Both DDs also are 9.5 - sometimes one wears a little smaller, unless she wants to wear some of my shoes/boots. My wide calf boots look good on her too.
My mom had some nice things in her wardrobe - some went to sisters, but many things were great additions to my closets and my wardrobe. I had given her a lot of great scarves over the years too - and I always gave her stuff that I liked!
I hate boots! You’d think that I should like them, given where I live - but I will wear flats with no socks even when there is snow on the ground. I have LLBean duck boots and another pair of snow boots, but I’ve never owned a pair of leather boots and don’t think I ever will! Just a quirk. My family was in the shoe business and they certainly appreciated a good pair of boots - just not me!
I wish I had the long legs to go with over the knee boots.
I finished the pants section of my closet. I hate trying on pants but finally forced myself to do it. I saved 6 pairs of dress pants for work and 6 casual/jeans pairs. 10 to donate. I can’t believe how good my closet looks. I followed the tidying book method of hanging long things on the left, short things on the right, I also splurged on those flat velvety hangers and everything hangs so much better- and stays put. Made another large bag to donate today.
Another size 9.5 boot person here! The boots that make it into my closet must feel special - they were very, very carefully chosen. 
Cleaned kiddo’s room today. Two more bags of crap ready for disposal! I am happy.
DH and I moved three years ago and at that time I got rid of a lot of stuff I didn’t wear. And at the same time I stopped working in an office and began working from home, so I’ve gotten rid of even more stuff since then. I find I continue to cull – things that are a little tight that I don’t feel comfortable in, things that are a little worn that don’t look good anymore, things that I never really loved in the first place. I continue to free up more and more and more space. It’s also getting to the point that I really don’t have too much to wear! I may just have to go shopping soon. :)>-
"I followed the tidying book method of hanging long things on the left, short things on the right, "
Within each category ( jackets, blouses, pants) I group by color. That helps me stay organized and realize I wear way too much black!
I also group by color. I keep the current seasons clothes in the most accessible part of the closet and switch twice a year. At that time I look at both groups of clothing - fall/winter and spring/summer get rid of what I am not wearing , following criteria similar to VeryHappy.
Perhaps we should have a size 9.5 shoe swap!
I also group by color and have a lot of black. I switch twice a year and store off season in clear containers on the top shelf. I like putting those clothes out of sight - when I pull them out 6 months later it’s like opening Christmas presents since I’ve usually forgotten about many of the clothes by then!
I’m in the mood to purge, but don’t have the time right now. I’ll just have to be satisfied with the three bags of raked leaves from my shrubbery beds that went to the curb yesterday afternoon. You people who keep up the pace impress me!
I’m another person who has been occupied with getting rid of leaves. Three huge piles have been picked up by the city, after being raked by me and two teenage helpers over the past month. Now it’s okay if it snows.
Dealing with leaves here, too! Except dang WM hauled away our yard waste bin in error, so could not get rid of the leaves that piled up on the driveway this weekend. Getting a new one this week and keeping fingers crossed that it would be not too rainy for leaf raking.
In my city, leaves have to be loose (i.e., not bagged or in a bin) to be picked up. I like this system. Raking is tedious enough; if I had to bag the leaves, too, I’d give up.
A friend from Detroit was telling me the same thing. Alas, this is not the case here. What’s not bagged or bin-ed does not get picked up. Oh, and our taxes do not entitle us to yard waste pickup. We pay for it separately.
If I get hired for this job I interviewed for yesterday, it will be a big motivation for me to start getting rid of stuff and organizing better. I need this shot in the arm! Great company, great work group. I am optimistic!
Yippee! Congrats on having an interview! Keeping my fingers crossed for you!
More than a bag: we took a truckload to the dump last week! A couple of old pallets, rusty patio chairs, broken scooters. Everything will be recycled - score!! And I have two bags of clothes ready for donation in the back of the car.
Yippee! Woot, woot!
Hope no one minds me jumping in in the middle, so to speak.
I turned 60 this year, and am making some major and long-overdue changes, and one of those was a resolution to get control of the contents of my house. This summer, I decided on two guiding principles: First, that someday my D is going to have to deal with every single item in this place, and so the first question I ask about any item is “Do I want to force her to decide what to do with this someday?” Second, that the stuff has piled up day by day, item by item, and that it is going out the same way it came in. So rather than a series of big cleanouts, I’ve incorporated it into my daily life.
I decided to start with the two biggest problem areas, the office and our bedroom where stuff tends to go and never come out. So every single day since August I have been doing the following:
When I’m done with the file cabinet, I’ll turn my attention to the drawers and shelves, one at a time. When I’m done with items 1 and 2, I’ll turn my attention to the linen closet and then the coat closet. Etc.
Sometimes I’ll get rid of, say, 3 shirts instead of one, or go through two files instead of one. But I’m steadfastly resisting the occasional temptation to purge an entire file cabinet drawer at a sitting, for example. The biggest risk I have is burnout. That’s the one thing that will stop me dead in my tracks, probably forever.
Most days, it takes 10 minutes, if that. It seems like a ridiculously silly way to clean out 35 years worth of stuff, but it’s working for me. In the past week, both the dresser and nightstand got cleared, and that felt like a huge victory. The file cabinet is about 2/3 done, and the more I do, the easier it is to file papers lying on the desk and elsewhere. So the whole thing is not overwhelming at all, but I’ve reached the stage where it is reinforcing.
It’s also liberating, and the thought process is starting to carry over to other rooms where I’m not yet “officially” decluttering. If I open the kitchen utensil drawer and happen to see a gadget that I haven’t used in 10 years, I’ll just take it right to the Goodwill bag. No agonizing decision-making, and especially no “I might need it someday.” That phrase might be the most important thing I’m purging!
My Goodwill bag for tomorrow is sitting by the front door, as one usually is on Friday night. Tonight, it’s mostly filled with fabric. I opened a big Rubbermaid box and found all this fabric and a few patterns, scraps, spools of thread, and I remembered something I haven’t thought about in years: D’s “I’m going to be a fashion designer” phase. And this is where my thinking is starting to change: Instead of “I’d better keep this in case she wants it someday” I thought “She’s no longer a seamstress, and she’s been away from home for 6 years and never once mentioned it, so let’s find a new home for it.”
It’s going to take a couple of years, at least, but that’s OK. Steady progress is what works best for me, and my house is getting a little better every day.
^^^Awesome!