More Shoes?

Rose was quite taken by my shoe sorting and arranging the other week and wanted to join in.  So here are 11 of her 12 pairs of shoes (her indoor school shoes are at school so not included in this picture).

She's cheating a bit because she pinched 3 pairs of old sneakers out of the donate pile in the garage so she can look like she's all carefree and bohemian with no need for possessions.  Nothing is further from the truth believe me.

She is getting rid of 3 pairs of sneakers (that are too small, I'm sure that doesn't count) and 2 pairs of sandals.  Here's her newly amended shoe selection.

This slimline selection will not last long as I owe her a pair of birthday boots and we'll be off to the store for snow boots soon.  Winter lasted so long last year that the soles of her old ones wore right through.  In April I resorted to filling the holes up with silicon bathroom sealant to try to keep us going for a bit longer.  This technique didn't work for me, if anyone out there has any tips for prolonging the life of a pair of well loved shoes please tell.

Shoes

So I actually decided to begin not by emptying the closets as planned, but by sorting out my shoes. I was quite surprised to discover that I'm the proud owner of 14 pairs of boots, shoes and sandals not including numerous pairs of slippers. That's even more than Rose who has only 12.

Here they are in all their glory.

Rose modelling her favourite pair of my boots

I did some brief googling and discovered that the average woman owns around 20 pairs of shoes so my 14 are by no means excessive. My problem is that I am completely aware that I only wear half of them on a regular basis and some not at all and if you'e going to own 14 of something they may as well all be fabulous or functional. Also (and more importantly) it's Fall which is my favourite footwear season and I want to buy some more.

I will be keeping the back 2 rows, they are my everyday, wear them until they fall apart shoes.

The rest are questionable.

• Only one pair is a definite keeper, the nude, suede wedges. Love these and do wear them about 3 times a year, honest.
• Also only one pair is a dead cert for the trash, the odd blue coloured heels that I last wore on a trip to Manchester in 2011.

Some of the others are more difficult to part with.

• My wedding shoes.
• The sandals that I bought at great expense for my first date with my husband.

I don't remember if I ever wore either pair again and I certainly haven't worn them since we moved to Canada in 2012. Francine Jay (author of The Joy of Less, see resources) says that "once something has memories, it's a bugger to get rid of" How right she is. But I guess I still have the husband (who probably has no idea what shoes he was wearing on our first date) so do I need to keep the shoes? I think that's 2 more pairs to donate.

• The not very attractive brown heels. I was going to keep those 'just in case' and because they are comfortable but writing that down is embarrassing and makes me sound very old so they are also going.

I am left with 2 maybes which are tricky.

• The cowboy/biker boots were much worn and loved over a period of 10 years from 1992. I'm pretty sure I'll never wear them again but they are now moulded to the shape of my feet and I'm having problems with the 'memories' thing, they remind me of when life was simple and unencumbered.
• The barefoot trainers were my everyday walking the kids to the beach shoes when we lived in Grand Bend. If I'm completely honest they pinch my toes a but they represent a lifestyle that I cling to the hope of one day returning to.

I can't decide about these so I might start an undecided box in the basement, is that cheating?

So bearing all that in mind here are my remaining shoes.

That's 4 pairs out the door. Can I indulge in a new pair now? How many shoes are too many do you think? Here in Southern Ontario quite a number of pairs is necessary because of the extremes that the climate throws at us. Looking at my collection now, I've got to say that it's a bit dull. I'd probably better go out and get something sparkly just to jolly things up a bit. A girl has to have some fun right?

Where to start?

* * This page, in fact this entire blog, is under construction. Forgive the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors* *

As we are reaching the seasonal changeover for outerwear I've decided to start my organising journey in the coat/shoe closets and yes, there is an 's' on the end of that closet. We have three of them and yet we still have 6 feet (tee hee) of boot mats by the front door. There's got to be some decluttering mileage in that.

My plan, which will be the method for all my organising efforts over the next few months is as follows...

• Empty each closet
• Give it a jolly good clean out
• Put stuff back in, hopefully less than I took out
• Get rid of anything that I don't put back in

Easy!

Over at A Bowl Full of Lemons, which is an excellent blog with lots of very good tips for a clean and tidy home, this is week 4 of the very excellent 2018 14 week home organisation challenge. As the name implies I think that this is supposed to be achieved in 1 week.

Mmm.

I shall leave you with a before picture of each closet and be back on Friday with an update.

This is the hall closet by the front door. It doesn't look too bad right now does it but I am really not sure whats in those red and brown baskets.

This is the other hall closet. It doesn't look like there's much in there right now does it.

And this is the coat closet in the spare room/office. Needless to say this closet does not get opened much and I could find almost anything hiding in the back.

Forgive the terrible photos, it was a miserable day today but if I keep procrastinating and waiting for everything to be perfect I'll never start this thing.