Back with a Vengeance

Hi Everyone!

I know, I know. It has been far too long. Mea culpa, mea culpa for the long absence-longer than I initially promised back in December. I assure you I have not been neglecting you purposefully or needlessly. Indeed, I have been quite busy. I've been applying to graduate school and taking admission exams which is not too much fun. Once I finished with the exams and got the first application submitted, I think my blood pressure went down significantly. Whew! Kinda makes me wonder what grad school itself is going to do to me....But such worries are for another day!

I am one of the types who gets a little messy when stressed. I am not a slob, yet things get disorderly nonetheless. Someone is attributed with saying something to the effect that the state of one's living/working space will indicate the state of what's going on in the ol' noggin. That clearly was the case with me by the end of last week.

Last week was a bad week for me. When I am stressed or upset, cleaning and organizing are great ways for me to unwind. Having the tests and applications out of the way and after the rather lousy week, I decided to use my new-found free time to do some early spring cleaning. To signify my reentry into all things bloggy, I will share this fresh new start with you.

I have showed you a few snapshots of my bedroom before when it is clean (or else reasonably clean).

Seen better days. This is the phoenix that should rise out of the ashes...

Before I set out on this cleaning extravaganza, I had decided I needed to de-robe my wardrobe of those clothing items that [1] I don't wear anymore or [2] I shouldn't wear anymore. What is the difference between one and two, you might ask? Well, there is a big difference. Category one are those things I haven't worn for more than a year, whether it be because it doesn't fit, I don't like the way it looks, and et cetra. Category two are things that I was still wearing up to last Saturday, when I cleaned out the closet.

Mid-clean

As a young, working professional I need to make sure that I am well-dressed even when "off the job." Personal appearance can be a make-or-break component of self-presentations. No matter how smart, ingenious, nice or strong I am (and I am all of that and way more, let me assure you), if my clothes are sloppy or even in just out-of-sync or out-of-style, some one could write me off entirely. This isn't necessarily judgmental. If I am wearing clothes that look worn out because I've owned them for so long--even if these are clothes from the "professional" department--I am not professionally dressed. Clothes need to fit well, be in good condition, and look clean. Stylishness is also important. If something is clearly out of style (e.g. leisure suits, certain prints popular more than a decade ago, ) then don't wear it if you want to be taken seriously. If I don't dress well, I am not taking myself seriously. If I don't take myself seriously then why should anyone else take me seriously? Right, they don't have to!

Moving on from that fashion-philosophical tangent....Using the above criteria, I went through my entire closet. After about two and a half hours, I had quite a selection of items in the "Bye Bye" pile.

Since some of these items were in good condition, I separate these items into a smaller grouping with the intention of consigning.



 I've never consigned anything. Not that I didn't want to, I just never thought of it. I am so used to simply dropping items off at the local Salvo. However, I recently read about some folks who claim to have been able to make some nice money off of their unwanted clothes, so I thought I'd take a whack at it.

Time to make some money, babay!

Fail.

Fail. Fail. Fail. That is how my consigning adventures went. Not one, but two consignment stores rejected my stuff. The first one said that my stuff wasn't trendy or name-brand-y enough for them to take. They sent me to another place that took "women's clothing," as they said. The second store said they didn't want my stuff because it was all junior brands. Wait, what?? So apparently the awkward "tween" years extend past the categorical "tween years"? After two rejections, feeling demoralized and not up for hunting down other consignment store, I just brought it to the local homeless center as I already planned to do with the other stuff that I knew wasn't consign-worthy. They didn't turn it away! In fact they were quite happy to receive my stuff. This turned my frown upside down.

After my somewhat mortifying, all-around-town goose chase to find somewhere that would take my items, I returned home, made some magic happen and--wah-lah--clean bedroom. And more importantly, clean and organized closet!

All my shoes found proper homes in either a shoe-hanger or on a shelf. Things were folded and placed in their respective drawer or shelf, too. Don't mind the broken bottom drawer of the dresser in the right-hand photo. I will get to fixing that someday. But for now, things are clean and orderly, and I am enjoying some new found sanity in a tidy bedroom.

Until next time, here is a little teaser of that chair I have been making slow but steady progress on...