Organize your Clothes (Day 8)

Revisiting Sleep

I really, really, really hope that last night you turned the corner!  If all went well you fell asleep in under half an hour.  One question you might have, even if it went well, is "what about the weekends?".  Every website you read about sleep hygiene insists that you need to the same bedtime every night.  It certainly helps, and it's what I do.  But it's not realistic for young people. My advice is to remember that our circadian rhythms go in multiples of 45 minutes.  So, if your normal lights-out time is 11pm, don't shift it by 1 or 2 hours - instead, shift it to 45 minutes, an hour and a half, or 3 hours.  For example, shift 11pm to 11:45pm, half past midnight, 1:15am, 2am, etc.  Shift your alarm time by half that time, rounded up to the nearest 45 minutes.  So, if you come home late from a party at 2am, start your bedtime routine, but shorten it a little so you can be turning out the lights at 2:45am (3h45m after 11pm, which is 5 multiples of 45 minutes).  Set your alarm for 2h15m hours later than usual (3 multiples of 45 minutes).  This will give you a little extra sleep without running over so far that your body wants to be awake until 2:45am again the next night!

Organize your Clothes

Now, this task might sound like the proverbial arranging deck chairs on the Titanic... when you're drowning in schoolwork, is this really a good way to spend your time?  I believe that it is.  The worst part of my mornings, especially when I was working and had to dress professionally, was figuring out what to wear. As a student it's tempting to just pick up what I wore yesterday off the floor and put it on.  But making it a habit to put your clothes away and keep your dressing area clean makes both your morning and evening run more smoothly, which helps get you out the door in the morning and go to sleep more easily.  I've also noticed that treating the few clothes I have with respect is a good practice of gratitude - and whenever I'm reminded to slow down for a moment and be glad for what I have, it improves my day. That's what I want for you!

I wish I could tell you I staged this shot for this course.  But no, this is actually what my "clothes corner" looks like this morning.  I despise websites, TV shows, books, and Pinterest boards that show you "easy ways to organize!" that don't deal with an actual person's actual belongings, so I want to give you a real picture and lead you through the steps with my stuff.

I have borrowed these ideas heavily from Marie Kondo's excellent book [1].  Like many people, though, I find it hard to figure out if clothing "sparks joy".  It's utilitarian, and I have it because I have to cover myself in public and stay warm in our Canadian winter.  But if I got rid of anything that didn't spark joy, I'd be left with a small pile of t-shirts, one jacket, one dress, and nothing else!  It's also not easy to replace items due to finances and my larger body.  So, I want to tell you how I've modified the approach for that situation.  Also, I want to recognize that the student lifestyle doesn't lend itself well to throwing things out, assuming you can buy another one. Money tends to be tight for us, with the money we make for TAing barely covering our tuition, never mind living expenses. So I want to address those concerns too.

These are going to be chunks of work, so set your 25-minute timer!  First, get out everything and put it on your bed or floor.  I mean everything - winter coats, boots, accessories, underwear... everything!  Try to keep like things together, but don't worry about it too much now.  Part of the process is to really see how much or how little you have in each category.  You might be surprised at how many t-shifts you have, or you might realize why you keep running out of clean socks.

Here's my everything.  It's not much because I only moved what I thought I would want for the winter.  You'll probably have a bigger pile if you've been in the same place for a while or you enjoy fashion, or you may have a much smaller pile.  It's a pretty individual thing.

While the closet and dresser are empty, take a minute to give the drawers and floor a quick wipe.  They don't get cleaned very often, so take this opportunity while it's easy!

Tackle one category at a time, going from big to small.  Start with outerwear, like coats and jackets; then move on to suits and/or dresses, then bottoms, then sweaters, then tops, and finally socks and underwear, and accessories.  Leave shoes for last if you like.  For each category, you can start by picking out any item that catches your eye that you know you love.  Fold it or straighten it on the hanger, and put them away.  Keep retrieving things in that category until it feels like you have "enough" - they might fill up the space you have designated for them, or you might notice that you don't care much about anything left on the bed or floor.  While you're retrieving items, choose things that you like, or know you've worn recently, or know you don't want to get rid of for sentimental reasons.  Listen to your gut about what is "enough" in each category.  Don't worry too much about getting it right.

If you're comfortable donating what's left, go ahead and do it.  Be sure to thank those items for what they did for you while you owned them.  If you want to keep it to give to someone else, because it might come in handy, might become fashionable again, or might fit again some day, go right ahead and keep it.  Don't, however, mix it in with the clothes you've already selected.  Fold them neatly, pack them up in boxes or bags, and stash them away on your top closet shelf or under the bed.

Folding

I guess I should have mentioned this earlier on, but we are going to fold in the KonMari style.  I scoffed at this the first several times I saw it, but after I actually gave it a try I am hooked!  Clearly it didn't solve all my problems (see the first picture on this post), but it has helped with some of them.

The basic concept is that we are not piling clothes, we are filing them.  You'll be folding into smaller rectangles than usual, and placing them on end.  This allows you to see exactly what you have, and pick out any piece of clothing without disturbing the others.  There are a lot of great Youtube videos on this, which I think I will let you look up on your own.

Here are two pictures.  The first one is my middle drawer (t-shirts, shorts, and pyjamas) the way my mother taught me to fold.  The second one is the same contents folded KonMari style.  It's not a huge difference in volume (although I was able to fit in my remaining pair of pyjamas once I was done with the pictures), but it sure makes it easier to find what I'm looking for.  In the first version I had too many T-shifts for one pile, so "extra" ones were underneath my shorts in the middle.  Now I have two rows of T-shirts, then a small row of not-quite-T-shirts (tank tops and sleeveless tops), then shorts, and finally PJs.

 I didn't go into the process with the intention of discarding anything, but I was surprised at how many things I didn't feel like putting back in the closet or dresser.  They'll get dropped of at a local clothing donation box that's helpfully on my way to the train stop near me.


[1]  Kondo, Marie, and Cathy Hirano. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Vermilion, 2014.