I recently used some vacation time to just stay home and write. Of course, that’s not ALL I did. I also hiked and cooked and pretend gardened and . . . cleaned out my closet.

This was a LONG overdue task. I knew I needed to let some things go, but every time I gathered clothes to donate to the thrift store I ended up with far fewer than I intended. So here’s what I did. I BOUGHT NEW HANGERS. Fifty lovely pink, nonslip hangers. And I told myself when I ran out of hangers that was it. No more.

Fifty hanging items sounded like overkill so I wasn’t worried about this plan. Boy howdy. My closet was more overstuffed than I realized!

How many jackets does one woman require?!? Thirteen it would seem. Plus ten dresses. And four coats. And the rest sweaters and blouses. This does NOT include pants of any kind, skirts (on clippy hangers) or folded shirts and sweaters.

In short–I have too many clothes.

And while it felt GREAT to whittle my closet down and tidy it up, it was also sobering. The plenty. The overabundance. The MORE than enough.

And my closet is just one place that demonstrates how much I have. Check out the pantry. The bookcases. The linen closet. The house in general!

There was a trend for a while where you’re supposed to hold each item of clothing and consider how it makes you feel before deciding whether to keep it or donate it. I didn’t spend much time holding my jackets before tossing them in the giveaway pile or draping them over pink hangers. But I did spend a few minutes in my closet when it was all done–those hangers lined up in tidy ranks–and I counted my blessings. In my closet, in my house, and in my life.

Turns out I can’t count that high.