Closet Clean Out - Jack

As part of my November goals, I wanted to go through Jack's clothes and store the smaller sizes up for Baby Brother. I've had his outgrown clothes in boxes and bags in his closet, but needed to sort them out by size. 

I pulled everything out of his drawers and closet and started the sorting process.

I ended up with three large bags of 0-3 mo, 3-6 mo, and 6-9 mo and was just planning to leave them in those bags in his closet or up in the attic, but....

I knew Emily had just used Space Bags and was pleased with them! (I got mine on sale at BB&B!) I should have been a little more calculated about how I put the clothes in the bag... I just shoved it all in there. If I had folded everything flat, I think that would have been even better, but STILL - I'm really happy with how easy they were to use and now I'll be able to easily grab the right size clothes for Baby Brother! 

AND now the only clothes that are in Jack's drawers are clothes that CURRENTLY fit! Whoo hoo! Y'all know I love a streamlined closet! :)

Conquered any organization projects lately?

Closet Clean-out Pt. 2

So I got through the first major part of my closet re-org - going through everything! But I still had a whole pile of clothes I needed to try on and see if I wanted to keep. I always dread the trying on, BUT it's so good to just make the decision and move on! 

Sorry the pictures are pretty lame, it's just much easier to take self-portraits with the 'ol phone than lugging around the big guns.

Here are some of the things I tried on. A light pink tank top was fairly cute by itself (top left pic), but when I put my fun scarf with it (2nd), I could see myself wearing it under a sweater or something this fall. Then a patterned sleeveless top (3rd on top) is another one I would put under a button up sweater, and one I didn't think I would like once it was on. The blue/purple/magenta top (top right pic) was one I really wanted to like, but it just didn't look great on, and I couldn't find a top to put over it. So it's out. 

The short sleeve red turtleneck (bottom left) got a checkmark, because I have a burgundy one that's very similar, but it is SUPER tight and the neck feels like I'm choking, so this was a good trade - one out, one in. The last top was this really cute black, pink, and gray circles pattern. I like tops to be long, but this is SUCH an awkward length to me. It's like, is this supposed to be a seriously short dress? Or is it a top? Anyway, adding a belt made me feel like I might actually wear it. Plus it might give me the push to get some leggings to wear underneath it (since it does cover my booty). Either that or with skinny jeans and boots to balance out the long-ness of the top.

Then it was on to dresses!

While I liked the red and black dress... it's pretty tight (without a lot of give) and I don't see myself wearing it until wintertime... and I'll be more and more pregnant. Anyway, it got nixed. Then the middle black dress I really liked, and didn't expect to! Can't have too many of those. The red dress on the right, also one I really wanted to like, but just don't see myself wearing.

You can't tell from the picture, but the green skirt is a very light minty color with a thin dark blue stripe pattern. I paired it with a navy sweater I already own and definitely like the contrast. (Now I just need a minty green statement necklace!) The last dress is one I already owned (everything else was stuff from my friend), but figured didn't fit me anymore. It still fits pretty well and actually has a good bit of "give" for my growing pooch.

And just for fun - showing off my bitty belly at 12 weeks! :) 

(I didn't "pop" until about 19-20 weeks last time, so who knows when it will happen this time!)

So I made it through phase 1 and now phase 2! I still don't really know how I'm going to follow through on my final phase (making complete outfits), so I'm up for suggestions. Are these kinds of pictures fun? What about "moodboards" al la Polyvore? Would you rather see inspirations or actual outfits? What about inspiration to fruition? 

I'd love to hear your ideas! :)

Closet Clean-Out Pt. 1

Back in January, Cara came over and helped me get my closet in order. It was VERY needed!! Since then, I had been doing a really good job of keeping up the organization Cara helped me with, BUT in the last month or so, whenever I've put my laundry up, I just haven't taken the extra time to organize. Usually because I've got a hollerin' kiddo at my feet. :)

Plus a friend from work gave me several bags of clothes (whoo hoo!) and I hadn't put those in yet. I pulled out a lot of things (from her) that I liked, but hadn't tried them on to see if they fit/look good. 

So it was definitely time for another closet clean-out! Here's the before picture:

Not terrible but definitely not as functional as it could/should be.

Plus a lot that hadn't been hung yet.

First I went through each section (dresses, pants, skirts, sleeveless, short-sleeved, long-sleeved) and determined if I wore it enough/liked it enough to keep it. This first edit was pretty minimal - I only decided to toss out 3 pieces of clothes so far (I got rid of 3 garbage bags last time!). 

I also made a pile of things I need to try on (stuff from my friend, stuff I haven't worn in a while). My "try-on pile" is HUGE, but I decided to keep on organizing and wait until another nap-time to try on all the maybes. 

Snooker likes to help.

The biggest revelation of the day was that I had about a foot of linear space in my closet devoted to t-shirts. I'm not a huge t-shirt person (I wear them 3-4x a month, probably), so making the decision to take them out of the closet and put them in one of the (previously empty) dressers in the office was a no-brainer!

Then I was able to space out my other, more frequently-worn clothes and not feel so cramped. The other great thing about not hanging my t-shirts anymore is that I freed up a ton of my "fancy hangers". This was the before, not that you can tell too much, but I had a bunch of wire hangers and a few plastics.

Ooooh, ahhhh. Color-coded by sleeve length PLUS matching hangers? I'm all over this.

I cataloged my clothes as I went (total nerd, I know) and I realized that I have a TON of tops. I mean, visually, I know that my closet is mostly made up of tops, but I have 15 sleeveless tops (not including plain tank tops that I layer with), 27 short-sleeved tops, and 31 long-sleeved tops/sweaters. I mean, seriously people - I have no reason to say "I have nothing to wear." 

So here's the Pt. 1 "after". I still have a ton to try on (and maybe snap a few pictures? :) and then the FINAL goal of all of this is to help me make more stylish outfits (or "capsules" a la YouLookFab). 

Next time, the try-on pile and continuing to re-vamp my overall wardrobe! 

Closet Cleanup

A few weeks ago, Cara came over and offered to help me go through some of my clothes. And when I say "some of my clothes" I mean, she made me try on all my clothes. All of them! It was the best thing she could have made me do! 

There were so many things that I didn't like any more, didn't fit well (I got rid of about 3 bags of clothes), and just as many things that I thought didn't fit, that were actually cute! She helped me put together a bunch of outfits, so now when I open my closet, I don't say "I don't have anything to wear!"

the after photo

(we worked too furiously for me to remember to take a before picture)