If you ask my husband, I have hoarding tendencies. I have tried time and time again, to declutter, organize, cull my wardrobe, with varying levels of success over the years. I love to shop too – especially warehouse and sample sales – and rarely if ever do I buy things unless they are on sale.

I also love to travel, and shop when I travel – the souvenirs I bring home are in the form of clothes, hats, boots, accessories. I’ve noted that for every work trip I took to Europe while I never took extra time to sightsee, I would always find time to shop. I think I travelled to Copenhagen at least a dozen times and would always make sure I stayed at a hotel close to Stroget, the touristy but awesome pedestrian mall. Copenhagen this time of year is absolutely beautiful, with the holiday decorations and Christmas vibes.

I tried the Kondo method a few years ago, and the most I learned from that effort was how to fold T-shirts in 3, and prop them sideways (like books) so they are more easily accessible. The problem I had was that each time I picked something up to determine whether to keep or toss, there was a memory attached to it. An amazing pair of boots from Copenhagen; a lovely scarf from Cascais, Portugal; a cute dress from Dublin; fantastic silver earrings from London, a T-shirt from Paris that is so tiny but could probably fit my daughter because she is so tiny and it may be eventually cool to her… so many good memories, sparks aplenty.

Compounding this situation, is the fact that I am now a group fitness instructor – and a fringe benefit of that is access to discounts for Reebok, adidas, and other fitness brands like lululemon and lole … just what I need, more excuses to shop!

During this year’s effort, I was able to gather about 8 bags and boxes of clothing, toys, books and accessories for donation. They weren’t all my clothes, but there were a lot of them.

I was so proud of myself – I got rid of about a thousand wire hangers…

I was able to fold some of my sweats (ie current work wardrobe) in a way that I could actually see what I have…

I purchased more felt hangers, and more closet shelf dividers. I am officially on a roll.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are also officially on. What a coincidence.