Cleaning Out My Closet
Systems and routines make me happy. They give order and structure to my life. So I get really happy when I’m implementing systems, but the hard part is maintaining them. Case in point: my closet.
I have a pretty simple system. Dress shirts, dress pants, and t-shirts I like are all hung for easy access. Everything else has their place in my two sets of drawers. But it NEVER seems to work properly. It’s a vicious cycle, really. Once in awhile, I’ll take out all my clothes from the closet and throw them on my bed. The rest of the routine goes like this: wash the ones that smell funny, throw away the “what-the-heck-was-thinking-when-I-bought-this articles, rehang, refold, and organize accordingly. For a few weeks (or days) afterwards, I’m really good about sticking to my system and keeping everything neat and orderly. It gives me much satisfaction to glance over and see everything in its place. It’s a good feeling.
But eventually, I’ll get too lazy to fold one t-shirt, or I’ll throw a pair of socks in the underwear drawer, and then everything slowly goes down the tubes (socks, tubes—get it? Genius). Eventually, I start putting clothes on top of my drawer, and then a pile magically develops. Then I know it’s the end, and I either continue letting my closet grow into a monster, or I pull everything out and repeat. By the way, isn’t this a great illustration of the great danger that small compromises and secret sins are upon our conscience? Almost tempted to rewrite this post, but I won’t—it’s Friday.
Anyone have tips to keeping an immaculate closet? Should I just invest in another drawer? Or a maid?
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Cleaning Out My Inbox
Also, in the spirit of systems, I really need to organize my email inbox. Right now, it’s a complete mess. Praise God for search functions. This will be my weekend project.
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New Header Image
In case you’re wondering what my header image means, Coram Deo is latin for “Before the face of God.” It’s a reminder that everything we do is in His presence—yes, even Scrabble.
5 Comments
September 21, 2007 at 11:27 am
my closet never really goes crazy…
i think what helps is the compartments. i have these cardboard compartments thingies that keep all socks, underwear, accessories, stockings, etc. separated (in the same drawer) and when i put my clothes away everything’ll just go in their right places.
why would you throw socks in your underwear drawer? i don’t get it. maybe you just need a maid.
inboxes. just label everything (gmail rocks) and add labels to all the email you get everytime you check it. delete things you know you won’t look back on, archive whatever you’ve read.
clean up everytime you check your email.
i should have scrolled down to the last one… i looked up coram in the dictionary before reading the last bit, and it wasn’t there.
September 21, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Here’s my 2¢:
Closet: Get married to a girl that is really organized.
Inbox: Open a new email account and THEN do what Jennnn suggested. I have like 2000 messages in my gmail account that I need to organize. It’s never going to happen. My only hope is to start fresh. =)
New Header Image: I like Coram Deo. Back in the day, that was a theme for the KACF spring retreat (even before my time). They made sweatshirts with “Coram Deo” on the front. Hey, maybe that could be the theme for this year’s retreat. Sometimes at the end of an email or letter, I’ll write, “D.V.,” which stands for “Deo Volente” (Latin for “God-willing”). Too bad these words don’t work in Scrabble. It would be a great way to use the “V” tile.
September 21, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Throw away the dirty clothes and buy new clothes.
September 23, 2007 at 8:39 pm
I believe that I currently have both under control…for now. I’m happy with my inbox system and think it’ll be easy enough to manage for awhile.
Pat, I recall seeing that D.V. before, but didn’t realize what it was. Good clarification.
September 26, 2007 at 10:12 am
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