Comments | fatshionista: Closet Purging and Feelings of Scarcity

sparkymonster in fatshionista

Closet Purging and Feelings of Scarcity

Jan 16, 2007 18:58

I'm doing a closet (and storage bin) purge to prepare for a Boston area clothing swap. I have this huge pile of clothing that I already know doesn't fit yet i have not removed from my home. It's insane. haptotrope was saying once that there is this feeling of scarcity when you're fat and fashionable. It's so hard to find good clothing, that when you find ( Read more... )

personal style, how to

Comments 16

1 year thedarbycrash January 17 2007, 00:33:35 UTC

If ya haven't worn it in a year, chuck it! The only exception for me is my two suits (one is dark blue and has become my Funeral Suit) and a few things with sentimental value (I haven't worn my father's Sarape that he got in Honduras in the 60s in year but there ain't no way in hell I'm parting with it). If it's clothes, esp just work clothes my mantra is my mother's constant harping voice ringing the musical refrain of my teendom "Throw it the hell out!" (meaning give away to a useful charity or swap)

Re: 1 year sparkymonster January 17 2007, 00:37:31 UTC

I know that rule. However, my brain is going "but...but what if.."

Re: 1 year g_da_librarian January 18 2007, 00:16:33 UTC

I will second thedarbycrash's suggestion. I use it on my "hanging in the closet" items. At the beginning of the year, I tie a bright red ribbon around the hook of each hanger. When I wear something the ribbon comes off. At the end of the year, I take out anything that still has a ribbon on its hanger and pack it up for charity. I can usually part with about 75% of the items I haven't worn. They're usually the ones that didn't fit quite right, anyway. The heartbreakers I keep for the next go-round. They're usually heavier fabrics that were too much for this winter, but I'll be glad I kept them when it's freezing next year.

Re: 1 year meestagoat January 18 2007, 01:00:09 UTC

This is brilliant! I think I am going to do this right now--I am feeling the twin impulses of "time to clean out my closet" and "but I'm a poor grad student and should keep everything." This sounds like a great way to see what I'll really want to keep.

geowench January 17 2007, 01:58:11 UTC

I know - if I try something on and it fits, I buy it. Even if I don't like it, won't wear it, it doesn't suite me, or I already have 3 just like it - it's like I can't believe it fits and so I have to have it.

onceupon January 17 2007, 02:04:00 UTC

I sat down, on my lunch hour at work so that I couldn't run to my clothes and confer with them, and made a list of the items of clothing that I KNOW I love. That list was my starting point for things I definitely wanted to keep. Everything else? Fair game for the Clearing It Out Pile.

Which isn't to say that EVERYTHING else must go, but it helps to think of the clothes on that list and see what they all have in common. If an item of clothing doesn't measure up to that? It's gone.

sparkymonster January 17 2007, 14:19:53 UTC

I sat down, on my lunch hour at work so that I couldn't run to my clothes and confer with them, and made a list of the items of clothing that I KNOW I love. That list was my starting point for things I definitely wanted to keep. Everything else? Fair game for the Clearing It Out Pile.

Oooh...smart plan. I also sense something to do during boring staff meetings.

unbrevityness January 17 2007, 02:19:35 UTC

I agree with the 'one year' rule.

Also, anything that looks kind of OK but doesn't go with anything else - get rid of it.

on_reserve January 17 2007, 03:52:53 UTC

This is so rudimentary but if I haven't worn it in more than six months, it goes. Unless it is an "interview suit," or some other special affair wear that I know still fits and looks good and will get worn again.