Minimalism and J-Fashion? Hahahaha, no way. Or at least that's what you're probably all thinking. But minimalism is more than just having a grand total of 30 items of clothing, shoes, and accessories and having a sparsely decorated room or house. It's about avoiding unnecessary clutter in your life.
So what exactly is minimalism? Many people define minimalism as having "less than 100 things" or "extreme sparseness and simplicity." So how is someone into J-fashion supposed to do this when we all know things like anime figure or poster collecting, tons of clothing and accessories, crafting, and cute decor are practically synonyms with J-fashion? Well, let's start by looking at a different definition of minimalism: Having only what you need or use on a regular basis or living an uncluttered lifestyle. What this means can vary depending on the person and what they need. Many people who aren't big on fashion or have a professional wardrobe can get away with having only a few items in their entire wardrobe since clothing isn't a big deal for them. This is why there are programs out there to help people reduce their wardrobe to only 33 items or reduce their number of possessions to 100 or less. So how can someone who, by nature, collect items and has a varied wardrobe become a minimalist without giving up the things they love?
#1: Declutter
Get rid of the things in your life that you never use or look at. That sweater Grandma gave you five years ago that you haven't taken out of the back of your closet since? Donate or sell it. Got loads of craft items you never use? See if any of your friends want them. All those scarves you crocheted that you never use? Try selling them or give them to family members as Christmas or birthday gifts. Essentially, take what you aren't using and either sell, donate, give, or throw it away.
#2: Avoid impulse buys.
This goes hand in hand with decluttering: Don't buy things you aren't going to use. Do you really need a third white blouse that looks identical to the ones you already own except it's got stars on the lace instead of flowers? Are you seriously going to make that dress if you already have a pile of sewing projects and patterns you've never even used? Do you REALLY need that Mr. Yan bodypillow, or is it just 3am and you have a bad case of the giggles? Always second guess your purchases. If you HAVE to have that dress because it's so cheap, bookmark it, take a walk or a nap, then decide if you still really want it the next day. I understand this can be hard when you're dealing with auctions or online sales, but it's better to wish you had bought something and wait until the next opportunity to get it comes up than to regret having bought a dress that doesn't even match your wardrobe. One time when I was younger, I really wanted to get a dog tag necklace with Gaara from Naruto on it at a con, but I wasn't sure if I'd actually wear it, so I waited until the next con six months later to find it again and buy it. And guess what? I may not wear it super often anymore, but I wore it all the time after I got it and still do occasionally. I don't regret buying it in the slightest. Those two purses I got a few months ago though? Putting them up for sale because they're the wrong size for my needs and don't match my wardrobe.
#3: Is there someone who would enjoy it more?
Sometimes we have items we occasionally use that we don't entirely care for as much as we did when we got it. A lot of times, these items can be sold or given to someone who would appreciate it more. I have been selling and donating some items that I use on occasion simply because I would rather have something that suits my wardrobe better take its place.
#4: Is it really that sentimental anymore?
Many of us hang on to items purely for sentimental value. 'I got this giant teddy bear at the fair with my BFF.' 'These fake rose petals were from the wedding of this one cousin I barely see.' The number one question to ask with items like these is, are they really important enough to be taking up space in your house or room and your life? If you keep them in storage, is it really worth the money you're spending each month to hang on to them, or would it be better spent elsewhere? If you aren't quite ready to get rid of something, take a picture of it and put it in a box or something where you won't see it often. If they're memorabilia from a wedding or party, do you have pictures from the event? Are the pictures of the item and/or event enough, or do you really like the item itself? Sometimes the memory is worth more than the item itself and a few pictures in a photo album takes up a whole lot less space than a giant teddy.
I hope you all enjoyed today's post! Let me know if there's anything you do to keep from being overwhelmed with items while still having the things you enjoy.
Check out my Facebook page: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Peruse my wares: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Clean Your Space
Hey everyone! Today I want to talk about something some of us excel at while many of us dread: Cleaning our rooms. Whether you just have a bedroom, a dorm room, an apartment, or a house, cleaning can be a daunting task. So, today I'll be sharing some of my advice for cleaning a room and keeping it clean.
#1: Don't be lazy.
