SHERLOCK and the hundred dresses

 I used to do some storage design that usually involved reminding women that their closets would still be too full no matter what shelves and hanging rods we built into them.  And I saw clues to what makes us buy so much.  One woman had an armload of beautiful, feminine, flowered tops and dresses.  Thinking back to her closet reminds me of my mom.  Mom had convinced herself that she couldn't wear the same thing twice to club meetings.  So even the guest closet was jammed full of interesting outfits, only one of which I'd ever seen her wear. Since vacations were spent fishing with Dad, she wasn't saving those outfits for the out-of-town crowd.

Making my own clothes as a kid, I fell victim to the prettiest yard goods, the most flattering pattern.  Over and over.  My allowance wouldn't cover the dresses I saw in Seventeen magazine. By the time I got married, not only was the closet full, but I had a full closet rod of interesting dresses up in the attic.

Years passed.  My  closet space and sometimes my budget got smaller.  I got a job in an upscale store and had to be there every day in full view of her clients.  I had lost weight since my corporate days.  Five days a week, I wore the only black wool skirt that fit.  Burbank, CA can be hot for a wool skirt.  But a black straight skirt is just a black skirt so nobody noticed.

It reminded me of a book I read in grade school called The Hundred Dresses.  A girl from a not-rich family wore jeans every day.  She told other kids she had a hundred dresses.  Then her family moved away.  They found her empty closet was papered with her colorful drawings of - you guessed it - a hundred dresses.  She had learned that a pair of jeans (in those days) was like a plain black skirt.  No one knew for sure it was always the same one.

Someone I know can wear the same black denim pants and white shirt to work every shift - no one knows.

Sherlock finds the closets full of flowers and frills and plaids and stripe pleats and colors and even flowered shoes GUILTY of TMHA.

 (Too Much Hanger Appeal.  Too few basics.  And too easy for everyone else to remember.)

The Pants With the Magenta Lining

Speaking of confessions:

The black pants with the magenta lining were worn in public only once.  I don't know if I liked the lining better than the delightful beads around the lower edge, or vice-versa.  I lost weight and put off alterations until they were just too big to alter.  Yet they were in the closet--goodbye pants.  Goodbye to what I paid for them.

Now there is a blouse I had to have.  It is the most "successful-working-woman" blouse I've seen this year.  It also looks very hard to iron and likely to need ironing after one washing.  I don't know yet because it's too hot here now to wear it.  But I want to look like that at work.  If I leave it in the closet, it's clutter.  If I never put it on, I won't dare to wear it at some important meeting - for fear it wrinkles too much or does something else like show my bra through the knit part.  Fear of blouses!  I have to pick a day and just road-test it before I really need it.

I think I'll sign off now before I confess that my blazer still hasn't had the sleeves shortened.

Fear of bad alterations is just as bad as fear of bad mechanics and bad plumbers..

SHERLOCK IN THE CLOSET - more discoveries

What else is in our closets?  Well, in mine, there are some rarely worn things that don't need an alterations expert.  Sherlock may discover that I've been lazy.  A sort of raincoat/raincape that I've had for years needs only one (1) big black hook and eye or one big black snap to make it very useful.  I just haven't taken myself to the local hobby shop to see what they have in the sewing supplies area.

I also have an anorak for rain.  Also not new.  It needs some new buttons and sleeve elastic.  Once again, stuff I could buy and install myself.

What?  You can't sew a button?  This brings us to that other dread solution:

Asking for help.   You'll be surprised who knows how to do that - even military veterans have learned such things.  Offering to pull some weeds or fold the laundry may be necessary, but then I'd have two decent rain jackets and you'd have . . . whatever it is.

As for that navy tank top long enough for an NBA star . . .I'll bet Sherlock is itching to put that thing in the donations basket at this very minute.  But I may grab it back from him and save it for when I get my jeans altered.  I'm going to.  Really.

SHERLOCK HOLMES In Our Closets

When my closet bulges, it doesn't mean I have too much money.  Even Sherlock probably couldn't figure out a woman's closet, but if he could he would see more than one issue.

In mine, as I've mentioned, I'm hard to fit.  So I buy something that will have to do while I keep looking for a better fit.  One fashion guru was bemoaning the clothes with tags still on, but I knew when I bought the Almost Right pants that even they would be gone if I hesitated in the store.  Too often, I didn't find the Just Right pants.  So I'm wearing the Almost Rights.

Enter Fear of Lousy Alternations.  A bad car repair could leave me calling Triple A.  Toothache - we know who to call.  But if a so-called tailor ruins my jeans, there's nobody to call.   On the other hand, if I never have them altered, they hang there being Clutter.  It's okay to ask people if they know a good alterations tailor.

Did I mention that if by some miracle I try on a pair of pants that fit, I should get out my wallet pronto.  I found a pair of knit pants that fit on the same day I found a pair of dark blue crops that were almost perfect. Luckily, I bought them. I wore those cotton knits every day in post-surgery rehab because they were compatible with the huge brace, and I could put them on myself.

Now, if Sherlock discovers them in my closet, he won't see any dust on them.  I wear the knit and the dark blue in rotation all the time in my new home state.  They are neutral and low-key enough that no one notices how often I wear them.

The moral:  if it really fits, it's useful and neutral, and you aren't oversupplied with the same type, don't wait around til someone else buys it.

COMPUTER CLUTTER Another thing that helps clean out files

What are those little rectangles with arrows that pop up in a computer folder when you move your cursor to a particular title?  I think they may be called Tips.  Anyway, they tell the last date that I worked on something.  This can be a big help:

For instance:  One day over a year ago, someone taught me a new resume format for people who have been displaced by the recession.  I know the approximate date that happened in June, 2012.

When those little "tips" give me a date before late June of 2012, I'll compare that title with similar ones and probably push the earlier versions into the Recycle Bin pronto.

COMPUTER CLUTTER or What Have I Done?

I may have thousands of files - mostly Word.  And too many Excel files of expenses from last year.  (Just dumped those monthly ones as soon as I wrote that.)

What is helping me cut out the losers in Word?  I just compared two resumes side by side and saved the best one using a great technique from a free library computer class:

In Word, I can view two documents side by side by: pressing the little Microsoft flag key in the bottom row of my keyboard at the same time I press one of the direction arrow keys.  Then do the same for the other document and the other arrow key.

This way I can switch back and forth as many times as necessary, move good stuff, and delete the boring stuff until I have one good document to keep.

Expect another secret I use in the next post soon.

CLOSET EXPLODING? Looking for help in new places

Of all places I didn't expect tips on over-Stuffing closet habits, it's Prevention mag.  The June issue has been hanging around on a shelf.  I saw a picture of a woman with too many pretty boxes and quickly turned the page.  Then I realized the June NEED TO KNOW, on a money topic, had tips on things to do instead of  "retail therapy."  Although shopping isn't the only way we get Overstuffed closets, it's a clever article with good reminders on good habits.  Hope you can find a copy, maybe at a library.  Or on a shelf at home?