday. Next project in there is to clean my vanity off. And my vanity is not the regular "sit down and preen" sort. It's a shelf built in between the two walls of our two closets. I decided years ago that would be a wonderful place for my to keep my jewelry boxes (not that I have any "real" jewelry). I haven't been able to find complete sets of earrings for about 4 years - there is so much stuff piled on it.
So how is your "winter" cleaning coming along? Have you found many things you had forgotten you had?