Somehow, quietly and without much fanfare, a tornado ripped apart the cleanest closet in the house. I can tell you when I first felt the ripple of a breeze. When we sold our china cabinet, we needed to store the homeless pieces held within until we could afford to install the library in the family room. My closet was the logical choice. I packed the collectibles in their boxes and placed them on the floor of my closet.
I store my shoes in their original boxes along the top of my closet. I started this a couple of years after I become thoroughly fed up with shoe racks of all kind. My mother has always stored her shoes this way, and while it pained me greatly to admit she was, yet again, right, I had to admit she was on to something. At some point in the spring, a strap snapped on my favorite pair of sandals. The soles were also starting to separate and the heels looked more than scuffed. I held onto them because I don’t know. Luck? I wanted to find something similar–exactly the same, preferably–but I never did. I bought a new pair that were just okay and put them in the closet.
Something similar happened with my tennis shoes and a pair of heels I liked to wear for dates. One day my mom dropped off some shoes she had to admit she should have never bought.
With summer officially here, I started dropping to the floor of my closet winter clothes to donate.
That which I stored, bought, accepted, and discarded converged in a hailstorm of clutter. My closet doors were close to coming off their tracks, I could no longer store all my shoes on the top shelf of my closet, and the mess made me nervous. A call to action if ever there was one.
I took all the shoes and boxes out of my closet in hopes that getting rid of a few pairs would gain me enough room to store all my shoes along the top of my closet once again. As usual, I was ruthless.
I even got rid of my favorite shoes that I bought a smidgen too big (top box) and wore until they stretched and flopped against my heels. They gave me blisters, but I still wore them. I put in the donate pile 20 pairs of shoes. There are 15 pairs of shoes in my closet, including tennis shoes and flip-flops. My knee-high boots are in the cabinet next to the closet. With the exception of my rain boots, my Rainbows, those knee-high boots, and a pair of street sneakers, everything fits on the top shelf. I might get rid of the street sneakers, too. I bought them on a whim because they were cheap. Rarely a good� move for me.
The process went quickly enough to inspire me to do some purging on the left side of my closet, which is where I keep all my pants and shirts. I’m a consistent clothing purger, so I only had one bag to donate.
I wanted to gain enough space to store my shoes on the top shelf, but I ended up purging enough to lose my shoe rack. I did have to put back the collectible boxes on the right side of my closet, but they no longer fight for floor space with shoes and clothing, so it doesn’t bother me as much and my closet doors open and shut easily.
I’m happy with the way the closet looks, with a few exceptions.
- I want to replace the old hangers with the same space saving hangers I bought a couple of months ago. I was out of hangers (turns out I just needed to purge my closet) and bought a set that looked promising (similar). They are perfect for boatneck shirts, slippery blouses, and strappy dresses.
- I want to make an effort to buy pieces of greater quality. My style is, for the most part, classic and traditional. I can get away with paying more because these are items that I can, and should, wear for years instead of re-buying every season.
- I want to practice delayed gratification. Take my favorite sandals–the ones I mentioned above. I couldn’t find what I was looking for on the day I needed them, so I settled for something else. Last week I bought another pair of sandals, fancier than the replacement pair I bought previously, because I completely forgot about the pair I bought just to fill the hole in my closet. Had I just waited until I found what I really wanted, I wouldn’t have a pair of sandals in my closet that I’m not positive I will wear again. I should probably put them in the donate pile, but my I’m stubborn and prideful.
I do feel really good, though. So good, in fact, that I opened and closed my closet doors a few times yesterday just because I could.
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This post was part of The William Morris Project, a weekly series that details the steps I am taking to create an intentional home. You can see more of my goals and completed projects here. To learn more about this project, start here.
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Now it�s your turn! Feel free to share how you have lived according to the William Morris quote, �Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.� Made a plan? Cleaned a drawer? Bought a sofa? Tell us about it with a link or comment. A few guidelines:
- Please link to a specific post, not a general blog address.
- Your post must relate to your efforts to create an intentional home. I have a delete button, and I�m not afraid to use it.
- No links to giveaways, please.
- Let�s use this weekly link up as an opportunity to gather inspiration and motivation. Click links. Discover new people. Say hi and good job. I know I will.
Isn’t it amazing how much a clean and organized closet can really lift one’s spirits?! It really is the little things … LOVE your William Morris posts.
Yes, that’s a great way to describe the feeling. You’re spirits are lifted and you get a sense of peace.
Jules, I LOVE reading your William Morris posts. I now you’ve helped me identify the feeling I get when things start to go into less organised territory in my closet: Nervous. Complete and utter nervousness, until I take everything out and put it back in a way that pleases me. I must make a plan to get it more functional though. Like the way you store your shoes in their original boxes. My shoes are a mess! I guess I just wear the ones at the top of the pile. :( Perhaps I’ll get it to it soon.
