Clothes Culling

Today I decided to switch out the winter clothes for the summer clothes. Out came the sweaters and long-sleeved tops; in went the tee shirts and short-sleeved tops.

Then I decided to go through my clothes and get rid of stuff that I hadn't worn, had worn out, or no longer wanted.

I'm not a slash-and-burn clothes culler - someone who can go through drawers and closets with the "If I haven't worn it in a year, out it goes" mentality. For me, it's more like two or three years. Or ten.

Yes, I have clothes I haven't worn for ten years. Really, more than that! Many of these are what I call "souvenir" clothes. For example, I have a dress that I haven't worn since college. It's a real hippie dress and it's one of my favorite things. I doubt that I could even get it on now. And it I could, I'd wear it as a tunic top - it's kind of short.

My Hippie Dress

I kept non-souvenir clothes, too. I couldn't quite let go of two really nice vests - I haven't worn these vests in well over ten years - but I couldn't quite take them off their hangers yet. I also kept a very pretty quilted jacket that I haven't worn in a bit.

I did ditch some "aspirational" clothes. Those are clothes that I wore the last time I was thin and that I was positive I'd wear again. Nope, out you go! Then I pulled clothes that I used to like, but was never very comfortable it, such as a white shirt with an interesting collar, which is now actually too big and besides, it's a cloth button-up shirt and I simply prefer pullovers and knits. Other stuff included some tops that looked great in the catalog, but silly on me.

Finally, I went through my tee-shirts, both plain and printed. I was pretty ruthless with those! If the V-neck was all pulled out of shape, if they had shrunk up to be too short, if they had logos that I didn't care that much about anymore, out they went.

Now I have a big contractor's plastic bag ready to donate, a whole bunch of empty hangers, and a lot more room in my closet.

Whew!