How the Morning Rush Made Me Clean Out my Drawers

This morning my drawers exploded. All over the bedroom.

My poor husband was trying to get ready for work (after a 2am finish last night – unfortunately not all that unusual at our place!) and I called to him in the bathroom “Sorry, Honey! I have a bit of a mess out here! Just step around the clothes – I’ll clean up later!”

I had just stepped out of the shower. It was after 8am and I had to get one cherub to school very soon. The other one had a fever so he would be coming back home to bed (better than last week’s gastro, I assure you!), and I still had to make school lunches. Yesterday’s jeans were good to go and I had found a top in the wardrobe, but I needed that T-shirt to go underneath it. The one I KNEW I had seen last in that drawer but right now I couldn’t find.

So I was pulling out shirts in the search and dumping them on the floor. The drawer was too full to start with and there was really no other way to see what was underneath the top layer. Then I tried a couple of other drawers knowing that in recent months there had been some “T-shirt Overflow”. Those drawers got dumped on the floor too in my hurry to get out of the bedroom to the next step before Miss 10 starting getting upset about being late.

Ahhh! There it is! Great. Dressed and off to the kitchen then off to school. Phew!

A couple of hours later I sat on the floor in front of the chest of drawers and contemplated my options as I refolded everything.

Here was my chance to get organised.

Again. It seems to never end!

Rather than start putting things back I tipped out everything from the drawers. Yes. Everything. Onto the floor in one big pile.

I know. Dramatic. And messier than before!

But I knew that if I started with some clothes still in the drawers I would not look at them properly and they possibly would stay there when they shouldn’t. Besides I had read Nikki’s book last week and there was a very clear section about cleaning out your wardrobe that said start by taking it ALL out.

Next step: Sorting and Re-folding

One at a time I picked up each time in the pile and decided whether I should keep it. I thought about

• had I worn it recently?
• did it fit?
• was it free of stains or marks?
• was it still in good condition – not stretched out of shape or fading?
• was it still something I wanted to wear?

If any of these questions got a “no”, then it was lobbed over to the pile in the doorway. This was the “Not Going Back in the Drawer” pile. I’d decide later on whether I would bin each item, or give it to charity. For now, the goal was to just get them out of the way.

Things that made the cut were folded neatly into piles by type around me as I continued through the mess.

Back in the Drawers

In the end I discarded about half of the clothes that had been in the drawers, mostly because they were looking worn out. Many items hadn’t been worn for a couple of seasons but had been pushed to the bottom and forgotten. Putting everything back into drawers was a breeze when there was only half as much of it!

I can’t wait for the next morning rush!

I can see now that the next morning rush is going to be so much calmer. Partly it is because I have been through all those clothes and reminded myself what is in those drawers that perhaps I haven’t worn for a little while. But also because I will be able find things again. This has got to make the morning easier. Yay!