<h1>De-Clutter</h1>

A McCall Homemaking magazine cover 1942

Everybody used to call it spring cleaning. Now the hip word is de-clutter. 

Twice a year, when I have to change all the ingredients of my wardrobe, pack up the wintry clothes or the summery clothes and replace with the summery clothes or the wintry clothes, it's my time to take stock of what I have accumulated over the past season.

I find that more often than not I have loads of items which I need to keep but also quite a handful of items which need to be removed as they are either 'mistakes' that never got used, things which are simply not being used for a variety of reasons, and others which are simply obsolete - soiled, torn, mis-shapen, completely boring according to my current frame of mind.

Does it happen to you also that one thing which seemed to be so very special when you bought it, is something you wouldn't look twice at today?

Over the years, I've learnt to gauge better what I buy and very rarely make impulse buys.

Then again, since I love to add a dash of vintage to my stock of clothes, the vintage must be just so because it's not something that can be found easily and neither is it something that can be used easily, unless you plan for it properly or unless it just happens to fall on your lap as a blessing.

Every time I go through this exercise I remind myself of how much I would really desire to have a walk-in wardrobe.

It's been the dream of my home for years on end but never materialised so far. It's not like we havent' got the space....

It would be the perfect place to have an all-round dressing experience without having to go to another room to get my larger coats or jackets, without having to ferret in trunks and drawers to get at my bags and without having to hop downstairs to try on the shoes with the outfit.

Sigh.....!