The Hanger Trick

I hate purging clothes.  Give me the workshop any day.  Unidentified do-dad?  Garbage.  Outdated gadget?  Toss it.  Useless thing-a-ma-jig?  It's out of here.  But clothes are a long, slow, tedious, drawn out process.  All that trying on.  All that looking at it in the mirror from every possible angle. It's kind of like going to court.  The prosecutor and defence are both trying to make their case.  'You haven't worn this thing in years'... 'yeah, well maybe I'll wear it now' ... 'it's old, outdated and you hate it' ... 'yeah, but it's still in good condition.'  Objection!

I think it's time for the hanger trick.  I tried this once before with moderate success.  Now, with my new found purging mentality, this could be the ticket to painless closet cleaning.  The idea is simple -- take everything out of the closet that's on a hanger and put them back facing backwards, you know, hanger hook facing out.  Consider this death row.  Set a time limit -- an appeals period -- before sentence is carried out...maybe a season or two, maybe a few months.  No, not a year.  Every time you wear something, put it back with the hanger facing the right way.  That item of clothing has won its appeal.  It gets a stay of execution and is re-sentenced to life in the closet.  But no sympathy outings for an item that's on the verge of going.  No wearing something for an hour just to save its life.

But here's the real trick to the hanger trick -- at the end of the appeals period DO NOT try the stuff on again.  At the end of the appeals period it's execution time for anything still facing the wrong way. 'Cause if you haven't worn something during that whole time, what's the likelihood you will?  Perfect example:  I have a Hawaiian shirt in my closet that, get this, has been there since 1993.  Wanna hear something better?  I have never worn this shirt.  So...sorry Hawaiian shirt, the governor didn't call. Been nice knowing you.

On another note...The aspiring writer in me is pretty excited to report that a story I submitted to a UK writer's magazine short story contest won second place in its category.  My story, LITTLE BLACK DRESS, appears in their on line publication, their print magazine and will be published in an anthology in June.  The magazine, Words With Jam, can be found at www.wordswithjam.co.uk and the contest winners are in the February edition.  Better yet, the online publication is free.  I invite you to take a look.