Since it’s a new year and some of you have a forever lingering goal to get more organized, I’m here to help! Check back here every Saturday for the next six weeks for a new “get organized” challenge. Each challenge will take less than 30 minutes and will leave you feeling happy and stress free, I promise!
This week’s challenge: Organize your sock and underwear drawer
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I’m guessing, if you’re like me, you receive at least 3-5 pair of socks every Christmas. And then maybe a few fleece socks from random gift exchanges. And then there’s the dress socks you bought when you started your career a million years ago. And then there’s the 13 socks that you can only find one of because the other one magically disappeared in the washer. And then there’s the 10 pairs that have a hole in them.
And there’s the underwear you bought on sale when it was 5 for $25 at Victoria’s Secret even though you don’t really like that kind that much but you had a coupon to go with the sale making them practically free. And then there’s the underwear you got to go under your pencil skirts so they don’t show a line. And the underwear you wear when you workout — even though you don’t really workout. And then there’s the underwear that the band is loose on the top and random strings are unthreading around one leg. And don’t forget the underwear that is way on the bottom of the stack that you got as a bridal shower gift, and let’s just say it . . . you didn’t wear it then and you’re not gonna wear it now. Throw in 5-7 pair of tights (3 of which have holes in them too) and what do you get?! A sock and underwear drawer that won’t close! Bravo my friends, bravo!
Not anymore! Today we put an end to keeping socks from 2008 and underwear from God knows when.
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Things you’ll need: 1 trash bag and your phone (or whatever device that will play your favorite music)
Time needed: 15 minutes
Instruction: Follow these 10 simple steps!
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Step 1: Turn on your favorite music (if at a loss, always default to Beyoncé’s Pandora station)
Step 2: Set a timer for 15 minutes
Step 3: Dump your sock and underwear drawer out. Yup. Take every single thing out of that drawer and put it on the floor.
Step 4: Do not take on your partner’s sock and underwear drawer on as your problem. Look away. This is about your socks and your underwear.
Step 5: Any sock that is missing it’s sock friend — throw it in the trash bag. Nope, you’re not going to feel bad about it. You’re not going to hold onto it because you’re convinced it’ll randomly show up even though it hasn’t shown up the last 2 years. Bye, bye sock. You’re going to throw any sock with a hole in it in that trash bag. Any sock you wouldn’t put on your foot and wear today, bye. Any pair of socks that used to be white but now they’re kinda gray goes in the bag. Any sock that your mom would say “really, are you still wearing those?” goes to live in the trashbag.
Step 6: Repeat step 5 with the huge stack of underwear that was shoved in that drawer. If there’s lace on it . . . bye (who is wearing lace?!). Even if it’s that set of 5 pair of underwear that you bought on sale and 4 of them still have the tags on them because you didn’t like the way the 1 pair fit so you never wore the other 4 — let ’em go (if there’s tags on them, consider putting in another bag for donations). If you wouldn’t put that pair of underwear on today and wear them, adios undies! Put ’em in the bag. Do not debate this. Do not feel bad. Pitch ’em. If you still have “boy short” underwear, good God, throw them out. That was so 1999.
Step 7: You’re going to put the underwear that made it past the purge process back in your new clean drawer in a stacked fashion without folding them (this will save you space). Extra credit: stack in a color coordinated fashion.
Step 8: You’re going to do step 7 but with your socks that are still in the “keep” pile. Stack them rather than try to fold the tops down to make them into little sock balls that take up more space. You’re going to stack your white socks together, black socks together, etc.
Step 9: Walk immediately to the trash can and throw away the trash bag. We’ll be donating items in future organization challenges, but on this one just put them in the trash can and move on with your life.
Step 10: Walk back into your room and open the drawer again and pat yourself on the back for a job well done!
You did it! You’re on your way to a less cluttered life and can officially rock all your favorite undies and socks this week.
See you next week for challenge #2!
