My husband and I go round-and-round regarding our family's wardrobe. I think we should each have more than 5 shirts in the closet and he thinks more than that is extravagant. He thinks that since we were only born with 2 feet, having more than 1 pair of shoes is a waste of money. He doesn't understand that women (and girls) need more than just a pair of sneakers. And the mere mention of needing a new purse is like stabbing him in the heart.
There are many things my husband prides himself on being, but a clothes-horse is not one of them. If you were to look in our closet, you'd see he has 10 shirts. Of those 10 shirts, he only wears 5 of them regularly. The 5 he wears are short-sleeved golf shirts and he wears them year-round. The other 5 are long sleeved shirts in case the universe experiences another ice age.
He considers my side of the closet to be overburdened by clothing and believes that if I donated half of it, I could clothe the entire continent of Africa. He just doesn't understand the female wardrobe. Women's clothes aren't as versatile as men's. We can't wear a golf shirt to dinner, drinks with the girls, or to an afternoon tea, like men can.
He has no understanding women need clothes for work, play, church, nights out on the town, and formal occasions, nor does he understand the different levels of each one of those clothing categories. Women have formal business attire for meeting with clients, as well as everyday casual work attire. Then you have to throw the "Fun Friday" attire into the mix.
His reasoning was flawed when he surmised that I could get rid of 2 of the 3 pairs of pants which were the exact same design. As a woman, I also have multiple different sizes of clothes. Yes, I have my fat, skinny, and just-right clothes. How much chocolate I've eaten, whether or not I've exercised, and whether the moon is waxing or waning, are all factors which will determine the size clothing I am wearing on any given day.
My husband has 1 pair of shoes which he wears with most everything. A good old pair of sneakers. He cannot understand why a woman needs so many different styles of shoes. He thinks a pair of Sketchers should go with a designer dress, formal attire, and all of my casual outfits. I've had to purchase fashion magazines to show him that women really do have different shoes for each outfit.
But, one thing he learned a long time ago which is not up for discussion: my purses. He made the mistake of asking why I needed 25 different styles of purses. He even suggested that I pair the collection down to just one purse. That's when he learned that nothing will get his 10 shirts and 1 pair of sneakers kicked out of our house faster than suggesting I downsize my purse assortment.
I had to explain to him that while I do not carry my large Louis Vuitton zip top purse every day, if ever there was a major cataclysmic event, I could throw the contents of my entire household into that bag. We wouldn't have to eat bugs like on the tv show "Survivor" because I'd have canned goods, a can opener, chocolate, bagged donuts, chips, canned meat, and vegetables all snuggled safely within its confines. I've even been thinking lately of purchasing a generator to keep stored inside the bag. You never know when you might have a need to heat up a can of beanie-weenies in the Outback.
Now whenever bad weather strikes and we have to go to the inner-most room of our house to take cover, I yell that I have the kids, dog and pillows, and he yells back that he has thrown his body over my purse collection. Yes, as long as the Louis Vuitton survives, we'll be just fine........
Written by: Christie Bielss
I saw a post recently titled "10 Tips To Stop Procrastinating Right Now". I decided that article sounded very interesting given my great propensity for that particular behavior trait, so I saved it to read later. 2 months later..........it's still saved.
When it comes to procrastination, I think I should be given an honorary PhD. I have perfected the art and made it into an artform. Not only have I just avoided doing things I didn't want to do, but I have even gone so far as to spend hours trying to figure out a way how not to do something.
Unfortunately, when I'm done pondering, that pesky task is still sitting there waiting patiently. Lately this trait has really started to get on my nerves, so much so that I have been researching organizational strategies to try to help make my life easier, if not simpler. The thought of not having paperwork laying around my house for days..... ok weeks........ oh, who am I kidding, years.... actually excites me to the point of perusing The Container Store.
Of course, once I get into looking at all of the various items to organize my life, I then become so overwhelmed that I retreat back into my comfortable little world, surrounded by...... paper. With the dawning of a new year, I again got invigorated to organize my little corner of the world and, if nothing else, make it presentable. Ok, I'll be happy if I achieve the level of not being embarrassed when someone stops by.
In an effort to gain momentum, I decided I need my own little area of the house where I can write my blog, as well as other contracted writing jobs I've been getting, and edit images when I do photo shoots (from my part-time photography business). I also realized that while my computer area was quite "functional", it was also extremely uninspiring and, to be quite honest, claustrophobic.
I don't like being boxed in and it actually overwhelms me when I started seeing even just a few papers laying around my computer. Once I felt overwhelmed, then I'd just leave the stuff there, which then seemed to have allowed the paper to breed and create more piles of paper.
So, having figured this all out, my husband and I have decided to transform our guest room into my office/guest room. First thing to get this wave of momentum going was to sell the computer armoire. Thanks to Craigslist it now has a new home. Second to go was our queen sized bed in the guest room. Again, thank you Craigslist. It was sold in less than 3 hours.
I'm now in shopping mode for a new desk. You may have heard of the HGTV show "Design on a Dime" which redecorates a room in under $1,000. With all of the renovations our house needs due to it having been a foreclosure property, I'm going for the "Knock-off on a Nickel" budget.
And thanks to Pinterest and Houzz, I now have a bit of a design plan and am "happily" moving forward. The photo above is my "before" picture.....ok, but the bed has already been sold, so it's not truly a before picture. As you can see, we have done nothing to the room since moving in, so it just looks like a disorganized storage area right now. But! I have a dream!...... and I have my photos from Pinterest and Houzz to keep me focused.
So stay tuned. I am working hard to create my "working retreat area" as I'm now calling it, and will post an after picture when we get it complete. I'm thinking the hardest part is going to be moving all this cr.......errrr..........junk out. If you all are interested, I may even post some "sneak peeks" along the way...... I am truly looking forward to having a pretty area to go to, but mainly one that doesn't look like a hoarder lives here.
Christie Bielss