First things first, don't be lazy when you're in your room. If you pull clothes out, put the ones that don't end up on your body away. Pick up any dishes or trash in your room and put them in the appropriate places (like the dishwasher or a trash can). Take time to put your clothing in a hamper or back in your closet or drawers at the end of the day instead of the floor or nearest exercise device (those things are clothing magnets, I swear). While I understand we all have nights where we're just exhausted and need to go straight to bed or just don't have time to wash dishes before leaving for school or work, it's easier in the long run if you put effort in sooner. If you come home after a long day at a Lolita meet or convention, don't just throw your clothes on the floor and leave them there for the next week. Try to at least throw items that need to be washed into a hamper while you're changing to your PJs and put the rest on a chair to be put away in the morning. I find it helps to keep a small trash basket in my room to avoid building up piles of wrappers, thread, and bits of glue. Just put one of those bajillion plastic bags your mom keeps in the basket for easy removal when you leave your room or need to take the regular trash out. (This also keeps the basket clean so you don't have to wash it all the time.)
#2: Put things in their proper place.
Rather than just shoving all your stuff into a closet to get your parents off your back or so you don't look like a complete slob when your friends come over, try and put everything where it belongs. Decide on where to store your various items when you aren't using them and keep them there when you aren't using them instead of leaving them on your floor or hiding them someplace (also a good way to keep from losing things). If you keep your clothing in drawers or a closet, fold them and put them away or hang them up properly. If you have a bookshelf, put your notebooks, manga, magazines, and anything else made out of paper that you read or draw on on the shelves. If you have a lot of crafting materials that spill all over your room, find a way to organize and keep them off the floor and your work space. Rolling drawer sets are super helpful for this, and you can always recycle some old boxes into a series of shelves and drawers to keep things in if you can't afford to get something new.
#3: Set a time to organize.
Having a set time to clean your room up really helps a lot. Whether you write it in on your calendar for every Wednesday, spend an hour on it every night, or do speed cleaning sessions throughout the day, everything helps. Try and spend some time each week cleaning your room in addition to my previous suggestions instead of waiting a month to start chasing out that badger family that moved in because you never picked up that mess from last year. Or, y'know, leaving that coord from a meetup last week lying around until you realize you need those tights for this week's meetup. If you're good at picking up on a day to day basis, take a few hours each week to do any dusting, mirror cleaning, or vacuuming you need to do as well as maybe change your sheets or wash your clothes. If you aren't good at picking up every day, schedule the better part of a day to spend picking up clothing, craft supplies, and plushies and putting them away then vacuuming and dusting as needed. Just make sure you don't get distracted by that awesome shirt or toy you found and spend the whole day putting together outfits and making more of a mess. ;)
I hope you all enjoyed my suggestions and are able to get some use out of them in your daily life. I know I certainly have benefited from having a clean room as opposed to tripping over my backpack, falling into a box, and having my dress form fall on me...
Check out my Facebook page: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Peruse my goods: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
#1: Don't be lazy.
First things first, don't be lazy when you're in your room. If you pull clothes out, put the ones that don't end up on your body away. Pick up any dishes or trash in your room and put them in the appropriate places (like the dishwasher or a trash can). Take time to put your clothing in a hamper or back in your closet or drawers at the end of the day instead of the floor or nearest exercise device (those things are clothing magnets, I swear). While I understand we all have nights where we're just exhausted and need to go straight to bed or just don't have time to wash dishes before leaving for school or work, it's easier in the long run if you put effort in sooner. If you come home after a long day at a Lolita meet or convention, don't just throw your clothes on the floor and leave them there for the next week. Try to at least throw items that need to be washed into a hamper while you're changing to your PJs and put the rest on a chair to be put away in the morning. I find it helps to keep a small trash basket in my room to avoid building up piles of wrappers, thread, and bits of glue. Just put one of those bajillion plastic bags your mom keeps in the basket for easy removal when you leave your room or need to take the regular trash out. (This also keeps the basket clean so you don't have to wash it all the time.)
#2: Put things in their proper place.
