Minimalism - The Delicates Drawer(s)

When I was moving and had to pack up half of my house in order to make it "show ready", I realized a few things: My home was a heck of a lot easier to clean, I didn't miss anything except family photos, and we have a ridiculous amount of stuff!  Okay, so we aren't hoarders and you aren't tripping over stuff when you walk through the door (unless of course my children have left their shoes there...again), but our stuff is hidden.  Be careful opening closets, drawers, and cabinets in my house. I can't be responsible for the consequences...consider yourself warned.  Even though the mess is hidden, it makes things difficult to find and takes up time.  I have decided that this summer I am going to choose a drawer or two every week and share with you my experience of trying to become more of a minimalist.

I have decided to start with my...ahem...delicate drawers.  I have two drawers for my delicates...one for bras, panties, and shape wear (of which I only have one to wear under a particular dress) and one for socks and lingerie.  I learned something new the other day on a trip to the bra store.  I found a new bra store...they were having a two for one deal and I couldn't resist.  I probably couldn't afford the dang things if not for being on sale.  After trying on a few bras, I finally let the chick at the store "measure" me.  I bet this is how men feel when they have their inseam measured...so weird.  Anyway, she looks me over...awkward...runs off, returns, and brings me back...Heaven in a bra.  I am serious, I hardly know that I have the thing on and the girls have not been this high up since high school...I can't see my feet!  I was like a kid in a shoe store begging to wear the thing out of the store.  They smiled knowingly...rather smugly...and said it happens all the time.

I then went to fold my bra in front of the store clerk and have never seen such a horrified face.  I wondered what I possibly could have done and she said, "Oh sweetie, you are not supposed to flip your bra cups wrong side out together."  Oooookay, why?  She saw the question in my face and said that my bras have "memory foam" in them and it would break down over time if I flipped them, which is why the drawers at lingerie stores have the bras the way they do.  Really, memory foam...like a mattress?  She said that if you can put the cups the same direction to store that was fine...but "NO flipping."  No flipping, got it. Unfortunately, I can't twist my bras to stack the cups as there is so much wiring, etc. that they probably need architectural plans.  Makes me giggle to call these delicates...nothing about my bras are delicate (except for the memory foam apparently).

I arrive home and happily place my new bras in my drawer and decide to reorganize my bras so they are not "flipping out".  I have decided that whoever made this silly rule does not wear a DD.  There is hardly any room in here for my panties!  They do look pretty though, and I can see them all which leads me to get rid of four of them that I haven't worn in forever...one is way too small, but I had kept it cause it was pretty (DD bras don't often come in "pretty", but the girls pop out if I bend over...not exactly graceful when you have to pop them back in in a crowd), one pokes me cause the under wire is coming out, one that was an emergency bra which hadn't been needed in years because it has no padding (which can no longer be worn post nursing unless I would like to become a public "thermometer" for cold weather) and the other only has one under wire cause it came out in the wash.  Hello?  Who is going to wear one under wire and one not...my boobs would look like they had serious issues.

Bras...check.  Now, panties...which has been relegated to a 1/4 of the drawer as they used to occupy due to the now unflipped bras.  I pull them all out and count them...40...yes, 40 pairs of panties...(why do they call them pairs...I never have understood it...you have two boobs and they don't call them a pair of bra...anyway)...who in the world needs forty pair of underwear?  The really sad thing is that it was laundry day, so there was probably 7-10 pairs in the laundry!!  So I throw out the too small, too big, holey, bad elastic, old, and just plain ugly and am able to get rid of 23 pairs of panties.  Five are for special occasions...you know...the ones you wear for so short a time you wonder why you had to put them on.  I may be able to get rid of a few more as I wear them...I know there are some in there that don't stay put, I just can't remember which ones.  I solemnly swear to you all that they will go straight to the trash.

Bras, panties...check.  Lingerie, uh, it has been a while since I have been through this drawer.  I had 14 "outfits" and was able to get rid of 4.  You know it is bad when you pull on the elastic and they creak and don't go back into place...yep, time to go.  Then there were a few really beautiful ones from my honeymoon...14 years ago.  3 kids ago.  From. my. 20s.  Pre-nursing.  There are just some things that aren't going to go back the way they were...realism comes as I near 40.  Mourn and get over it.

Bras, panties, lingerie...check.  Socks.  33 pairs of socks and remember the laundry...yep, probably some more in there.  To some of you this may not seem like a lot, but considering I wear flip flops or sandals all but two months of the year...this is excessive.  I have some fuzzy ones for winter, some long ones for boots, and a ton of trouser socks that I used to wear under slacks for work...have not taught in 10 years so yes, these socks probably wouldn't stay up if I wanted them too.  Socks with holes go straight to the trash from the laundry so I don't have to worry about that but am able to get rid of 14 pair...well, 13 1/2...not sure where that other one is or why I have one sock in my drawer all by it's lonesome hoping the other will appear out of thin air.  Keeping my daily, or workout socks as I like to call them, because that is pretty much the only time I wear them.

I figure I probably could survive with less and get rid of some more, but hey, baby steps, right?  Now to tackle the kids underwear and sock drawers...if someone doesn't hear from me, tell Levi I am stuck in a closet.