Clothing progress . . . one type at a time

15 years ago

I've always had such a hard time getting rid of clothes. No one would ever mistake me for a fashionista, but my weight tends to fluctuate--giving me lots of "this might fit me someday" excuses. Plus I tend to get sentimental about things.

Now that I'm working again, I've been wearing dress pants more often. Because I have no closet in my bedroom, I've stuck the pants all over the place . . . on racks in the attic, and in the only two (small) closets in the house. Often, I'd find that I'd grabbed a pair that were too long, or didn't quite fit.

So this weekend I gathered them all up (more pairs than I thought I had) and tried every one of them on. I tagged the longer ones that should be worn with heels. I hung all the "wear now" ones in the guest room. I hung in the attic three pair that will fit if I lose a few pounds (a reasonable possibility). And perhaps best of all, I bagged up seven pair to give to the Salvation Army.

I suppose this qualifies as a "baby step." For me, it was less overwhelming than confronting everything (even one closet) at once. Perhaps I will move on to dresses and skirts next.

Susan

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Comments (9)

ronbre
15 years ago
i do that..problem was I gave all my fat clothes away 2 years ago and have since regained 45 pounds
jannie
15 years ago
I always have three pairs of jeans in my drawers. One nice pair for teaming with a nice blouse or blazer for going out of the house, one "medium" somewhat- worn pair for around the house, and a ratty, holes-in-the knees pair for painting and other messy projects. As I buy a new "nice" pair, I rotate down.
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donnawb
15 years ago
Doing it like that shouldn't overwhelm you and is a good idea if it works for you. I also find that sometimes after I declutter things I need to go back because I still have more things then I want to keep.
mitchdesj
15 years ago
that's a great plan, doing it by category. I still have pieces of clothing that I'm unsure if they are keepers, I'm going to do what you did and have a "trying on"
session soon.

I get used to seeing the pieces hanging in the closet, they are not ornaments, for pete's sakes. ( being snarky at myself, lol)
embees
15 years ago
I've done this method before, when I couldn't face doing the whole closet at once, and definitely found it beneficial!

Here's a twist I've used sometimes... Start a category by choosing a number of objects that it should contain (inspired by challenges here on the board). i.e. Jeans - given my lifestyle, 3 pair sounds reasonable for me... And if I found that I had 10 pair, well, either my "3" was too low, or I needed to get rid of 7 pairs :) (Negotiations with self would then ensue, ha ha)

In my case, I found that I owned more skirts than I would ever wear. Scattered in the closet, I couldn't see that. I like them, but they're not practical for my job, and my social life is more shorts/jeans than skirts! So I picked a few, resolved to find excuses to wear them more often, and released the others to new homes.

Congrats on finding a method that works for you!
arizonarose
15 years ago
When I buy something new I get rid of something old. I started doing this after my last closet purge and it works . I just keep a bag in the closet for Goodwill things and if I buy a T-shirt, I donate a T-shirt. When the bag is full I drop it off for donation.
dilly_dally
15 years ago
Lots of good ideas here from everybody.....

Alisande, I like the idea of tagging pants that that need to be worn with heels. I waste so much time dressing, trying on pants that are the wrong length for the shoes I need to wear that day.

I already know that I am too disorganized to take the time to tag things, but I am going to try using two different colored hangers for longer/shorter pants. Thanks!
alisande
Original Author
15 years ago
Well, I have to confess that it was easy to tag the longer pants because they still had their price tags on! I bought them a while back, but when I tried to wear them I discovered they were too long. I don't know how many times I did this! But "tagging" consisted of writing WEAR W/HEELS on the price tags in permanent marker. :-)

Ronbre, I'm sorry you gained back the weight. I lost between 45 and 50 lbs. 13 years ago. I threw out my fat clothes with a vengeance! I can imagine how you must feel, but you know what? You did it once, and you can do it again. In the past few years I've gained back 15 lbs. and have lost a few of those again. I don't want to lose the whole 15 because at my lowest weight I was a bit too thin. Good luck!

Susan
mommabird
15 years ago
I read something years ago that said if you gain weight, get rid of all your clothes that are too tight. By holding on to those clothes, you are not accepting yourself as you are, so you can't change (lose weight).

I have followed that method. I only have clothes that FIT in my closet - and I have very few clothes now so they all fit in the closet!

Good luck