Why do we ignore our closets? We clean the entire house and somehow the unused junk from each room always ends up in the closet...clothes, books, shoes, car parts, fruit cakes from 1964, the cat we all thought had run away, Uncle John from Cleveland..... It is often stuffed from one end to the other with items that we are trying to hide. We don't dare attempt to open the closet door without our hard hat and shoulder pads. Then we only clean them out when the doors will no longer shut, and we have exhausted every single excuse we can think of to avoid the inevitable. It is a sad thing to have a closet and not be able to find the floor or the ceiling inside it.

Let me give you some advice to get your closets in shape with only a little time and effort. You will be amazed at all the extra room you'll have when you're done. Why, it may seem so large and roomy that you'll be tempted to move a futon in there and turn it into a guest room. But do resist the urge. Every home needs closets!

The first thing that you need to do is to sort the dirty clothes from the clean ones. Then hang up all of your clothes neat and tidy on good strong durable hangers. (But please refrain from using wire hangers. We don't want Mommy Dearest to get angry with us.) Plastic hangers are good and they come in many fabulous colors that will enable you to color code your wardrobe. They are inexpensive and can be found in the clothes hanger aisle at many department stores, and sometimes at your local Piggly Wiggly.

While you are hanging up your clothes, you should go through them and throw away the ones that you wore when you were in sixth grade. Give them to Good Will, or good Bertha or one of your other good neighbors. Just get them out of the house and this will make more room in your closet for the things you'll need to store there in the next ten years. Keep your clothes segregated. Keep pants with pants, and shirts with shirts, and don't allow any mingling or socializing of the garments. Put dresses on hangers that are made for dresses and not a hanger that is made for a house plant or meat. You'll be able to hang more of them together if you follow this rule.

For shoes, if you own more than one pair, you can buy a shoe rack that sits on the floor of the closet, which you should now be able to find. You will finally be able to locate what you're looking for when you need two shoes that match. Remember to go through your shoes too and get rid of those that have loose soles or holes in the toes. There is no sense in having more shoes than you need, and if you're like most of us you have only two feet anyway.

You can install hooks on the inside of the closet to hold items like belts, handbags, skeletons, or another uncle from Cleveland. You can also add an extra shelf above the clothes rod for more storage of items like shot guns and quilts, or a place for children to play hide-and-seek. For items that are intended to be stored for a long time, use plastic bags to cover them and prevent dust from settling into the material. (However, don't use plastic bags to cover the children!)

Now, you have your closet all neat and orderly and it's ready for you to use. Avoid stuffing it full of junk again. Take a moment to think about what you're putting into your closet. Send Uncle John back to Cleveland. Let the cat outside whenever he asks to go out. Get rid of those fruit cakes you get each year, the day after Christmas.

Then go out and buy more stuff.

© Leeuna Foster, 2006.

I often wonder if others are like me. Do they have a secret compartment inside them? One they dare not open. To do so would be like opening Pandora's Box.  A place that has remained locked for many years and must be forever guarded. A place of memories so wonderful and yet so painful they defy the daylight.  A place of shattered dreams, broken promises, the best and the worst of time and love bittersweet;

Is there a heaven for broken dreams;
Where do they go to mend?
Do they come back again
dressed in grave-cold satin
to rattle their chains of agony
in the chill of the night?
Do their anguished cries echo
along the darkened chambers
of our tortured minds?

Where do dreams go when they die?

Perhaps our dreams go nowhere;
perhaps they fade into the shadows
where they remain forever imprisoned
somewhere between hope and tomorrow
on pillows soft with broken hearts
beneath a blanket of discarded pride
upon a bed of tears and sorrow.

They are such fragile things - dreams
they pass away so quickly.

Where do dreams go when they die?