Wt Back To It - Week Five!

Week 5 is all about shoes and purses, and you may as well throw in socks, belts, briefcases, hats, and other accessories used to finish an outfit except scarves and jewelry, which are handled separately. Include umbrellas, too. I already know I don't have one. I live in Arizona. When it rains, we all stand outside like turkeys, looking up at the sky with our mouths open.

Your mission:
1. Pile!
Les shoes. The closet rack gets less-used shoes, hence the work boots on the far left and the heels in the middle. The flat sandals on the bottom will move to the rack by the door and get tons of action as soon as IT STOPS SNOWING AGAIN (it's supposed to be in the 70s next week).
The one by the door gets the everyday beater shoes (some of which are looking excessively beat at the moment but polish up just fine).
Both racks are from Tarjay and work excellently well except my tallest shoes have to go on top. Which works for me at this point as I don't have a huge amount of tall shoes nor do I expect to anytime soon.

This is mostly all the purses, the little navy square one is going to go, and I have a black leather equivalent of it that didn't make it into the picture but is ok for dressy occasions. The big green one on the left is the best tote ever but it is going on 6 years old now if I recall correctly and the strap is starting to fray irretrievably. The red one with the black fringe I bought purely for the awesome Hungarian embroidery and am afraid to use. It might get hung on the wall. The gray tote at the back is actually made of wool and is a really nice Lotta Jansdotter bag I got for a birthday a while back. It's my dressy tote (ha) and I wish I could find another one like it. The green one at the very back is my only other leather bag and it only stays because it is green and dressy. If I had a dressy green fabric bag that one would be GONE. The orange Timbuk2 bag at the back right is very useful for work and travel so that is the one sporty bag that stays. The tiny yellow one at the front is my lone brand-name bag. It is a Coach from the outlet in Vegasbought specifically for its tiny yellowness. At a concert where I have to dress up, it holds ID, cash and my phone and can (and usually does) get stuffed in the back pocked of my jeans if I want to dance. Unfortunately the little wrist strap doesn't stay on so I might have to figure out how to fix that. Big orange tote with birds is from Etsy and I finally shortened the strap so this will see a lot more use. And the long red clutch in the middle is also from Etsy and if I can get another one of these in green that green leather bag can GO.

2. Style. Refer to your Style Statement. Are your shoes, purses, etc. supporting your fundamental style? If not, how not?
Not too worried here, I'd like one more decent pair of dressy flats as my style doesn't support wearing heels out regularly when dressing up. This will be less of an issue during sandal season. But mostly I am so picky about shoes that I love what I have. Except the pairs that somebody is supposed to be selling on eBay for me right now. Who seems to suck at that. I think I need to go get them back and start an eBay account.

Purse-wise I need to just accept the fact that I am not going to carry leather bags on a regular basis, no matter how cute they are. I can deal with them for dressing up, but everyday bags need to be fabric and not heavy. Preferably also bright colors and lots of pockets. Dressy bags that are not leather can also jump in my closet. The exceptions are anything made by Hobo International, over which I will continue to drool and debate saving up for.
3. Fixies. Time to heal worn-down heels!
I have actually just dumped out all my wool socks so I can see who matches and who needs fixing and who needs replacing (Smartwools always get about two rounds of darning before actual disposal, they are worth the trouble as they last forever that way and they are not cheap to begin with). I also need some normal socks (as in, white crew socks for under sneakers etc.) which can be obtained at Tarjay or the like.

Shoes have been recently maintained as a lot of them just got dragged out for the nice weather (and of course now it's supposed to snow tomorrow). I also invested in an oil sponge for the sadder looking leather sandals and it has perked them up to no end, I highly recommend one if your hard-to-polish items (I'm looking at you, strappy sandals) are looking wimpy. I am still looking for some decent insoles and heel pads for some of the dress shoes. Spencos are great for walking shoes but they are a little too thick for dress shoes.

4. Organize. See to it that these accessories are tidy and accessible in their own space.
Tarjay has hooked me up in the shoe rack department. This also makes them look vaguely respectable. And a useful basket has been repurposed to help corral my small dressy purses until I find a better system.

5. Clean out your purse.
I switch bags regularly enough that the most I stack up is two or three lip glosses. And two or three Chapsticks. Per pocket. Which reminds me - not pictured bags are the two I made. One is in the laundry and the other is full of stuff. Both are batik prints in dark colors with light-colored lining so you can find things inside them. And interior and exterior pockets for phone and Chapstick collection.