May 6, 2012
If you do "closet editing," do you have a rule about getting rid of anything that hasn't been worn in X years?
I see that I blogged about that back in August 2005. That dress that I hadn't worn in 15 years? I still have it, 7 years later, and I still haven't worn it, nor can I get rid of it. And I still can't defend it as "vintage."
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Got to find a reason to wear it then. Around the house. Out for a drink. Somethin.
Sell it on ebay! You can call it vintage there all you want, and make a few bucks.
It's probably a blue dress, like Monica Lewinsky's, and Althouse is hoping for the day people will forget the association and she'll FINALLY be able to wear it in public again.
(You've got about 5 more years.)
"Sell it on ebay! You can call it vintage there all you want, and make a few bucks."
It's gross to connect with strangers over your used clothing.
I'd rather burn it!
And, as I say at the link, it is chartreuse.
Absolutist rules about such things are silly.
If you like the item, and it gives you pleasure or satisfaction of any kind, and retaining it does not hinder you in any material way, then keep it!
It's gross to connect with strangers over your used clothing.
Geez, if I followed that rule, my sex life while single would have been a disaster.
I'm tired of looking at them and now that my size changed and I am wearing those things that I saved for this purpose I decided I hate everything.
Here's what to do. Say you have a magnifying glass that is a big one and every time you go to use it the thing has dust on it and it messes up the viewing. Every single time. You want it right there so you can grab it but it is always has dust. Cut off and arm from the garment or a leg or a piece of skirt and make a pouch for the magnifying glass.
I give away shirts that I loved when I wore them but got sick of seeing and then later I see those same patterns on people years later as if the pattern was caught in a time disruption and hauntingly reappeared anachronistically.
I have suits from 1959 in the closet.
Guys don't deal in much volume. There's plenty of room.
Make a puppet out of it and be sure to take it with you whenever you go to a family restaurant that have booths.
Make a toy in the shape of a duck and stuff it to play tug of war with your new puppy.
I was telling a female friend of mine today that the great thing about being a guy is that your outfits don't go out of style. Or, any more out of style.
Still wearing at 60 pretty much what I wore in high school - Levis and button down shirts in the winter, and polo shirts in the summer (sorry, no shorts). Dressier isn't much different either - navy and camel fur sport coats with loafers. I made a big change in my latter 20s to conservative colors for my suits - navy or gray, pin stripes or not.
The big difference now is that I have so many of everything, and could probably not buy many more clothes for the rest of my life. But, of course, I won't quit. Now, I have different variations in my navy sport coats, ranging from fairly informal through very dressy, and including one that is insulated.
I should probably get rid of some of my clothes that are over half my lifetime old, since I mostly have outgrown such (in the wrong direction).
Have a super thrift store a block or so away, and am going to give away some of my old loafers, along with a TV and a couple of pair of ski boots. In return, I can probably talk the owner into a couple of hats.
Toaster cozy.
i-phone case.
You could cut out a skirt for the space between the overhead lights and the tank so that the tetras cannot jump out. Even if they stopped doing that it's good to take precautions.
A) I adapted a similiar program about 8 years ago. Get rid of things I don't use anymore. Clothing, CDs, DVDs, Books, and misc stuff you find in your house. Not once have I ever missed anything that I have disposed of.
B) Selling on Ebay is fun. You tend not to get much for common things in your house, but it is kind of entertaining anyway to see what happens when you put something on there.
C) Old clothes. Kept many old shirts to wear around the house, as evening wear (meaning when lounging in my house).
The chartreuse dress could be a goal--if you could with some effort wear it again. Otherwise it could be a souvenir.
I have two shirts, from the 80s, that I don't toss. They belong in a Flock of Seagulls video. I'd look ridiculous if I wore them. Why do I keep them? Hell if I know, but I have room. I've moved them to the east coast and back.
I like new clothes. No room for new clothes if you don't get rid of old clothes. If you have enough closet space to keep a dress you haven't worn for 22 years, than you don't have enough clothes you do wear or you have too much closet space.
If you can't bear to throw it out keep it. How much room could it take up? I have an old fur coat that my grandmother wore in the 40's still in my basement. It's not vintage, it's just nice to have. When it's not nice to have I'll be able to throw it out easily.
I still have the dental floss that was in my father's medicine cabinet when he died unexpectedly at age 49, 44 years ago. It's in the back of a shelf, but I know it's there.
There's a reason why we keep stuff. Not always a good reason, but a reason.
Closet, Hell, there's a couple of rooms The Blonde needs to edit.
A small matter, but does anyone know men who "edit" tee-shirts? Under shorts, sure, when they have holes so large you can't tell anymore which ones are for the legs.
