Remember on Monday I mentioned how I told this girl I was going to put her pic on my blog?

Well here she is with the biggest laptop bag ever

and here is her lovely smiling face

Honestly, I see that bag coming before I even see her LOL

I looked for the smallest laptop bag I could find for my computer.

What about you – do you like big bags or small bags?

Mandy said:

I’m not working now, but I have so many really nice work clothes that I’m hanging on to. I went through things this morning and culled a few pieces that I hadn’t worn in the last year or two at work, but I’m hanging on to all my suits and jackets and blouses – most are classic and *should* still be in style in another three years (I think!).

This feels like the right approach…to keep classic items that still fit…but it seems weird in some ways that at least 1/2 my closet is taken by things I don’t wear at all right now.

Any thoughts?

Of course I do – plenty!

Really look at those work clothes in your wardrobe, even the classic ones, and be 100% honest with yourself.

Do you honestly LOVE the pieces?

Do they make you feel WONDERFUL?

Do they flatter your body type? If you’re not sure, I recommend MissusSmartypants (no affilliate commission – I personally have got TONS of compliments when I use her tips )

If the answers to all 3 of these questions is yes, then I’d keep the clothes. Otherwise, you won’t wear them and they’ll become part of the 80% of your wardrobe.

Those are my opinion.

What do the other readers think?

P.S. Have you prepped your clothes for tomorrow?

So the other day we were chatting in the office.

I think it started because it was cool or hot and one of my colleagues was dressed either too summery or too wintery.

Whatever.

We asked her about it and she said, “this was the outfit for today”.

Of course my ears perk up and I started interrogating gently questioning her.

She chooses full outfits for Monday to Thursday (we have casual day on Fridays) complete with handbags and jewellery on a Sunday, for the week ahead.

And then arranges them in a specific place within her wardrobe. She took a pic to show me but hasn’t sent me the jpg.

The funny thing is I was watching the other ladies as she was talking and some of them were twitching – it was way too structured for them. LOL

I choose my clothes the evening before as part of my evening routine.

I have to know the next day’s weather before I can choose clothes, you see.

One person said she thinks about what she wants to wear while in the shower and yet another said she first showers and then goes to her wardrobe, decides what takes her fancy and then dresses.

I love all the variety in thinking and organising styles.

What does your clothes prep look like?

BTW, if you read this by email or in a reader, please click through and leave your comment.

Two quick reminders for you:

1. Have you registered for Spring into Organising yet?
2. My talk next week Monday at the church is on the 3 Ps of time management – perfectionism, procrastination and people-pleasing.

What are your questions about the 3 Ps? Share in the comments so I can address them.

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This week’s inspiring space is from our favourite organising junkie, Laura.

Laura recently posted how she got ruthless and got rid of three HUGE bags of clothes.

 Pic from Laura’s post

I am inspired because:

• she’s already organised so this took some doing and
• I love how she did the first round and decluttered one bag … and then went at it again and decluttered another two bags.

Now that’s inspiration.

I’m quite good about decluttering my clothes but there are still one or two pants and skirt suits I’m hanging onto once I lose my last 3 kgs

How easy is it for you to declutter your clothes?

Have you seen these things?

You attach them to your keys and then hang them off the side of your bag.

They are WONDERFUL!

You never have to scrounge around in your handbag ever again to find your keys.

That’s if you hang it off the side of your bag every time.

The system only works if you work the system

Seriously, best R75 spend ever.

I’ve had it since I was about 13 weeks pregnant (Feb 2009) and I use this thing every single day.

Do you have one of these bag keyholders?

Do you love yours as much as I love mine?

PS I often think like this – this is the best R____ I’ve ever spent. I think I’ll start an occasional series to highlight some of my favourite spends. Feel free to send me your ideas

Today’s inspiring space is an absolute dream.

I think it may even be better than Oprah’s closet

This is Megan’s custom-designed closet from Honey We’re Home.

Megan has an absolutely beautiful home (how she keeps it so stylish with a toddler I have no idea!) and it’s decorated beautifully.

There are tons more pictures on the blog posts themselves but I want to point out a few things:

This space embodies “a place for everything and everything in its place“.

I’m a little bit jealous at all the colours that suit her! I have about 4 colours in my wardrobe

Don’t you love how she drapes her (what we call) jerseys over hangers?

look at the shoe storage – beautiful

And look! A touch of pretty with a vase of flowers.

This pic is my favourite. I love the gazillion pairs of jeans all neatly organised. Uniform hangers really make a difference, don’t they?

Now Megan, what I want to know is this, “is that closet neat like this all the time?”

Thanks for sharing your gorgeous closet. Here’s a button for your blog.

Aside from all the eye candy, I LOVE her follow-up post about how she organises that space.

Have a read and catch some tips.

Over to you – what is your favourite part of this space?

I love hearing from readers, whether to ask me a question or to talk about a post (some of you are shy and don’t like to comment) or just to share a link.

Recently I got an email from Kristen in Jhb who wanted to know:

I have a serious weakness for scarves. I’ve got too many to count and my collection is always expanding.

Even though I did try to cut down my collection last winter, I found it impossible because within a winter season I wear every single scarf so they are being used.

I was wondering if you have any suggestions as to how I can organise/ arrange my winter scarves.

I did find the solution for my thicker scarves to be stored in material baskets which can be easily taken out of the cupboard to find the scarf I desire.

However my longer thinner scarves (which include pashminas) are currently hanging over the rail of my four poster bed which only makes my room look like a clothing store and isn’t the image I’m looking for.

If you have any suggestions to solve my problem I would really appreciate your thoughts on the matter because getting rid of my scarf collection isn’t an option.

Here is my answer for Kristen.

I would either use one of those coat hooks that you attach to the wall (the ones with 3 – 5 big hooks) or if you don’t like the permanence of that solution, then a free-standing coat stand would also work.

I bought a cream coat stand at Mr P Home last year for R400 (they still have them in stock) for my handbags and it would work beautifully for scarves too.

I have 3 winter scarves – black, red and bright blue (that I’ve been told is “my colour”). The red one stays at work permanently in case the aircon gets too cold and I store the other two on hangers in my wardrobe.

How do you store your scarves?

Here are some posts on scarves I found around the blogosphere:

Small Notebook

Storage and Glee

Please share your ideas with Kristen.

First off, Happy Easter!

Hope you had a great day celebrating that He is Risen

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It’s time for another inspiring space.

I was blog-surfing and gasped (!) when I saw this.

Do you know how happy this picture makes me?

This is Erin’s shoe organisation in her garage.

It is so cute and so beautifully organised, like with like, and I love it.

She mentioned in her post that she brought more of her daughters’ shoes to the garage to make room in their closet.

I love that idea – fantastic job, Erin.

My favourite part of this space is the rain boots – love that bit of happy.

How do you organise your shoes?

(feel free to link to your posts in the comments)

Here’s something I like to do at the end of a season.

After I declutter, I like to wash everything left just to get rid of any musty smells.

I then move them to a top shelf until the weather gets cold again.

That’s them in those plastic storage boxes. I’m trying these so they keep the jerseys (sweaters) in neat piles.

What kinds of systems do you have going for your clothes?

When I posted the first question of the week  6 weeks ago, Melina wrote to me and asked me this question:

How do you keep your earrings, bracelets and necklaces organised?

I referred her to the search button on the left of the blog because I’ve blogged before about organising jewellery

So, how do YOU keep your jewellery organised?