Take a look in our closet:
Here's the other end. There are actually more shoes on the shelves to the right of those you can see:
I can't believe how much I have pared (not paired) down my shoes. I think there are about 75 pairs here. A couple years ago I sold 60 pairs on eBay. Sent my shoes all over the country. Hey, if I can't go, they might as well.
I'm not a compulsive shoe collector in the same sense as women with so-called shoe fetishes. You won't find any Prada, Jimmy Choo or Manolo Blahnick in my closet. (I wasn't even sure of the spelling of the last two) In fact, you won't find many with heels in there, certainly no high heels or pointy toes. I'm more into comfort: flats, clogs, boots, sandals. I do have a few pairs of heels in the requisite black for events that absolutely require them.
And unlike most women who buy a new outfit and then shop for a pair of shoes to match, I buy shoes and then find an outfit. What's my problem you ask? I have big feet. I am six feet tall and wear a size 12 shoe (quit snickering). At least I'm pretty certain I'll never blow over in the wind. And they are not easy to find.
When I was a kid we didn't have much money. I got the obligatory new pair of shoes for school annually. Back then finding shoes to fit was even more difficult, and when I did they often looked like something my Aunt Mabel would wear or maybe not. They could be that ugly.
My father was 6' 6" and as you'd expect also had big feet---14AA. He, too, had trouble finding shoes and clothes in his younger days. Consequently, he was the one who had the patience to take me shopping from store to store to find what I needed. I remember one year, I was maybe 12, when we actually found TWO affordable pairs. My father said that for a week every time he looked at me I had the other pair on. I kept going back into my room and changing. I was so excited to have TWO new pairs of shoes at the same time!
Consequently when I started buying my own I learned early to take care of them. Notice they are all in their original boxes? When I used to work in a more corporate atmosphere which required suits, dresses and heels, I had a 'driving shoe' in the car. As soon as I got in, I would slip my shoe off and put on the driving shoe so as not to scuff up the back of my right shoe.
So here comes the OCD....notice in the photos there are little pictures on the ends of the boxes? When I get a new pair, I take a photo and tape it to the end of the box. I used to just write a brief description on the box but tan sandals got a little confusing when it was written on six boxes. Which tan sandals?
My shoes seem to be one of the few places my OCD shows up. Otherwise, I'm a piler of books, magazines, mail, catalogs, bills, receipt, etc. Just take a look at my desk. I'm one of the most disorganized people I know accept when it comes to my shoe shelves!
11 comments:
I was going to suggest those clear plastic shoe boxes until you said you put pictures on the ends. Very clever!
One envies the neatness and organization.
Wow....Love how organized your shoes are. Great idea to keep your boxes and add a picture. As a young girl, I only got 1 pair of shoes as needed.
Stopped by from SITS and enjoying your blog.
Sandra
My wife has a lot of shoes, too, but she leaves them in piles off to the side of the front door, where she kicks them off upon coming home. I'm always tripping on them.
I love that you put pics on your boxes. I have a good amount of shoes but not that many and I leave mine out of the boxes.
I do think OCD can be just in certain areas but then it's probably not true clinical OCD.
We all have some OCD in us, believe me if you had it you would know!
First, i'm showing my husband the pics of your shoes so he can see that i do NOT have a shoe fetish. Thanks!! :)
I think that your photo thing is really organized.
Hold on...how'd you get a picture of my desk?
Have you ever found that you have purchased the same shoe? I have. Probably because my closet looks worse than my desk. I may even have shoes on my desk-I would never know.
wow! and I thought my daughter had a shoe fetish :)
Your shoe collection looked WAY too organized for me, so I was quite happy to see your messy desk. Size 12 is tough. You have been very successful in acquiring a good amount of a hard-to-find size.
I may have to steal your picture on the box idea. I still write the description on the boxes and sometimes I write a whole sentence to distinguish all the black shoes I own.
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