Getting Organized: Part 2

Time for 

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Ok, that's creepy. But you know what I'm talking about...it's time to get rid of some things.  

Yes, for some of you, it will be painful.  You will have sudden anxiety about the stuff "they want to take away from you."  You will try to convince yourself you will lose the 10 pounds to fit into your jeans from college. The neon sweater you hate will start to look cuter as the possibility of having to part with it draws closer.  I feel all those things! I get it. It can be hard letting go.

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Sometimes you need to see that you don't wear something to believe it.  You can take photos of your daily outfits to get an idea of what you REALLY wear.  You can also do the hanger trick, where you place all of your clothes in your closet so that the hangers are facing backwards.  Once you wear something, you place it back facing the right way.  At the end of a couple of months or a season, you can tell which items you don't wear by their still-backwards hangers.

Here is a guide that may also help you in determining what to keep.

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Now that you know what to get rid of, you can take a couple of actions.  You can sell your things on eBay.  My friend recently sold a pair of shoes from Aldo and Michael Kors - easy!  You can donate your things.  I recently dropped off a bag of clothes, shoes, and jewelry to Goodwill.  Tax write-off!  

The other thing you can do is have a clothing swap with friends!  My friend Jeanette organized one recently, and it was a huge success.  We brought other non-clothing items, too.  Sunglasses, jewelry, electronics, and hair/beauty products.  Whatever you want to bring to the swap is totally fine. Whatever doesn't get picked just ends up going to a donation center.

Here is our lovely hostess Jeanette (right) with another swapper Christine. The black outfit that Jeanette is wearing is actually from the clothing swap.

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Jeanette made some delicious treats for us.  She's into health + fitness so she filled us up with good eats.  We all had full bellies, which probably isn't the best scenario when trying on clothes. Oh well.

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Even the desserts were healthy - mousse made out of tofu.

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To begin, everyone had some time to "window shop".  We went between mingling, eating, chatting, drinking, and looking for about 20 minutes.  Then each person picked an item in the order that she arrived to the clothing swap.  I was the second person to arrive to the event, so I was the second person to get dibs on things.  We just went around in that order for the rest of the night. 

It started off relatively organized.  Piles, bins, and a clothes rack....

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Then it just became one big pile.

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Leann got my royal blue dress from H&M. 

 We originally had each other's tops, but we decided to swap our swaps?  I loved the striped top, but I felt like this cape could be worn more.  I was trying to give a snooty fancy look here. With my cape. But just look weird.

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Jeanette took a lot more photos, but I didn't post them because there was so much disrobing action going on in them. And there were mirrors reflecting people in all sorts of undress!

Many people worry that varying sizes may be an issue at clothing swaps.  I've attended two so far.  At both, we had different body types and sizes present.  However, it wasn't a problem.  As long as there isn't a huge discrepancy in sizes, people usually find something.  Also, remember you may pick up some cool non-clothing items! 

I feel pretty good about my finds. And to know that it didn't cost a thing is even better. I'll post some outfit pics soon!