Day 5: The Positive Side of Gaining Weight (Is there one?)

I'm dreading this clean out; I've decided to begin the work on my closet. Hubby and I share a walk-in closet, but I'm only cleaning out my side. Two years ago, I lost a lot of weight - about 30 pounds -  so, I got to buy all new clothes. I've been able to wear them for two years, until this spring. 

I spent almost the entire spring in a chair. My daughter played on three softball teams in April, two in May, and we're finally down to one in June, and my son played soccer and baseball. I also spent a significant amount of time writing - like I do now. I ate too much and did not exercise enough. So, I put on ten pounds, which means that all of those adorable clothes do not fit me anymore. I plan to get back down to my "fightin' weight," but I don't want to keep the mess of clothes that are in my closet. I'd rather make space and buy new ones - especially since I buy most of my clothes at Goodwill (they're easy to replace that way). 

Here are the before pictures, and yes, it's ugly in there:

I have three rods. One for longer items like dresses, the other two are for shorter pieces, like shirts and jackets. I also have three shelves - two on one side and one on the other. The single shelf is really high up for me. The lower of the two is where I keep a bunch of books - but, I think I'll change that.

Today, I simply cleaned off the top two shelves and filled an entire bag with clothes that are just too tight. I do not want to throw them away; they will be either donations or garage sale pieces. Most of them were originally from Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, and other favorite stores.

Even though I hate gaining weight, it does give me an easy way to clean out my closet. This will be a multi-day project, which is fine.

In my clean out, I did find a few treasures. One was the old Guess! Jeans bag from my high school days, which was over 20 years ago! Inside of the bag was a certificate that named my daughter an official pirate in December of 2002, when she was all of 23 months old. Ironically, the captain of the pirate ship was named Captain Morgan. I also found a small collection of Star Wars figures from Episode 1, the Phantom Menace. Since I have a collection of Star Wars things for my son, I'll add those to the mix. I could not throw away the certificate, so I put it on my hubby's desk and let him decide what to do with it (he'll probably throw it away).

Tomorrow, I'll fill another bag. And when I'm finished, I'll show the final product. But, right now, the top shelves are empty!