Rather than just shoving all your stuff into a closet to get your parents off your back or so you don't look like a complete slob when your friends come over, try and put everything where it belongs. Decide on where to store your various items when you aren't using them and keep them there when you aren't using them instead of leaving them on your floor or hiding them someplace (also a good way to keep from losing things). If you keep your clothing in drawers or a closet, fold them and put them away or hang them up properly. If you have a bookshelf, put your notebooks, manga, magazines, and anything else made out of paper that you read or draw on on the shelves. If you have a lot of crafting materials that spill all over your room, find a way to organize and keep them off the floor and your work space. Rolling drawer sets are super helpful for this, and you can always recycle some old boxes into a series of shelves and drawers to keep things in if you can't afford to get something new.
#3: Set a time to organize.
Having a set time to clean your room up really helps a lot. Whether you write it in on your calendar for every Wednesday, spend an hour on it every night, or do speed cleaning sessions throughout the day, everything helps. Try and spend some time each week cleaning your room in addition to my previous suggestions instead of waiting a month to start chasing out that badger family that moved in because you never picked up that mess from last year. Or, y'know, leaving that coord from a meetup last week lying around until you realize you need those tights for this week's meetup. If you're good at picking up on a day to day basis, take a few hours each week to do any dusting, mirror cleaning, or vacuuming you need to do as well as maybe change your sheets or wash your clothes. If you aren't good at picking up every day, schedule the better part of a day to spend picking up clothing, craft supplies, and plushies and putting them away then vacuuming and dusting as needed. Just make sure you don't get distracted by that awesome shirt or toy you found and spend the whole day putting together outfits and making more of a mess. ;)
I hope you all enjoyed my suggestions and are able to get some use out of them in your daily life. I know I certainly have benefited from having a clean room as opposed to tripping over my backpack, falling into a box, and having my dress form fall on me...
Check out my Facebook page: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Peruse my goods: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Building a Wardrobe: Part one
Hello everyone! So despite my rather extensive research into many different alternative styles, I've recently come to terms with the fact that I'm not really happy with my wardrobe. I have a lot of pieces, but not a lot of things that I wear or that work well together to build outfits in a particular style. So because of that, I'm going to go over some things I'm doing to rebuild my wardrobe to be more how I want it to be. This will be a multiple part series due to the amount of (hopefully) helpful rambling I tend to do as well as the number of points I wish to cover on each topic. Enjoy and feel free to let me know how you get your wardrobe to be more what you wear!
Step 1: Clear out the old
As with any good wardrobe revamp, it's best to start by getting rid of what you don't like, don't wear, and don't need. Take it in pieces so you don't get overwhelmed. I started by going through my dresses a drawer at a time, then through my armoire (I don't have a built in closet) and the drawers on my armoire. If you have a bunch of accessories or jewelry, go through these too. It's a good idea to try on clothing you aren't sure about and decide if you like how it looks on you. Sometimes we all buy things that we like the look of, but that don't look good on us. If you just aren't liking it, get rid of it. It might be a good time to mention that it's best not to do this if you're having a really bad day as you might just get rid of everything you own because it all makes you look fat. This can be a good thing if done properly though (re-evaluate things on a better day). This part of your closet revamp is not the time to get all sentimental and clingy. if you really do have a sentimental attachment to something, such as an old high school tee that all your buddies signed, put it aside somewhere or turn that ish into a quilt. I'm serious. Make your memory tees into a quilt that you can hang on your wall, use in winter when your heater isn't cutting it, or shove unceremoniously into a box. If you have heirloom pieces of jewelry that don't go with your style, put them in a box somewhere where it won't be taking up space that you could be using for things you DO use. This is what attics are good for as well as hidden corners in your room.
