Purse Overhaul

I follow some random blogs on Google Reader; blogs found through occasional searches or linked on other blogs. One of them, Love at First Shop, did a post this week about what she keeps in her purse. It has inspired me to clean out my purse.

I really need to upgrade the crap I'm carrying around - last year's calendar, a broken compact, goopy Clinique lip gloss that came as a free gift, and about 8 million receipts. Hopefully once I get it cleaned out and up-graded I can create a blog post about my lovely purse contents like her, with picture. So here is my inspiration: Rosa's bag contents post.

Declutter Weekend

Here are some ideas if you're not planning on spending the whole weekend shopping:

1. Organize your bathroom cabinets. Throw away anything you haven't used in a year (moisturizer that you hate the smell of, hair products that don't work, etc). Put similar products in bins together, grouping hair, cleaning, and soap items together. Replace and toss disposable cosmetic tools, and give all your cosmetic brushes a good shampooing.

2. Empty your linen closet. Refold towels and sheets, removing ones that aren't in good shape for your rag pile. Throw bathroom and guest items into appropriate bins or baskets. Designate shelves for different uses. For instance, in my linen closet there is a shelf with extra pillows, a shelf for sheets, a shelf for towels, a shelf for table linens, and a shelf for pet items.

3. Clean out your "junk drawer". We all have one. Mine is filled with chip clips, paint chips, tools that belong in the garage, flavored tobacco, and all sorts of other things that need a temporary home five minutes before guests arrive. Put everything into its appropriate place.

Hopefully a little time cleaning will make you feel just a bit more relaxed as you enter a season of shopping, wrapping, writing, decorating, baking and cooking.

Closets I Once Knew

So design TV shows, decor blogs, and ladies magazines are always suggesting that you organize your closet by color. I tried it. I've been doing it for two or three months now, and I'm pretty much insane. Worst.Idea.Ever. I have no idea how this system works for people. I'm the kind of person who picks out an item I want to wear in the morning - let's say it's a sweater. Well, I have to find a cami to go underneath, so instead of going to the cami part of my closet I now have to dig through each color to see what I have for camisoles. It has done nothing but frustrate me and eat away at my time. Next chance I get, I need to reorganize back to my original system - camisoles and tanks together, tees together, cardigans together, button-downs together, etc. I highly recommend this system.

I'm really hoping that long-sleeved dresses stay in vogue for this fall. I didn't get a chance to jump on this bandwagon last year, and I'm ready to hop on. I'm also hoping Oxford shoes are still on the radar. It appears that equestrian boots, scarves, and suede will still be hot for fall 2010, so I'm excited to see those sticking around.

Now I'd really like to go home and clean out my closet, reorganize, and make room for some new things. And, of course, Project Runway premieres tonight. Fabulous.



Photo - evadesigns.com