My Shoe Palooza

Picture me as I walk in the house, and change to the shoes I like to wear as I work around here.  Or, if I am going to lounge around, I change to a pair of shoes that are easy to slip on and off.  I do not like sitting in a recliner with shoes on.  It makes lounging uncomfortable.  Sometimes, it makes my ankles hurt.  How do you like to lounge when you put your feet up?

Where do the shoes I take off usually go?

It looked lots worse than this
 on my bedroom floor.
 I had at least eight pairs of shoes
 strewn around my bedroom.

If I am being exceptionally neat, they usually are in a neat row under a chair in my bedroom, because I may want to change those shoes for another activity.  Right?  Ha, ha!  They might be at the foot of my bed.  Why on earth would I want to put them in my closet?  I would just have to find them, because I have shoes in my shoe hanging bags, that I hardly ever wear.  Some of them have been there so long, they are dusty.

That has been one of the messy things about me, that I have glossed over in my mind.  If I just didn't get too many shoes out at a time, I could rationalize this behavior of rarely putting my shoes away.  Well, I have now forced myself to do something about the shoes in the bedroom.  When I vacuumed this week, I threw them all in the hallway, except for my slippers and flip-flops.  Our closet is at the end of the hallway, because it was added later and I don't think people even had closets when this house was built.  That night I told my husband I was too tired to put the shoes away in the closet, but I would get to it later, and I made sure they were where nobody would trip over them.

Today, I went into my closet with the mindset I was going to get rid of any shoes I had not worn in the last year, shoes that were a hazard to my health, and  shoes that were uncomfortable.  I emptied out most of my two hanging shoe organizers and dusted off shoes I wear.  I sorted my shoes into give aways, throw aways, and put aways.  I did keep a pair of heels I am saving to wear with a really cute dress when my weight gets down enough.  I can rationalize that, because I am actually losing weight and I love that dress.  Then, I sorted through the shoes in the hallway.  I actually did have pair of hazardous to my health sandals:  it is amazing I have not tripped as they turned sideways on me while I was walking through the house.  I saved an old pair of walking (tennis shoes) that I like to use outside if I have to walk through wet grass with the dog or some other little chore.  I would wear them for gardening, even though I cannot use them for walking shoes anymore.  

Today, I have probably been more honest with myself about my shoes;  and, it is not that I never told the truth to myself about it.  I have gotten rid of other pairs of shoes over the years, but I found myself not wanting to give up something that was supposed to be comfortable.  Not only that, I felt guilty about getting rid of shoes I might wear again.  However, the truth is that even though a shoe may feel comfortable in the store and seem like the right shoe, there are times a shoe ends up being something that my foot slips out of as I walk or it is not stable enough for my feet and gait.I am getting better about my choices, but sometimes I mess up.  

This time I did it.  At this moment, not even my slippers are on my bedroom floor.  I am going to work on putting my shoes away every time.  Baby steps!