While going through clothing, you should take into account four main things: Fit, style, compatibility, and quality. Fit is essentially just does it fit and does it look good on your particular figure. If it's too small or makes your hips look ten times bigger than they really are, get rid of it. Style is whether it works with the style or styles you wear. Does that super pastel shirt really work with the Gothic wardrobe you want? Are you really going to be wearing a chartreuse tube top with a mostly faded pastel wardrobe? Things like that. Compatability is similar to style, but more "does this work with what I have" than "Does this work with my style." Are you really going to wear a floral mini skirt even if you have a Classic Lolita themed wardrobe? Do you really want those studded belts, or are they just going to hang around unused all the time? Last of all: quality. If you have an item in disrepair or that's just really poorly made (for Lolita this could be a Lace Monster or "ita" dress), get rid of it. Unless you have a grunge sort of style where all of your clothes are intentionally shredded or faded, you shouldn't be hanging on to shirts with holes in them. I have a hard time remembering that a lot of clothing isn't made to last and eventually has to be replaced, sometimes sooner rather than later. If you can't fix it or make it work, scrap it. Turn it into something new, donate it if it's still useable, or just chuck it. While there are places where one can donate old clothing to be repurposed, not everyone has them locally available. If you can, find a new use for something before throwing it away though.
Once you've decided what to keep, neatly fold, hang, and organize the pieces so you can easily see what you have. Anything you aren't keeping should be sorted into one of the following categories: Store, repurpose, donate, sell, trash. First up, store. If you have items of sentimental value that you don't use for your style, find a way to store them that will prevent them from taking up space that could be used for items you'll actually be wearing. Put that necklace from Great Grandma's aunt into a box with other such items, use vacuum bags to minimize space taken by sentimental clothes. Next up, repurpose. If you can find a new use for old clothes, do it. Turn your old jeans into a bag, make potholders out of that worn out sweater, turn useable pieces into scraps of useable cloth for that one friend who got into quilting, etc. This is more for clothing that is damaged to the point of not being useful anymore. You could also give fixable items to a crafty friend to fix for their own use if you know someone like that. Donate and sell are both somewhat close for me. If you want to try selling your clothes online or in a commission store, do it. But set a limit for yourself. If they aren't gone soon, donate them. The last thing you need is ghosts of clothing past crowding up your room and being useless. Alternatively, you can shove everything in paper bags and take them straight to the thrift store or a clothing donation box. Lastly, trash. If something's worn to the point of being unfixable or unwearable, just throw it away. If you want to be conscientious and have them recycled, go for it. Just don't throw them at the thrift store because then they have to throw it away after sorting through all the donations they receive.
Stay tuned next week for the next step in remaking your wardrobe!
Check out my shop: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
I'm on Facebook: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Step 1: Clear out the old
As with any good wardrobe revamp, it's best to start by getting rid of what you don't like, don't wear, and don't need. Take it in pieces so you don't get overwhelmed. I started by going through my dresses a drawer at a time, then through my armoire (I don't have a built in closet) and the drawers on my armoire. If you have a bunch of accessories or jewelry, go through these too. It's a good idea to try on clothing you aren't sure about and decide if you like how it looks on you. Sometimes we all buy things that we like the look of, but that don't look good on us. If you just aren't liking it, get rid of it. It might be a good time to mention that it's best not to do this if you're having a really bad day as you might just get rid of everything you own because it all makes you look fat. This can be a good thing if done properly though (re-evaluate things on a better day). This part of your closet revamp is not the time to get all sentimental and clingy. if you really do have a sentimental attachment to something, such as an old high school tee that all your buddies signed, put it aside somewhere or turn that ish into a quilt. I'm serious. Make your memory tees into a quilt that you can hang on your wall, use in winter when your heater isn't cutting it, or shove unceremoniously into a box. If you have heirloom pieces of jewelry that don't go with your style, put them in a box somewhere where it won't be taking up space that you could be using for things you DO use. This is what attics are good for as well as hidden corners in your room.
While going through clothing, you should take into account four main things: Fit, style, compatibility, and quality. Fit is essentially just does it fit and does it look good on your particular figure. If it's too small or makes your hips look ten times bigger than they really are, get rid of it. Style is whether it works with the style or styles you wear. Does that super pastel shirt really work with the Gothic wardrobe you want? Are you really going to be wearing a chartreuse tube top with a mostly faded pastel wardrobe? Things like that. Compatability is similar to style, but more "does this work with what I have" than "Does this work with my style." Are you really going to wear a floral mini skirt even if you have a Classic Lolita themed wardrobe? Do you really want those studded belts, or are they just going to hang around unused all the time? Last of all: quality. If you have an item in disrepair or that's just really poorly made (for Lolita this could be a Lace Monster or "ita" dress), get rid of it. Unless you have a grunge sort of style where all of your clothes are intentionally shredded or faded, you shouldn't be hanging on to shirts with holes in them. I have a hard time remembering that a lot of clothing isn't made to last and eventually has to be replaced, sometimes sooner rather than later. If you can't fix it or make it work, scrap it. Turn it into something new, donate it if it's still useable, or just chuck it. While there are places where one can donate old clothing to be repurposed, not everyone has them locally available. If you can, find a new use for something before throwing it away though.
