Shopaholics - No More!

As I was driving into work today I heard on the radio how tough the economic crisis is, it's so tough that even Macy's is closing some of its stores. I guess that should not surprise me but it kind of does. Macy's is one of those stores that seems like it will always exist through the good times and the bad. After all, I work because I shop (but please don't tell my husband!).

So, when I got to work I googled "Macy's store closings" because I had to determine if I would be affected directly. I found an article in the Wall Street Journal that lists all the stores that will be closing and, luckily for me, none of the Macy's stores near me are closing their doors. But for those of you that are curious, here is the list of stores that will be closing soon (and apparently they will start their clearance sales soon, so if these are the stores you shop at least you may be able to get some shopping out of your system before they are no longer):

Ernst & Young Plaza (Citicorp Plaza), Los Angeles
The Citadel, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Westminster Mall, Westminster, Colo.
Palm Beach Mall, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, Island of Hawaii
Lafayette Square, Indianapolis
Brookdale Center, Brooklyn Center, Minn.
Crestwood Mall, St. Louis
Natrona Heights Plaza, Natrona Heights, Pa.
Century III Furniture and Clearance, West Mifflin, Pa.
Bellevue Center, Nashville, Tenn.

I hope the economy turns around soon because many more stories like this and I will have to quit working because there will be no incentive to continue!

Christmas is Near, Oh Dear!

Wow, I cannot believe there are only a few weeks left until Christmas. I am really trying to get organized this year and get all my gifts out, bought, sorted, wrapped, and under the tree as soon as the tree goes up after Thanksgiving. Not sure that is going to happen but I'd like to have a year that I don't have to run around like a mad woman trying to tackle all the different tasks that arise for Christmas.

So, last weekend we almost completed shopping for our daughter and my mom is done but, she is easy! So, two down, ten or so to go...

Skeletons in the Closet?

I'm not sure how this happens to me but once every couple of months I need to take most everything out of my clothes closet and reorganize. The last couple of months I rotated everything I wear into the dry cleaners and when I picked it up I would hang the clothes in the plastic in my closet. After a few trips my closet looked like it was wrapped in plastic and every time you would open the door to the closet you heard that unmistakable brush of all the plastic. I realized that when I had more clothes in my closet but "nothing to wear" the only clothes I had hanging and accessible to me were the clothes I do not care for any longer so it was time to clean out the closet.

I took all the bagged clothing out of my closet and piled it on my bed. Most everything else in my closet I cataloged to donate to the Goodwill or Salvation Army. As I opened each bag of clothes I transferred the clothing to nice hangers and hung everything in color scheme order so as to find everything.Now each category of clothing (long sleeve shirts, short sleeve shirts, pants, skirts, etc.) looks like this:



Now that my closet is cleaned out I have some room to integrate my new clothes I will buy for fall. Did I ever say I'm a shopaholic?