Just Another Bad Idea - Clean A Closet

I have found that one of the best perks of being retired, is that most days you have the freedom to choose what to do that day.  I do have those regular days when I volunteer, routine club meetings, and occasional appointments.  But it still feels like a luxury to wake up in the morning (late) and realize that I can pick and choose what to do with that day.

There are a few things so routine that they are attended to without thought:  the morning paper, the five puzzles in said paper, the shower and dressing, the muffin and coffee.  But by lunch time and Price Is Right I must decide what comes next.  I still feel morally obligated to accomplish at least one productive task each day.  I don't know why, but I have allowed myself to define "productive"  in very loose terms.

Here are some "productive" accomplishments according to my very broad definition:  call a friend, mail a greeting card, do my nails (finger nails - I can't reach my toes), write a blog entry  ( so productive obligations have been met today), delete old E mail messages, hand sew trimmings on a love bear, etc. etc. etc.
I don't count reading a novel or watching favorite TV shows because those are my guilty pleasures.  I don't count doing the daily load of washing.  Ever since my teaching days, throwing that load of washing in every evening is as routine as brushing my teeth.

When I taught school and had children at home, I always walked through the house every evening and picked up laundry in each room and put a load of clothes in the washer.  By doing this I tried to avoid having the kids do their own "load" of wash.  That is because a kid considers one pair of jeans that they want to wear tomorrow a whole load of wash.  Now I do that load because Don only keeps two outfits per season in his closet.  That's the way he likes it.  It bothers him to have more clothes that he needs!  As a woman, I just don't understand.  But, anyway, my daily load of washing, keeps him in a clean outfit every day.

So, you can see that Don requires very little closet space, what with his two outfits that he will dispose of at the end of each season, when he gets next season's two outfits.  And we have four lovely walk-in closets in our house.  One is a real nightmare where I keep my craft "stuff."  One is Don's closet.  And can you guess what is in the other two?  Right!  All of my clothes and shoes. Yes, I am embarrassed to say that both these closets are full to the brim.

Well, back to my one productive act per day.  A couple of week-ends ago, I desperately needed a very productive activity.  I had seen as much golf and football on TV as I could stand.  So I lost my head and decided to clean out one of my closets!  I removed all the clothes, sorted and put all slacks, blouses, sweaters, and jackets into different stacks.  I had a throw-away bag for the really awful, a Goodwill bag for the still useful.  I sorted shoes, I straightened shelves, I made all the handbags stand at attention, my gosh, I even mopped the floor!  I mopped the floor right before I collapsed from exhaustion!  And then I had to return all the garments back into the closet.

Let me tell you.......it took me the rest of the week to recover.  But the closet looks great.

Now, I only have three more closets to go.  I'm sorry, kids, but you may just have to take care of those after I'm gone.