Spring cleaning and attic archaeology, part eleventy-one

[elisem]

There is something satisfying about taking an armload of good clothes into a giveaway place and seeing the organizer's eyes light up. It's especially good that the still-tagged-and-in-the-package bra (I bought it on clearance and discovered was the wrong size, and it's not returnable) will go to somebody who needs a well-made larger bra, because those dang things can be hell to shop for, and giveaway places should have good stuff.

And the stuff I gave is no longer in my way here, so that's excellent. It is out being useful to someone else, if all goes well.

Do you find it easy to let go of clothes that don't work for you, or difficult, or is the question not a question in your life?

Comments

[azurelunatic]

I am still adjusting to the idea that I might have enough clothes that I don't have to wear ones that aren't quite right, or wear them into the ground. As long as my size stays stable within the range that I have, I will probably hang on to most of my current wardrobe for a long time.

The ones I have a hard time with are clothes that I have loved but have become all wrong for me through the ravages of time, especially ones with good memories attached. When I went back to my parents' place to do some cleaning of my teenage bedroom, I took pictures before sending them on. You served me well, black top with the neon green buttons and neon green trim. You served me very well.

the letting go is easy

[siriosa]

the going through the closet and trying everything on first is haaaaaaaaaaard.

Re: the letting go is easy

[mrissa]

If you find that model hard, you don't have to do it that way. Honestly you don't. Some people find it easier that way, but some people find it harder.

I have a running bag of Stuff For Donation at the bottom of my closet, and if I put something on and it is The Wrong on me, I put it in that bag and finish getting dressed for the day. I never have an extravaganza of closet cleaning.

I know that sometimes people really need to assess what they really need--that they're starting a job that requires a certain kind of attire, for example. But even then, if you find trying everything on really hard, you can just try on all the That Job stuff to find out what you have. There is nothing massively more moral about doing it all at once instead of in pieces.

[mrissa]

I find it reasonably easy, I think, judging by other people's reactions. Sometimes I have very strange reactions to it, like: this pandemic I wore my favorite shirt doggedly every time it was clean until it literally fell apart. I was by God going to get everything I could out of that shirt right now. Which I think is maybe not standard, but it didn't hurt anybody.

I have stayed roughly the same size since I was 11 (32 years come July), and that makes for some interesting sartorial archaeology. But I am also very well aware that it contributes to the lack of fraught feelings around getting rid of things.

[petrea_mitchell]

It's fairly easy for me to throw out things that are worn out. I feel bad when it's a T-shirt commemorating something, though. I get around that by only wearing those T-shirts on special occasions. My T-shirt from the second MST3K convention has survived 25 years that way.

The long-term downside is that now I have a significant amount of dresser space taken up with things I almost never wear.

[carbonel]

I find both letting go and trying on stuff to let them go hard. And then when I think that all of it should really be washed or dry-cleaned before it goes to the giveaway place, I feel overwhelmed. I have an entire upstairs closet full of clothes that I don't wear anymore that are sneering at me.

(And now I'm crying. Not your fault, I just have weird issues. I think I have the hoarding gene.)

[athenais]

Very easy. I'm not sentimental about clothing and I liked keeping up with fashionable styles back when I worked in offices. I used to make frequent trips to Goodwill with good-quality but no longer loved clothes two or three times a year.

Now I only own t-shirts, sweatshirts, jeans and a bunch of really good cotton dresses. My clothes leave when they're worn to shreds and I haven't given anything away in almost two years.

Re: the letting go is easy

[siriosa]

thank you. i find the archeological approach (a layer at a time) never gets me to "done". if i dedicate an afternoon to it, i can totally kondo-ize my closet. i just need somebody to sit with me and listen to me whine.

and i totally do relegate items to the "go away" pile if i put them on and they fail to spark joy, as a regular thing. and my closet is a horror until i take everything out of it and only put back the things that please.

plus: the smug i get from Seeing The Floor in there and Having Shelf Space: total bliss.

[cowfan]

Where did you donate clothes? Some places are not taking donations.

[kellan_the_tabby]

Usually pretty easy, though I still have a pair of jeans that I put a LOT of work into making Very Pretty, & then didn't get to wear very often at all