Nana Spreads Some Goodwill

I spent yesterday in the closet.  Or, should I say closets?  As I posted on Wednesday, it was time to clean out my accumulation of shoes.  I tried to channel Peter Walch, Oprah's organization guru,  and I developed criteria for any pair that I was going to keep.

• in good condition
• comfortable
• fit well
• meet a need in my wardrobe or I just love them

I started with 102 pairs, but along the way I found a few more pairs under the beds or tucked away in the back of the closets.  My goal was to reduce by 20%.  The first five or six pairs to toss was easy and included four pairs of black pumps.  I kept one pair of basic black heels, but numerous black dressy pumps...you know, for that once in a blue moon that I dress up.  But, a girl's got to have strappy heels for summer dress-up and fancy closed toe shoes for winter.  I'm down to only two pair of lime green shoes, summer sandals and spring loafers, but I've still got my four pairs of pink shoes. 

I have two big bags of shoes in the trunk of my car to take to Goodwill.  I culled 18 pairs from the collection.  I said goodbye to three pairs of gray heels...but I still have at least three pairs of gray shoes in the closet.  I really was surprised that I had so many gray shoes. 

I found a pair of brand new slippers, still in the box, in the back of the closet.  So I threw away two pairs of slippers that had seen better days.

Once I was in the closets (notice it's plural, I use two walk-in closets in the two back bedrooms) I started in on the clothing.  When my daughter lived at home, she was my fashion Nazi.  It wasn't until she moved out that my collection of holiday sweaters grew to epic proportions.  Without her input I do have what could best be described as "some poor choices!"

I kept reminding myself that I am retired and my wardrobe meets different needs now.  I have two boxes of suits going to Goodwill also.  I tried on almost everything in the closet and if it didn't fit perfectly, it went in the donate pile.  Eighteen suits are gone, but I still have almost that many left in the closet.  All the brown suits went.  I don't particularly like brown, so I'm not sure why I bought those particular suits in the first place.  I'm left with classic black and blue suits.  I guess I'm not totally ready to let go of my working life, or I would have let all the business attire go.

I enjoyed reading the comments from my earlier post.  I do wish all of you lived in my neighborhood...what a great field trip we could have shopping for shoes!  Oh, I forgot, I'm not buying shoes; I have enough shoes.  Let's go shopping for leisure wear...I've got some room in my closet now for a new retirement wardrobe!