Now that the weather is getting noticeably warmer, I decided that it was (once again) time to take stock of my some of my dresser drawers.

Basically, back in October I had a nice visit with my Mom where we went shopping. And since we tend to head straight for the clearance racks, I ended up getting a lot of summer tops. Everything got put away with a “see you next summer…”, except I couldn’t find room for these shirts in my summer drawers (I actually have two dressers…one came with me when I moved in with mr. strivingcynic, the other was already in his house), so I parked them in the winter drawers.

Unfortunately, I tend to organize, stay organized for a week or two, and then lose semblance of all organization…so one of my goals has been to actually stay organized so as to not have to do the same work again and again. So, I decided to a) pull the new summer shirts from the winter drawers, b) decide on a scheme for the winter tops (I have definitely lost more precious getting-ready-in-the-morning time than I care to admit trying to find the shirt I wanted..).

So, I opened the winter drawers, pulled out parked the summer stuff, of course thinking  “oh..I didn’t remember that I had this…” folded and piled clothes according to color and stared at everything for a while. Finally, I decided that organizing by color rather than “weight” (shirts here, sweaters there) was the way to go, so that next time I want to wear the blue sweater, I know it’s got to be with the color blue, rather than balled up behind some shirts.

Thankfully, I had done some clothing weeding at the new year, so I now had room in the summer drawers. I went through the same process…everything out, grouped by color [and in both cases, two things I don't wear anymore are in a "going away" pile.] While doing this, I made some discoveries. First, my poor folding/bunching technique is biting me in the butt….things are wrinkly. Very annoying. Second discovery….I have a lot of shirts. A lot. I guess because summer tops are lightweight and tend to have less fabric than winter…a lot can fit in a drawer. My count was above 50….okay above 75…but below 100 (and for some reason I have a lot of purple shirts). Everything fits in the dresser, so this is fine, but I decided I would try to wear everything at least once this summer so I could get a use out of it and evaluate whether it’s worth keeping. I’ve gotten these clothes over many years (my size hasn’t changed much), so I feel okay with the number on one level, but since odds are very good I’ll acquire more at some point, and that there are some I really have no use for, this summer will be the test.

So, when the weather turns colder, I will need to revisit this insanity and see where I’m at!

How are your shirts/dresser[s] organized? What is your “process of elimination” for clothes?