Once you've decided what to keep, neatly fold, hang, and organize the pieces so you can easily see what you have. Anything you aren't keeping should be sorted into one of the following categories: Store, repurpose, donate, sell, trash. First up, store. If you have items of sentimental value that you don't use for your style, find a way to store them that will prevent them from taking up space that could be used for items you'll actually be wearing. Put that necklace from Great Grandma's aunt into a box with other such items, use vacuum bags to minimize space taken by sentimental clothes. Next up, repurpose. If you can find a new use for old clothes, do it. Turn your old jeans into a bag, make potholders out of that worn out sweater, turn useable pieces into scraps of useable cloth for that one friend who got into quilting, etc. This is more for clothing that is damaged to the point of not being useful anymore. You could also give fixable items to a crafty friend to fix for their own use if you know someone like that. Donate and sell are both somewhat close for me. If you want to try selling your clothes online or in a commission store, do it. But set a limit for yourself. If they aren't gone soon, donate them. The last thing you need is ghosts of clothing past crowding up your room and being useless. Alternatively, you can shove everything in paper bags and take them straight to the thrift store or a clothing donation box. Lastly, trash. If something's worn to the point of being unfixable or unwearable, just throw it away. If you want to be conscientious and have them recycled, go for it. Just don't throw them at the thrift store because then they have to throw it away after sorting through all the donations they receive.
Stay tuned next week for the next step in remaking your wardrobe!
Check out my shop: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
I'm on Facebook: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Organization Powers: Activate!
Hello everyone! So I've been recently re-evaluating a lot of things in my life and decided it was time to reorganize and clean up my room again. I say again because I moved all the furniture in my room late last year (accidentally creating a zombie barricade and effectively trapping myself in my room as well) and have been somewhat unsatisfied with the layout since. For various reasons (lazy, stupid old browser, etc.) I'm not going to be posting pictures of my room layout or anything.
So, let's start with some reasons for the (currently ongoing) organization going on in my room. As afore mentioned, I'm getting a little tired with its current layout. I don't have a lot of room and have a lot of stuff in my room right now and last time I kinda messed up and ended up shoving some furniture into odd corners where it's somewhat inconvenient. So, while I have yet to move any yet, I'm planning on rearranging my furniture to make it easier for me to avoid going straight to my computer and instead do important stuff (lke work on new shop products...). Second main reason is I just have way too much stuff right now compared to what I want to have and need to go through it all and decide what I want to keep and what it's time to get rid of. This is currently making my room more of a mess (boxes everywhere...), but I'm making progress in the direction I want to go: an ultimately less cluttered room.
So now we know generally why, let's go over some of my organization tips and suggestions.
Tip #1: One thing at a time
Alright, so when organizing, rather than focus on one area at a time, I find it helps a lot more to focus on one set of items at a time. For example, I pretty much just dumped my whole wardrobe on my bed to go through. Rather than work through my whole closet (which I have some non-clothing items in as well, like a toaster I can't use) I just focused on my clothing. Same thing goes for shoes, bags, makeup, jewelry, decorations, etc: Go through them one at a time instead of all at once so you aren't trying to organize five different things at once. It's a lot easier having a "Keep, "Get rid of, and "Undecided" pile of just shoes rather than having one pile for shoes, one for monsters, and one for.... wait, was I keeping these shoes or are these going to the thrift store with the monsters?
You get the idea.
