This is the third post in my Organizing an Entryway series. I’m breaking it down into steps that are as small as possible to prevent ADD overwhelm.
Now that I can actually walk in my entryway, I’m ready for the third step of the process (and the first step of the SPACE process): sorting.
Sorting actually contains two smaller steps: the first is to empty EVERYTHING in the space you’re working in. Empty every shelf, every closet, every coat hook (in this case I left the bookshelf alone, since I know I’m getting rid of it and everything on it). I spread some sheets on the living room floor so I’d have a nice big space to put everything I was working with:
Everything in the entryway. Well, except the litter box.
As I emptied the entryway, I did some preliminary sorting; for instance, I made separate piles for clothing, hats, and hiking equipment. Then I started sorting the clothes. I hung all the dressy clothing up out of the way, and was left with a pile of outerwear. I discovered that between me and my husband, we have four fleece vests, ten fleece jackets, and five raincoats. That isn’t counting the one he’s is wearing on his business trip.
That's a lot of jackets
As I sorted, I discovered that my husband (from here on I’ll call him M, for My husband) has two blue fleece vests, three black fleece jackets, two black windbreakers that I never see him wear, and a wind-blocking fleece jacket that he also doesn’t wear. I put all of these on an “ask M” pile. He has a down parka that he needs when he travels to colder climates, but doesn’t need much in San Francisco, so I hung it in the closet.
M's Jackets
As for my own outerwear, I had two fleece jackets, two fleece vests, both of which are a bit large on me, and two raincoats — an ultralight jacket and a heavier rain parka. I’ve recently lost weight, so most of this clothing is too big. I put the too-large fleece jacket in a give-away pile, and kept the one that fits. I’m holding on to the raincoats until I can replace them with something that fits, and one of the vests fits well enough to be useful. The other one I’m keeping as back-up gear, since it doesn’t take up that much space, and I sometimes go camping with newbies who don’t bring enough warm clothing.
A's jackets
I put the “ask M” pile on a chair, and put my own stuff away. The next major category was the dressy clothes that live in the closet:
Long, dressy clothing
The reason our dress clothes live in the entry way is that our home is a converted storefront. The bedroom is a loft, with closets along each side of the room, under the eves of the roof. This provides ample storage space, with only one drawback: the ceiling in the closets comes down much too low to store long pieces of clothing such as dresses, robes, or long coats. The only place to keep them is in the entryway closet, which is an odd place for long dresses, but such is life.
Sorting the dress clothes was a somewhat complicated task. The easy parts were my husband’s best suit and his trench coat, which I hung in the closet. The harder parts were my own clothes, because I had to try each of them on in order to decide whether they were worth keeping. As I finished trying them on, I separated them into three categories: things to keep, things to sell, and things that could be altered to fit me. Given the fiasco with the books, I’ve set a deadline for myself: anything I haven’t taken action on by November 15, I will give away. In the mean time, I put them back in the closet.
This takes me to step 4: assessing the storage needs of my space.