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The latest fashion trend does not include 80s clothing!

The latest fashion today has little resemblance to '80s clothing. If you still have clothing in your closet with shoulder pads that would rival those worn in the NFL you might need to make some decisions about what stays and what goes in order to gain more space and more control of your closet!

Closet cleaning is probably the easiest reference to purging in organized living. It is easy to talk about purging in reference to clothing, because changes in the latest fashion trend make outdated clothing become quite obvious. Hopefully you do not have clothing in your closet older than 20 years!

But not everything becomes noticeably outdated like fashion trends over twenty years old!

Wood for example looks much the same today as it did twenty years ago. I know some people who would spend time taking twenty nails out of a piece of lumber just in case.
Just in case of what? Well......just in case they need a piece of lumber with twenty holes in it!

I am not suggesting that to achieve organized living you should be wasteful. I believe in re purposing and recycling. This is necessary for the survival of the planet!

But your space is finite. It does not continue to grow to accommodate the items you want to put in it, and without some system in place to regularly purge your space you will soon run out of space if you continue to accumulate more stuff just in case you might need it in the future.

Let's face it, if you really did need all that stuff it would have been used long ago and would not be cluttering up your space. With every passing day that a hoarded item is not used, the chances are that it will be used "one day" go down significantly.

But why do people keep '80s clothing instead of the latest fashion?

The psychology of why people hold onto things is truly fascinating and has a sparked a whole new field of study called the "psychology of clutter".

There is even a new word in our lexicon....... declutter.

Why do we even need the word... declutter?

Of course if your closet only contained the latest fashion you would not need to do any purging! But somewhere, somehow, some people accumulate more stuff than they know what to do with. Worse yet they have difficulty parting with the items they own. Somehow they like to keep all the older fashions and not just the latest fashion. And we are not just talking about clothing here! Some people have a misguided notion that older means better. Maybe they watch the Antiques Road Show!

What is going on? Is it our contemporary super sized mentality or do we just keep shopping and getting new stuff without getting rid of anything?

See the Organized Living Dictionary for a definition of declutter.

It is probably a little bit of all of that. The clutter control formula is:

This formula indicates that we need to spend as much time getting rid of stuff as we do trying to control its accumulation. One thing is for certain, you cannot organize clutter! It can only be eliminated!

Never mind the latest fashion or the clothes that are even out of fashion. Clutter is much more than that! Something needs to be done to eliminate clutter so that you can go about organizing the items that you are going to keep, use, and enjoy.

It is now necessary to explore questions that need to be asked for the purging decisions that lead to organized living.

What is purging?

Used as a verb the word purge means to become more pure! The real meaning of the word is that impurities are cleansed away or undesirable elements are removed. That is precisely why this word is used in referencing organized living.

Purging your stuff helps you to feel better, lighter, and more pure. You deserve that! and of course the less stuff you have the more you can be in control of what you do have!

Purging is often misunderstood simply as a way to "get rid" of things but in the purging process, deciding what to keep is equally important as deciding what to get rid of. If you explore the questions you will see that you are allowed to keep the latest fashion, but the 80s clothing has got to go!

Purging is also about simplifying your life. You do not need stuff around you just because it exists! It doesn't matter whether you have the haute couture latest fashion in home accessories or clothing or kitchen appliances. The only stuff you should should have around you is stuff that is:

• needed
• in regular use
• important to you

If you are trying to declutter, here are some questions to ask when making purging decisions for organized living.

Is this item outdated or expired?	There are many items that we keep hanging around that will actually expire. Things like: makeup toiletries perfume paint medications will not last forever and will spoil if kept too long. Some of these items may have expiry dates on them or an 800 number on the packaging that you can call to see how long they might last. For example mascara expires within 4 months and will start to grow bacteria after that. Do you really want this bacterial brew around your eyes??
Have I used/worn this item in the last year?	If you have not used or worn a item in the last year you will never miss it if you get rid of it. Really you will not! Here is a trick to help you realize how long it has been since you wore something: Clean out your closet and hang all your clothing back on the rod with the hangers facing backwards.That means that the actual "hook" part of the hanger is facing towards you. Put a sticker on the wall of your closet and record the date when you put all the hangers backwards. Every time you wear an item put it back into the closet with the hanger in the usual way. Within a year if something is still hanging with the hanger backwards....guess what?? you have not worn that item for one year so donate it! You will know when a year is up because of that sticker on the wall!!
Is this item a duplicate?	Often we purchase duplicate items because we cannot locate the original! You really do not need more than one waffle maker, or one coffee pot. When duplication occurs decide which one you use and like the most and get rid of the duplicates. Better yet, when you purchase a replacement item get the old one out of the cupboard and donate it right away!
Does it work?/Is it in good condition?	If it isn't working why do you have it? Keeping old broken down appliances or other stuff in your space is disrepectful. If your home a junkyard or a safe haven for broken down machines what does that say about what you think you deserve out of life? If you think you deserve to live in a junkyard then your home will look like one.
Is this item worth the space it takes up in my house?	This question really asks you to evaluate your motives for hanging onto stuff. Phrased in a different way the question to ask yourself might be "How does hanging on to this item make my life better?" You may need to do some serious emotional confrontation with yourself to get to the root of why you like to have stuff hanging around at the expense of your enjoyment of life. See the section on the real costs of clutter.
Does this item have a special meaning?	There is no question that some items have special meaning to us as they are related to specific memories or people that we love. If you have items in your home that are treasured items they should be treated with dignity and respect. If you love these objects then treat them that way. See the web pages on organizing memories and learn the difference between storage and archiving. If you are going to go the bother of keeping something that carries with it a precious memory, you want it to last so that the memory is preserved.
Does this clothing reflect the latest fashion?	Even cutting out the shoulder pads out of 80s clothing will not make it current! The fit will be all wrong and it will look terrible. Do not even attempt this! Instead of getting trapped in "What is the latest fashion?" be more selective in your clothing choices and go for styles that are more classic and will not quickly become outdated. In the meantime while your are in the purging process, if it is outdated it is out...period!
Reality check: Does it still fit?	Quit dreaming. Most people gain weight as they age,and even if you do lose weight don't you want the new you to be wearing the latest fashion? Certainly you do not want to be wearing that 80's clothing that we started talking about at the beginning of this topic!

But what if.........

But what if you throw it out and then you find out you later on that you have a use for that item. What if you find out later that you need it? I mean REALLY need it!! It could happen??........not likely!

I can absolutely guarantee that you will never have a need for that item you threw away that was rotten, broken, or non functional. So it is time to start approaching things realistically.

Remember the 80s clothing that are not the latest fashion? You can get rid of those and I can guarantee you will never need them gain!

Even if you eventually did need that piece of wood....you know the one I referred to earlier with the twenty holes in it. You could always go to the lumber store and get one, without the holes of course! They have much more space for storing lumber than you do.

Your home should be used for living not storing. You want to achieve organized living NOT organized storing!

The latest fashion trend will eventually become old and another will take its place. Get used to regularly cleaning out and discarding clothes and other items that have long since lost their usefulness in your organized life!

If you are having difficulty with decision making in the purging process two decision trees are available for download.

They are available in pdf format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these. If you do not have it you can download it here.

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