Tip #2: Keep Sentimentalism at bay
One of the hardest parts of organizing for me is getting over sentimentalities associated with various items. "This shirt is so cute! I'm going to keep it!" With said shirt being too small, unflattering, or too worn for me to want to actually wear it. If it's something really special, like a class T-shirt, band shirt, present from a close friend, etc. Find a way to reuse it. One of my friends has a quilt made out of T-shirts hanging in her room and there are plenty of tutorials online if you decide to make your own. This can be harder with knickknacks and the like, so if you can, try to decide which actually have a sentimental value and which are just little gifts well meaning people gave to you that you never use or look at. If you can, try to make a photo album with pictures of the sentimentalities associated with something (like the birthday party where Aunt Patricia gave you that set of china deer you never liked) and then donate the items or give them to someone who would appreciate them more. Or if it's some dorky gag gift or accessory you never use that you got (I've been guilty of saving throwaway party hats) take pictures of the item(s) being used and get rid of them. I am rather guilty of taking pictures of presents from relatives to upload for their viewing pleasure and proceeding to never use said item again until I decide to donate it.
Tip #3: If it doesn't sell, donate it
This is more for if you, like me, try to keep expenses slightly more minimal by selling clothing you don't use online. I made a post a while back about my experience with some selling apps. So, since I'm also rebuilding my wardrobe right now, I'm getting rid of a lot of clothing and am attempting to sell a lot of it. Sadly, this is not working especially well, so I've decided that anything up for more than a month will be donated so my floor isn't overflowing with boxes and bags of unwanted clothing. While I could just donate all of it now, I spend most of my spending budget on clothing and would like to make some of it back so I can save up a bit more (my money from selling doesn't just go straight into buying more clothes). While there are multiple ways to accomplish this, a lot of them seem to be failing me, so I've given up and set a deadline for myself that I have to sell items in before I donate them to a thrift store. And if you're procrastinating on taking donations to a thrift store, look up donation acceptance hours for the store you're planning on donating to and set an appointment for yourself when your free time and donation times overlap. No more procrastination!
Tip #4: Make use of vertical space
Since I have fairly constricted living arrangements right now, I have to come up with creative ways of storing stuff. If you can, take advantage of walls and ceilings to store or display things. Get some shelves, paint them to match your style, and cram all of those trinkets you can't get rid of on them so you can use bookshelf space for books (or dolls... *shifty eyes*). I've recently been moving as much of my stuff to my walls as possible without having it look tacky so it's easier to store the rest of my stuff. I have a wall organizer for jewelry that currently has a lot of my smaller hair accessories and the majority of my non-pallet makeup in it hanging by my sink. It's not the prettiest, but it does the job. I also put all of my scarves on a closet hanger organizer that's displayed on the front of my armoire right now. If you have any dressers or armoires, I highly recommend using them as flat display surfaces. I have my ramune bottle collection happily displayed on top of my armoire as well as a toy dinosaur with a wire armature I made ages ago who is fascinated by my lamp.
Tip#5: Clear out clutter!
This may well be one of the most important tips I have: Don't keep trash lying around your room! Throw out any wrappers, plastic bags, monster-eating dust bunnies, and general trash that you have laying around your room. And try to prevent trash buildup in your room by having a small trash you regularly empty to throw your trash into. If you can I would recommend not even eating in your room so you're less likely to have crumbs, mold, and ants in your room because of being a messy eater or crumbly food.
Well everyone, that's all I have to say on room organization for now. Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to talk about in the future and I will do my best to fulfill those requests!
Check out my store: animelolitacouture.storenvy.com
I'm on Facebook: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho
And Twitter: @animlolicouture
So, let's start with some reasons for the (currently ongoing) organization going on in my room. As afore mentioned, I'm getting a little tired with its current layout. I don't have a lot of room and have a lot of stuff in my room right now and last time I kinda messed up and ended up shoving some furniture into odd corners where it's somewhat inconvenient. So, while I have yet to move any yet, I'm planning on rearranging my furniture to make it easier for me to avoid going straight to my computer and instead do important stuff (lke work on new shop products...). Second main reason is I just have way too much stuff right now compared to what I want to have and need to go through it all and decide what I want to keep and what it's time to get rid of. This is currently making my room more of a mess (boxes everywhere...), but I'm making progress in the direction I want to go: an ultimately less cluttered room.
So now we know generally why, let's go over some of my organization tips and suggestions.
