I have been buying clothes (needed, at first) on a frenzy lately. I don't know why but I have been buying up clothes like there is no tommorow. My closet has now creeped into my DH's. I took over more than half. SO when do we have enough clothes? What do we really need in a closet to make our wardrobe work? I must be missing something because I have too much and still feel I have nothing to wear...why??

What are the closet essentials?

I've finally gotten the closets to the point where I actually wear what's in them. Every now and then I will "closet audit" and find things I don't wear, and toss them out. I'm like Fairy in that I have criteria for staying in my closet. I have to have work it in the last 3 months, OR know I will where it but just haven't had the right occasion/event. It has to fit, if it's too big I toss it or put it in my "consider it for lounge/housework" pile - things like big tshirts and knit gauchos go here.

I REALLY need to do something about my clothing situation, as in get rid of it. We have a storage unit and at least 40% of it, ceiling to floor, is full of big 50+ gallon storage tubs full of clothes. On top of that there are probably 20+ of the Ziploc XXXL storage bags, 4 - 5 55+ trash bags, and who knows what else. Easily enough for 4 separate wardrobes. But what to do with it? I thought about ebay but was talked out if it. Maybe consignment. I'm not much of one for charity (depends on the charity), and don't have a lot of bandsters in my area who would wear those sizes. Maybe in the spring I will just get a uhaul or smtg, and go consignment... *shrug*

WHEESTIN--3??? I am completely completely jelous! I have been making alot of $$ lately on ebay, it is a pain, but I have made $250 in the last 2 weeks. I have reinvested it all on new clothes on ebay, but lol....it worked for me. I have done cosignment but that sucks to me!

Whoa, Wheetsin, that is a serious amount of unused and unwanted fabric cluttering up your own personal landscape! You can and probably should get rid of it, certainly before it becomes casa to a nest of mice or, worse yet, a pack of rats. This is said without prejudice: we are aware that rats can be charming and intelligent. :confused:

I know from previous posts that you haven't been well received by your husband's family. If you are feeling in a passive-agressive sort of mood you could gather up your unused closets' full of clothing and ship it all over to them. You could tell 'em that you are doing this in the name of caritas. :heh:

Or you could do something else, like, say, offer them up to those of your local bandsters who are not as far along in the process of losing weight as you are.

I guess I find myself talking this way as a packrat who found herself inundated with a flood of stuff following the deaths of her aunt and her mother. Much stuff ended up getting junked and there were squabbles between the few survivors; but these were of the nature of "you take it. No, you take it! No, you!"

None of us, you see, were able to deal with the leftovers from these lives. It wasn't easy to off-load this stuff but nobody had room for it, either.

My husband and I are packrats. We started living together later on when we were both a bit older, after we had both acquired all our own household poop, you know, pots and pans and dishes and the like. We like to travel and we like to bring home poop. This means that we have a lot of rugs and carvings and other ethnic stuff. And we take photos and I paint and I read and I buy a lot of books....

After the heart-breaking experience of mopping up following my mother's and my childless aunt's deaths I came to look at my own lifestyle in quite a different way. My husband and I live in a house which is visually rich, which is dense with objects that are deeply significant to us. Some of them may even be valuable but most of them are not, except to us of course.

When we die all this material will be both touching and stressful for our survivors. This is one of the reasons why I now make a serious effort to give away old clothes and shoes. I am now trying to extend this practice to my library, a very big problem, and to my huge collection of CDs.

Our shack is still packed but we are making a point of giving away or sharing out what we have and no longer use. It is much cheaper than paying for storage facilities. And I am dreading the day when my mate's parents end up buying the family farm, erm, croaking, eh. He is going to want to absorb into this household certain objects which hold powerful childhood memories for him, a normal reaction for sure. And right now we are totally jammed up. If you ain't using it, then do consider giving it to someone else.

Girlfriend here's a clue: No such thing as too many shoes or way too many blouses. All those colors, all those fabrics. At goal???? I promise everyone that I will be a clothes whore. I might even switch up professions. You deserve every single article of clothing.

Girlfriend here's a clue: No such thing as too many shoes or way too many blouses. All those colors, all those fabrics. At goal???? I promise everyone that I will be a clothes whore. I might even switch up professions. You deserve every single article of clothing.

Awwww....thanks!

I have bought a ton of clothes since my weight loss. I don't spend a lot of money on clothes, but my closet is completely full. Before my surgery, my goal was to just look neat. But now, I look in the mirror and think, "I look good!" I love wearing new clothes now. As long as I can afford to shop, why worry about the bulging closet?

Lol, I agree, your discards would do the woman in, however they would fit me wonderfully for a while! I am having the surgery on March 25, 2008. I have many friends who are overweight and when I start losing, I will give my clothes to them-it makes me feel good and them, too! I wear nice clothing and take very good care of it, so people always appreciate when I give them any.

Well I wanted to update all of you on this! I took alot of what everyone said to heart and did some work. Jack made me realize that it can be a problem and mine was. BUT my clothes habit wasn't just mine, it also had become my children's and my husbands. SO I spent the weekend clearing the monkey off my back.

First I did organize my closet with categories as someone suggested here. While doing that I realized alot of my clothes no longer fit, but for some reason I was attached to them. So those clothes are now on Ebay. I had to let them go as I am never going to be a 2x or even an xl again!

Then I did the same with my kids and DH. I also went through the mountain of dirty clothes. I got rid of anything that didn't fit the girls or that was just plain ugly...(thanks to my MIL who buys those)

You will all be proud to hear, I am taking 10 bags to Goodwill, 4 into the trash plus the Ebay clothes. I do feel actually ALOT better! From now on instead of just buying clothes I am going to think about how they will fit into my wardrobe! I am sick of too much that isn't matching. I am going to learn to shop with a purpose!

THANKS to all of you!

Good job Boo Boo! It feels good to get rid of things you have no use for. I hope you make a lot of money on E Bay!