If you’ll recall, due to some changes in my lifestyle, I’ve lost a bit of weight recently (about 22 lbs so far). As a result I’ve found that many of my clothes no longer fit very well.
Also, my closet has been mysteriously filling up over the past decade or so and was sorely in need of a review. Michelle and I tackled the closet on Christmas day. We went and hauled everything out with the rule that only used / useful items go back in.
I can’t believe I didn’t think to take pictures until the closet was empty, but I *did* take some shots of all of the stuff that was in the closet once I had it all spread over the bedroom.
My first thought, on surveying the mountain of clothes was “How does someone who seldom sets foot in a store and NEVER buys clothes amass so many shirts, pants and associated stuff?”.
It turns out that Michelle has been diligently purchasing updated and properly sized clothes for me all these years and just putting them into the rotation. I am completely blown away by the number of shirts that I have. Nearly 4 years ago I posted a mini-poll asking people how many shirts they have, I now have AT LEAST 25% more shirts than back then (now about 110). That doesn’t even count t-shirts in my drawers for exercising and just schlepping around.
The local goodwill should be happy. Nearly all of the clothes that I’m about to take over to them are pristine. They’re simply way to big for me now.
Ironically, some of the clothes I’m keeping are ones that were too small for me but I hadn’t reviewed my closet to discard them. Thankfully, men’s fashions are such that pretty much anything I wore a decade a go can still be worn today. 🙂
I now have:
- about a dozen Office shirts
- another dozen Office / casual shirts (can wear to office on “Jeans” day or similar)
- about a dozen leisure / sports shirts (golf, cycling)
- half a dozen pair of jeans
- nearly a dozen office pants
- nearly a dozen blazers
all of which actually fit me and are in good shape.
I also have left exactly one dozen pair of shoes / sandals / boots.
Gone are the sweaters and hoodies that I’ve received over the years from well meaning relatives and software vendors. Also, I finally parted with many of the shirts from my triathlon and running days. They’ve been worn many, many times while exercising and, while comfortable, were just plumb worn out.
I also bid farewell, finally, to my venerable Rebel Swimming hoodie that I picked up back in high school over a quarter of a century ago.
Some things I won’t be using for a while (if ever) still remain. I have summer and winter trench coats that are in perfect condition, I also have three dozen ties that are still absolutely fine (we got rid of the worn and silly ones). The cane still remains, hopefully it won’t be needed for another half century or so but it’s still perfectly fine.
It’s a good feeling to move into the new year with that closet tidied up.
Click Here to see all the pictures
Maybe you’ll feel better about the junk you’ve got hanging around
when you see how much stuff I had to go through in clearing out my
stuff.
Oh, is anybody out there interested in a Canada Life 150 Year celebration towel/bag thingy? It’s a towel with an attached pouch into which the towel folds (see left). Let me know.
The garage is the next big task. Things have been accumulating on my workbench for years now as I’ve simply had far more things that I want to do than time to do it and stuff just accumulates when you don’t deal with it.