Your WM quotation reminds me of a Ruskin quote. ‘All lovely things are also necessary.’ I recently moved house and accidently ‘lost’ a huge box of shoes that somehow got tagged in the ‘toss’ pile. We were streamlining so the place we were living could be made into course accommodation for 9. Woe is the word to describe my lamentations at the loss. However, new freedom has come from the experience. I make bespoke shoe lasts so now there is more opportunity for more shoes. Love your heartfelt blog. Blessings.
I said something about cleaning last week on Twitter, and someone tweeted back that life is too short for that. That may be the case for her, but it isn’t for me. I get nervous, stressed out, and grumpy when things aren’t in order. Plus, it takes me 10 times as long to do anything because I can’t find what I need!
Thanks, Pamela! I love your attitude.
I’m so impressed with your shoe purge. I went through and did something similar last month, but in the end, I still have something like 49 or 53 pairs. The shoes that go with one outfit, the shoes I wear to mow, the flip flops I wear with my bathing suit once a year, my snow boots for those snows we never have. You know how it works. My closet and dresser drawers have been drastically reduced, but I love the fact that you open your closet and wear it all. An inspration…which makes me want to take a second look at the shoe situation. :-)
Yes, I know how it works. Single purpose shoes are a woman’s curse! To get away with a small amount of shoes, though, they have to be pretty good quality since they will get so much use. That’s where I need to stretch a bit. I should buy more expensive shoes so they last longer.
The closet looks great! You must have a tiny foot. Those boxes are so little. There would only be about four boxes of shoes up there on that shelf with my size 12. But I think having a huge foot has saved me from buying so many shoes because (1) I can’t find my size in anything I love and (2) display shoes fit my big toe. ;) I guess there is a bright side to it.
You are probably also very tall, too. I’m barely 5’4″ (closer to 5’3″) and I wear between an 8-8.5.
I’ve never thought to keep my shoes in their boxes. I wonder how that would work for me–seems I’m always grabbing shoes at the last minute. I’m afraid the box business would make me disgruntled. Of course, lining them on the floor of my closet doesn’t work either–well, it does for the first week, when they’re all neat and tidy.
And I love that quote–a beautiful quote, from a beautiful woman . . .
Lining them up on the floor or using shoe racks did nothing for me except make my blood boil! I was always losing a shoe and everything got dusty.
i’m now super curious about the shoes that those boxes hold!! (and what ended up in the giveaway pile)
They are pretty basic shoes. Nothing too fancy. :)
I’m not typically an over-buyer but I do have a weakness for shoes. I’m always thinking my next purchase will be the magical pair that is cute, comfy, and will hold up for a million years. I should just learn that when I do find that pair, I need to buy 12 of them.
I do that. If I find a pair I really like, I’ll buy it in multiple colors, usually black and brown or black and some neutral. Kind of boring, but it works.
Gosh you good at this! I need to forward this to my husband, we are sharing a closet (never a good idea) and he has so many shoes he NEVER wears, it KILLS me!
Are they all tennis shoes? ;)
Good job! And no-slip hangers are the best! They really do hold stuff, they don’t take up much room, oh – and they all match. :) I used to use the original shoe boxes, but it bothered me that they were all different sizes. (Sense a theme here?) So now I use the clear ones from the Container Store.
Also, I used to take all my purged stuff to Goodwill or the hospice thrift shop, and I still do some of that. But when my daughter started high school last year, I discovered the ESOL teacher maintains a warehouse for needy families of students. It has made it so much easier for me to get rid of things, knowing they will go directly into the hands of someone who needs them.
I’ve seen those boxes from the container store! I didn’t realize they were so reasonably priced. I think I would need the men’s size, because a lot of my shoes have heels or bulky platforms.
I do have trouble with a couple of the bulkier ones – for now I’ve just made do or left them out. If you buy these by the case they’re even less expensive, I think, and the boxes are a great size (well, duh, shoebox size) for lots of other storage things. Or you can split a case with someone.
Is it shoe week in So. Cal? My closet has an angled shelf with strip of molding to park shoes on. It holds my six pairs, but last week I picked up my dressy slingbacks and found spider webs. Not a happy moment. The next day a coworker offered me a really little dresser with three drawers! I lined the drawers with the brightest red paper I have. The dresser fits nicely in the closet and the two top drawers hold my shoes and the bottom, my boots. Quick fix and I’m very happy with it.
Six pairs of shoes? YOU WIN. :)
I used to be a fussy eater…now it’s all about shoes.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one with a small shoe collection! You still win though ‘cuz I have seven pairs. :)
It’s six plus my everyday shoes (they’re on me or next to the bed) plus the boots. Tie!
