As a Certified Professional Organizer, I would NEVER EVER get rid of a client’s belongings without their permission. However, I happily made an exception when it came to my husband’s unfortunate clothing purchases.

My husband has so many amazing qualities, but a natural fashion sense is not one of them. When occasionally pruning his closet without his knowledge, I felt I was being altruistic! Most of the time what I got rid of was not noticed. Or if it was, and he asked if I knew where a certain item was, I “truthfully” responded, “No idea.” I just left out the part about donating it to Goodwill and honestly having no idea where it might currently reside. It could be anywhere!

The day I was busted, however, I learned that my ethical standards need to extend to my family as well. Here’s what happened:

My husband had two pairs of shoes that looked VERY similar. In my opinion, one pair was more than enough; they were a weird color that didn’t go well with anything. Why have two pairs? I told myself that I was doing him a favor by getting rid of one of them. As I suspected, he didn’t notice that one pair was missing. But he DEFINITETLY did notice on the day he went to wear them – and found one pair with two left feet!!!! I hadn’t noticed my mistake when donating what I thought was a pair of shoes and now there was no way to get out of this. I had to come clean.

Turns out he was NOT grateful that I’d given away his things without permission and asked how I would feel if “the shoe was on the other foot”. (Actually, he hates puns and would never say this, but you get the idea) I replied that I wouldn’t like it at all. I promised to always check before donating his things and am happy to report that I have stuck by my word.

As someone who spends my days with clients helping them to streamline and get organized, I have shared this experience as a cautionary tale. It’s always best to get permission and buy in before donating someone else’s stuff – no matter how much you are tempted or dislike their shoes 😊

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