KonMari - Walk a mile in my shoes and here, wear my Pashmina and belt

I hope you all had a relaxing Independence Day weekend. I am back to the grind both at work and in tidying. I did not do a thing in the house all weekend, in fact, I was out of the house Saturday through Monday at events I didn't host! Since our Memorial Day party has amassed 100+ guests a year, I am happy as a clam that I can go to someone else's BBQ and bring a little something.

So Where Are We?

I am finishing off the clothing section today. I have a bunch of things for the garage sale (I also just set the date for Friday September 9th and Saturday September 10th, 8am-3pm). No clothing, that was all donated to organizations that could use them, but I have bags, purses, jewelry, hats, and now shoes, scarves, and belts.

A note on my shoe collection...

I am a proud member of The Society for Barefoot Living (SBL). When I join it about 10 years ago, I was barefoot much of my non-work time. I am not wearing shoes now and rarely wear them at home. I tried early on, to go to the mall and in stores without shoes. That did not last long because I am uncomfortable with confrontation and don't need any more reason for people to stare at me.

Then I progressed to wearing Vibram Five-Finger shoes, or toe-shoes as people refer to them. I wore them instead of regular shoes for comfort. They really are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned and are still my go-to in nice weather non-work activities.

Now, I take most normal shoes off in the car and drive barefoot most of the time. I am shoe-less in private. I habitually take them off in the office under my desk. I hate them in one breath and love them in another. I love heels, though they hurt; I love boots, though they are suffocating at times; I love crafting fabric over shoes, but this leaves them fragile yet awesome.

I went into every closet, into the attic, and in my car to collect them all (as Kondo requires) and here are every pair of shoes, boots, slippers and thongs I own (save for one pair in the wash):

Breakdown:
11 Vibram Five-Fingers (VFF)
4 Sandals or Thongs
6 Sneakers
4 Flats
5 Heels
1 Dressy Sandals
2 Clogs
1 Wedge T's
2 Booties
2 Motorcycle Boots
1 Snow Boots
2 Knee-length Boots
3 Slippers
44 Pairs of Footwear (and one fat cat)

Wow. That's a lot of shoes for a person who barefoots most of the day! So many pairs of black shoes! Now, it is a given that my feet are not easy to size (9.5 WW) so shoes I keep and use are those that fit best (as can be expected). Those here range in size from a 9 to an 11, Medium through WW. Several pairs I have not worn in ages or at all (in the case of the fancy sandals). I am fairly grossed out at the state of some of them. Actually, I am thinking I need to burn my blanket after I store the keepers. 

Is this excessive? For me, I think so, partly because I can only wear one pair at a time and because I am a person who dislikes shoes. Seems I surely have issues.

Right away I think I can pare down by 1/3. Some things need to be trashed, like 2 pairs of slippers and one pair of flats:

These used to be my black work flats. The soles came loose and I needed to trial fabric-covering for my graduation shoes:

They came out amazing and I love them lots. I may not wear them in the near future, but the represent my graduation and thesis and all that work in a crafty way. 

I for sure can get rid of 2 pairs of sneakers, and a pair of booties. The worst will be getting rid of my VFFs. None are newer than 3 years old, and most are at least 5 years old. The brown ones are almost 10 years old! It is just that they were expensive and I still really like them. I like the versatility of color options, though I see 3 in the photo that I haven't worn in years, so they are going. 

My Pashmina and belt collection is not as expansive. I cam getting rid of half of the scarves because I rarely wear them. The belts are being culled in half for the same reason. I am only keeping those that go with the dresses I kept and 2 for pants. 

How about you? How many pairs of shoes do you own? Scarves? Belts? Do you have some that spark more joy than others? Do you also have odd-size feet and hold on to shoes way past their good-looking days?

Tomorrow I am going to start the hard stuff - the books. With 2 degrees in English, and having taught 4 different college courses in writing/English, I have over 200 books, maybe 400. This is going to take some time, but I have already begun and have listed 150 on half.com (my store in the link). I have sold 10 more in the past 40 days. I know it is not a great average right now, but school is out for summer and I haven't listed the best stuff yet.