I, too, have learned the lesson to wait for what I really want. Every time I settle for something because I just want it RIGHT NOW, I always find what I really want just a short time later. And kick myself. It’s time for me to do a shoe purge. I find that when I do get the thing I really want, in a high-quality version, I really only wear a few pairs a season. I know that this summer I’ve worn 1 pair of leather flip-flops, one pair of leather sandals with heel straps, 1 pair of pool flip-flops, 1 pair of working-around-the-house sneakers, one pair of workout shoes, and one pair of flats. And that’s it. There’s a few more during the school-year (when I’m working outside the house), but that’s all I need right now. They fit easily on some low shelves at the bottom of the closet. (The box thing didn’t work for me. Not even the clear plastic ones. I get too lazy/hurried to put them back in, and I can’t see them well enough, even in the clear plastic ones.)
Closet purging is good for the soul! The last several years, my friends and I have held clothing exchanges. It’s a great way to get a few new-to-you items, while getting rid of stuff you no longer want or fit into. Whatever is left over we donate to Goodwill.
Closet looks great, I’d be opening and gazing fondly upon that lovely space too!
Sometimes it is so hard to stop myself, and gain perspective on whether I need something or just want it or am just rushed and want to replace a treasured, but worn-out item quickly with something equally as awesome. Taking the time to source out exactly the right thing might be time worth taking. Have been getting a lot better at it, now that we’ve put in place an ‘at the end of the month, if you still want it, you can get it’ rule. I still haven’t bought anything…which is maybe a good thing – I’m still not entirely convinced of this. My one pair of shoes are starting to look pretty bedraggled, and even though it is an office/lab environment, where office attire isn’t the height of fashion, I’m still thinking that having holes in my shoes (and pretty well all of my shirts), probably isn’t putting my best foot forward :)
I’m systematically going through one closet at a time in our house, inspired by you. We tackled the worst one first (the office/spare bedroom closet, which holds our office supplies, mailing stuff, and a lot of other junk). Seeing the empty space in there makes me so happy, and it means I’m able to put the couch cushions in there when we unfold the spare bed for guests.
I have to hit the linen closet next, which has somehow become a combination of linen + pantry, which seemed okay until D told me that our giant bags of oatmeal now taste faintly of laundry detergent. Sigh.
Thanks for the inspiration, Jules!
You truly are ruthless. Even your favs didn’t make the cut ?! I could have convinced myself that a little thing like sizing was something I could work around!
I just bought those hangers at Costco and I love them. I only bought one pack (of 35!) thinking they would just be for the slippery stuff, but now I want them for everything. So I either need to buy two more packs, or…hmmm…maybe I should just purge.
I am convicted of the need to purge my closet. {and, well, everything.} All my shoes are stored in the bottom drawer of my dresser, but the system is incredibly inefficient and space hogging. My closet shelves are overtaken with my husband’s steadily growing hat collection. To the drawing board!
I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoyed every bit of it.
I have you book marked to check out new things you
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My friend Sara stores her shoes in the original boxes, too. My shoes are all over the house right now (sad to say). They are in the downstairs catch-all closet, a pair of sandals are chilling by the front door, there are several all over the floor of my closet, and maybe three or four pair are in their rightful spot in the shoe organizer. D’oh.
On the bright side, I did a thorough shoe purge before we moved in March, so I’m not out of control on the NUMBER. :-)
I love an organized not over full closet!
I’ve been having a sort of opposite problem in regards to purchases. There are a few larger purchases, like children’s bedframes, that I’ve been putting off because the ones I really like are so expensive. I haven’t found anything cheaper that I like as well in the almost 3 years I’ve been looking so I really need to just get over it and buy the ones I like already. Oy.
Surprisingly, this is one area where I do not have an excess. I do, however, have a bin full of five pair of the cutest kitten heel, pointy-toed shoes that were PERFECT for all occasions (bought in navy, brown, black matte, black patent leather, and bone). I bought them three months before getting pregnant with my first child, then my feet grew during pregnancy and never shrank back…and I still have those shoes. As if the bone structure in my feet will someday decide to disobey the laws of physics. They are a symbol of a life I left behind 7 years ago, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of them.
15 pairs of shoes?? Really? I have tossed and tossed and tossed shoes –but I still have at least 30 pairs, maybe even more. Of course quite a few of them are flip flops so I somehow figure that the tiny thinness of them allows for more shoes ;)
I have to figure out something reasonable to do with my shoes since I have almost all of them in two big boxes in my closet. It’s totally impractical. But the space for something else hasn’t yet materialized. Oh well, first to focus on the important rooms to finish unpacking :)
Thanks for hosting and I’m glad to be back in the game!
I totally buy things to “fill holes.” I can’t count the number of poorly fitting khakis I have settled on because they are a “closet staple.” I can count the number of times I’ve actually worn khakis in the last eight years on one hand!
My clothing motto is admire more, purchase less….which has been a lot easier since I’ve got a new apartment to preoccupy my shopping itch.
Way to confidently purge!