Tip #1: One thing at a time
Alright, so when organizing, rather than focus on one area at a time, I find it helps a lot more to focus on one set of items at a time. For example, I pretty much just dumped my whole wardrobe on my bed to go through. Rather than work through my whole closet (which I have some non-clothing items in as well, like a toaster I can't use) I just focused on my clothing. Same thing goes for shoes, bags, makeup, jewelry, decorations, etc: Go through them one at a time instead of all at once so you aren't trying to organize five different things at once. It's a lot easier having a "Keep, "Get rid of, and "Undecided" pile of just shoes rather than having one pile for shoes, one for monsters, and one for.... wait, was I keeping these shoes or are these going to the thrift store with the monsters?
You get the idea.
Tip #2: Keep Sentimentalism at bay
One of the hardest parts of organizing for me is getting over sentimentalities associated with various items. "This shirt is so cute! I'm going to keep it!" With said shirt being too small, unflattering, or too worn for me to want to actually wear it. If it's something really special, like a class T-shirt, band shirt, present from a close friend, etc. Find a way to reuse it. One of my friends has a quilt made out of T-shirts hanging in her room and there are plenty of tutorials online if you decide to make your own. This can be harder with knickknacks and the like, so if you can, try to decide which actually have a sentimental value and which are just little gifts well meaning people gave to you that you never use or look at. If you can, try to make a photo album with pictures of the sentimentalities associated with something (like the birthday party where Aunt Patricia gave you that set of china deer you never liked) and then donate the items or give them to someone who would appreciate them more. Or if it's some dorky gag gift or accessory you never use that you got (I've been guilty of saving throwaway party hats) take pictures of the item(s) being used and get rid of them. I am rather guilty of taking pictures of presents from relatives to upload for their viewing pleasure and proceeding to never use said item again until I decide to donate it.
Tip #3: If it doesn't sell, donate it
This is more for if you, like me, try to keep expenses slightly more minimal by selling clothing you don't use online. I made a post a while back about my experience with some selling apps. So, since I'm also rebuilding my wardrobe right now, I'm getting rid of a lot of clothing and am attempting to sell a lot of it. Sadly, this is not working especially well, so I've decided that anything up for more than a month will be donated so my floor isn't overflowing with boxes and bags of unwanted clothing. While I could just donate all of it now, I spend most of my spending budget on clothing and would like to make some of it back so I can save up a bit more (my money from selling doesn't just go straight into buying more clothes). While there are multiple ways to accomplish this, a lot of them seem to be failing me, so I've given up and set a deadline for myself that I have to sell items in before I donate them to a thrift store. And if you're procrastinating on taking donations to a thrift store, look up donation acceptance hours for the store you're planning on donating to and set an appointment for yourself when your free time and donation times overlap. No more procrastination!
Tip #4: Make use of vertical space
Since I have fairly constricted living arrangements right now, I have to come up with creative ways of storing stuff. If you can, take advantage of walls and ceilings to store or display things. Get some shelves, paint them to match your style, and cram all of those trinkets you can't get rid of on them so you can use bookshelf space for books (or dolls... *shifty eyes*). I've recently been moving as much of my stuff to my walls as possible without having it look tacky so it's easier to store the rest of my stuff. I have a wall organizer for jewelry that currently has a lot of my smaller hair accessories and the majority of my non-pallet makeup in it hanging by my sink. It's not the prettiest, but it does the job. I also put all of my scarves on a closet hanger organizer that's displayed on the front of my armoire right now. If you have any dressers or armoires, I highly recommend using them as flat display surfaces. I have my ramune bottle collection happily displayed on top of my armoire as well as a toy dinosaur with a wire armature I made ages ago who is fascinated by my lamp.
Tip#5: Clear out clutter!
This may well be one of the most important tips I have: Don't keep trash lying around your room! Throw out any wrappers, plastic bags, monster-eating dust bunnies, and general trash that you have laying around your room. And try to prevent trash buildup in your room by having a small trash you regularly empty to throw your trash into. If you can I would recommend not even eating in your room so you're less likely to have crumbs, mold, and ants in your room because of being a messy eater or crumbly food.
Well everyone, that's all I have to say on room organization for now. Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to talk about in the future and I will do my best to fulfill those requests!
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