3 bags of clothes purged-WOW!

Mulderknitter · 08-03-2008, 08:12 PM

I am a pack rat. I admit it. Mostly when it comes to clothes. I like them. But I also frequently visit thrift stores, so I often find cute stuff for really cheap, so the closet gets full. Friday I was looking for something to wear and realized that almost everything I had I didn't want to wear, and I had 2 walk in closets full, and 4 drawers.

Of stuff I didn't want to wear or couldn't find because it was buried. Well, my dear friends, today I PURGED.

3 garbage bags to donate, and 1 bag full of hangers to get rid of.

When I was done, I said to DH "the only problem now is all the hangers." he said, "oh, i'm sure it'll be fine." Then he went upstairs and saw the bed covered with hangers.
I can't beleive it. I can now see all of mh clothes in the closet, the ONE closet, and my drawers close. And I discovered that I have a bunch of nice stuff to wear that fits, instead of a lot of stuff that doesn't.
There is still a load in the dryer, but heck, I'm not perfect!

mks22300 · 08-04-2008, 01:20 AM

I just donated three bags full of clothes yesterday! Makes you feel good when you do that and discover clothes that you'd forgotten about.

Debkcs · 08-04-2008, 06:45 AM

Made yourself and a bunch of other people feel good, that's a good way to spend a day.

I do this about every six months, not as much,but try to keep the levels down some. My husband has never thrown away anything. I sometimes suggest that he go through his stuff,

Knit4Fun · 08-04-2008, 01:34 PM

Good for you! I'm proud of you because it is hard to do that sometimes.

I started doing something that has been helpful to me so I thought I'd share in case it is helpful to you or anyone else on here.

When I clean my closet, I have a small box that I put clothes into that I 'think' I want to give away but still feel for some reason I might want. It can only hold a few items and when it is full, it is closed. That box goes on a shelf in a different closet. If I haven't gone into the box by the time I next clean the closet and donate clothes, they get donated (most times I forget they are in there but occasionally I rescue something that I really do still use). Then I start over. Works for me.

Another tip that takes some discipline but can work wonders for you is to take out of your closet an equal number of items to the amount you put in after shopping (e.g. you go out and buy three shirts...out come three other shirts to be donated from your closet). It controls my shopping (if I like what's in my closet, I won't shop because I know I have to get rid of something!) and it keeps the clothing count down. I have to say that this SERIOUSLY cut my clothes shopping bill. I'm more of a bargain shopper to start, but if I saw something on a whim, I used to go for it...now, I take the time to think about it first or come home to look and see if I need it after all.

A third tip that a friend of mine taught me - she is a professional organizer - is to ask yourself 'Do I REALLY love this?' before buying something. She said that life is too short to have things that we don't love...and isn't it better to have five items of clothing that you really love and feel good about wearing and enjoy versus a hundred items you don't like much and feel bad when you wear? So when I'm looking at something in the store, I always hear her voice and ask myself 'Do I REALLY love this?' and sometimes I even get into why I love it - color (maybe I have another shirt at home that same color) or pattern or maybe I am just crabby so I feel like I need to shop (stop, go home and knit with a cup of tea for my therapy instead of spending money!). That has really been helpful.

All that being said, I still have lots of clothes, but at least I know what I've got and I've been able to keep the amount reasonable.

Congratulations! I'm surprised your bed didn't have cats playing with the hangers or messing with your bags of clothing. I always want to donate my CATS by the time I am done closet cleaning as they are SUCH a pain. Unless I can find shoeboxes for them to cram themselves into...then they are fine. Maybe I should keep around a couple empty shoeboxes precisely for that purpose...hmmm...*thinking*

Mulderknitter · 08-04-2008, 02:24 PM

Thanks for all the advice knit4fun!
I really do clean out the closet and donate at least a bag once a year, but for some reason I had been holding onto way too many things I thought I "might" still wear. I never did. I was way prejudiced yesterday. I did not keep pants that were fabulous but didn't fit. They went. I can buy more pants that fit "now" instead of waiting to be a different size.
Mulder doesn't care about playing with stuff, but Itchy was right there the whole time. He's just not in the pics!

vaknitter · 08-04-2008, 04:48 PM

WOW - congratulations !! The hubby and I try to go through clothes a couple times a year, but there is always that one thing I can't let go of. Can't tell you how many pairs of pants I hang onto for - working in the yard....they're all too big, but too worn for the goodwill, but not quite bad enough for the garbage. Maybe I should dig them out and cut them off for shorts since summer is when we do most of our dirty work outside....
Shoes are my vice - I have trouble finding shoes I like in my size so when I do and they are on sale I typicaly buy them.