Lessons from a Closet

When we first moved into our current house, my husband and I knew that our bedroom closet, with a single rod for hanging clothes and no shelves, would not work for us. Thus, my husband dutifully went to the store and purchased ClosetMaid #1628. Due to the fact that I have always liked clothes, our closet was still overflowing. Every time I opened the closet door, I was disturbed by how messy it looked. There simply was not enough space for my clothes, let alone my husbands. Therefore, for the first couple of years, I occasionally found myself wishing that we had his and her closets like my parents. Then, I became realistic.

I started to give unused or outdated clothing away. I eradicated my temptation to buy clothes by avoiding the clothing stores that I had once frequented. Every other year, I took everything out of our closet, vacuumed the carpet, and gave away a few clothes (my husband gave away a lot more). Somehow, our closet still remained full.

Two weeks ago, I continued my impossible challenge by taking everything out of the closet. After vacuuming the carpet, my husband and I worked section by section determining what we should keep and what we should give away. When all was said and done, we had several bags of clothing, seven boxes of shoes (my feet have grown 1 1/2 sizes since getting married) to give away, and a little boy sitting on the floor of our closet.

Seeing Finnian sitting on the floor of the closet, gave me some food for thought. I had never seen one of my children sitting on the floor of our closet; there had never been enough room to do so. Why was there more room in the closet this year?

Upon reflection, I realized that, somewhere along the way, I had started buying clothes only out of necessity. I also realized that I had finally accepted the fact that if I hadn't worn something for a while, then I would not miss it and that just because x amount of money had been spent on something, did not mean that I needed to keep it. For the first time, I had given away more than or the same amount of clothing as my husband and I felt so much better for it. I can finally look in our closet without thinking that it is messy and I can also see Finnian sitting on the closet floor. I learned to live within our means a long time ago. I am slowly learning how to live within the space with which God has blessed us.