It's a new year!

And it's going to be a tough one for me.  Work wise, mostly.  I am still commuting to Houston each week, and will be doing that for a few months.  At which point, we are hoping to sell our house, find a new house in New Orleans, and move down there.  Then I'll be working half time outside of New Orleans and half time outside of Baton Rouge.  I don't know why I can't pick a role that just keeps me in one place...

On top of that, I'm transitioning into a new job with a lot more responsibility and leadership.  It is exciting, but it will be hard.

So, with all of that in mind, my goal for 2014 is to remain focused on what is important.  My job is really important to me.  I love it and it brings me a lot of satisfaction.  So that's on the list, but it's not the most important thing.  I also need to keep focusing on my health and my family.

One of the things I want to do that I think will really help in this area is to eliminate clutter.  Both physically and mentally.

I started this year with a huge clean out of my closet.  As my husband pointed out, I do this occasionally, get rid of a couple of bags full, and then go shopping and cram it all in again.  Which is totally true.

But as I went through my clothes I was really thinking about focusing in on what I need.  I got rid of SO MUCH.  I used to have my side of the closet completely crammed full.  Zero room (and I use the huggable hangers so I'm already maxed on usable space.  I should have counted my items before I started!  But I had about 6 feet of linear feet, plus another hanging bar with another 3-4 feet.  Just full, and full of things I never touched.

Now, I've eliminated the second bar, put in a little hanging shelf unit for my sweaters and workout clothes, and have TONS of additional space.  It's absolutely no trouble finding stuff.  It's so much easier now!  I would estimate that I probably got rid of 100+ items.

A couple of things I noticed as I was going through.  The vast majority of things I was getting rid of fell into the "fast fashion" category.  Target, Old Navy, Gap, H&M.  LOTS of Target stuff.  I liked things and bought them, wore them a couple of times and moved on to the next thing.  Most of my higher quality clothes (Anthro and J. Crew purchases mostly) were held onto.  The ones that I did let go of, I'm going to try to sell online, because they're still in great condition.

Also, I got rid of barely any shoes.  2 pairs of worn out house shoes and a lone black ballet flat that didn't have a match.  I made a decision a couple of years ago that I would spend the money on quality shoes that would last.  I think that shows that I need to extend that thought to the rest of my wardrobe.

The only real gap I noticed was the lack of basic solids.  I wear a lot of prints.  I love prints and I don't see that as an issue, but I do need some more basic pieces to mix in.  I think this was a really good exercise because now I know exactly where to focus my efforts in my sewing projects.  The problem is, I have 12 projects planned (and have material bought) and all of them, every one, are with prints.  I know I need to mix some solids in there, and I am definitely going to make that happen.

Taking the giant (seriously GIANT!) box to goodwill was such a good feeling, just to be rid of it all.  I am excited to extend that feeling to all of the areas of our house, as well as my life.  I think this will be a good year. :)