But tee-shirts should be worn until they dissolve. Correct? They become so soft with that ratty ragged collar and small holes evolve on the thinning fabric. They're perfect.
Or so I thought until recently when the better half asked if I wasn't embarrassed for wearing such raggedy shirts to the doctor's office? Hey, they said wear something soft and with no metal or buttons, right? CT Scan stuff, eh.
I am now the proud owner of 14 new tee-shirts from Duluth Trading over there. Had to go to them for the pockets and extra length in colors usually found in nature, not on a beach in Rio.
My old tees are now rags. Very soft rags. I think the idea is that I'm now supposed to shine up all my shoes and boots. Women are tricky.
Althouse: It's gross to connect with strangers over your used clothing.
I'd rather burn it!
I could understand an aversion to buying used clothing (lots of it comes off of dead people, I'm sure), but selling it?
And, as I say at the link, it is chartreuse.
Then dye your hair red. You'll either love wearing the dress, or finally have a sensible excuse not to (depending on your sensibilities).
Althouse: And, as I say at the link, it is chartreuse.
OMG! It's that dress made out of Kermit the Frog heads Lady Gaga wore!
Sorry, but there's no way you'll ever be able to wear that dress again; it's Gaga's forever now.
There's a reason why we keep stuff.
My Aunt's brother has bottles of their Dad's liquor still -- and the Dad died in -- I think -- the 60s. It's amusing and strangely comforting to look at the prices on the bottles -- some are written in grease pencil!
On a different but much more amusing note, this idiot woman's shrieking and sobbing is one of the funnier things I've heard lately. From her reaction you'd think the truck was full of babies and/or puppies rather than freakin' cotton bales.
My wife says if she is not wearing her clothes, then they needs a new owner who will wear it. She takes them to Salvation Army drop offs.
I am the hoarder in the family.
My old Laura Ashley stuff sold like hotcakes on Ebay. Gross to sell clothing? Nah.
For some people it helps emotionally to turn clothing into cash - even modest amounts like 50 cents.. I've found it to be easier than giving it away, because I never know if it's going to be thrown away by a charity. People don't often just want to be given clothing
My motto is, if it's not useful or beautiful I try to get rid of it. I feel happier when I'm more spartan and have more space and dust-free areas.
I give old clothes to Goodwill. Can't imagine trying to sell anything unless it was worth at least a few hundred dollars.
I've never had a garage sale or even gone to one.
I'm not a snob about it. I just experience it as an invasion of privacy.
The good news is that you can still wear clothes from fifteen years ago.....I generally wear clothes until I wear them out. Some clothes never wear out. Raincoats. I had an old trenchcoat with all sorts of brass rings and epaulets. I didn't recognize the fulcrum moment when it went from cool to corny, but it happened. Bogey is forever, but not so his trenchcoat.
Isn't selling on eBay a drag? All that back and forth. Envelopes, packaging, post office or UPS. I love the place as buyer, honestly, a world wide marketplace. I might be cornering original Chia pet rams. My flock is impressive, I think, not on the scale of the first Qin emperor's Terracotta Army, but a lot of clay rams. The bummer is so many are in original boxes and that wrecks the fun. Anyway, I never thought of selling anything there, too hard.
Your grandchildren will want to play dress-up, and a chartreuse dress will be perfect for that.
Don't think of yourself as keeping an old dress. Think of yourself as curating a memorable collection of dress-up clothes.
It's easy for me...I have worn the same things for 20 years, or when ever pleated front dockers came out. There are certain advantages for guys that need the dancing space. Bluejeans are horrid, at least for my delicate condition.
My wife unfortunately, is a hoarder. She was very poor in her first marriage, and learned hoarding then. She got a job later at a clothing store where they got a sizable discount. Our basement is literally filled with clothes on hangers, that have never been worn. I keep on her to donate, sell, throw the stuff out, but she can't...it's a phobia for her. I could force the issue but as it is, it's harmless. I got her channeled into hoarding food, so it's better now. And it follows my own prepper leanings. The kids all come to our house when SHTF because they now we usually have extra of everything.
I am the king of closet editing, but then again I am a guy.
Every year I turn all of my hangers one way and put the date on the last one. When I wear something I turn the hanger the other way. After one year every piece of clothing on a hanger that isn't turned goes to charity. It is that simple. My theory is if I haven't worn it in a year, I will never wear it.
My wife can't do this, I think it is a pre-programmed genetic thing that won't allow her to be so brutal on her closet.
Yes. Well, I do now. I had been hanging on to beloved items hoping to fit back into them someday. And then somehow I missed "someday" as it blew right by. I am smaller size than everything in my closet. By a lot.
Yesterday is gone. The forecast for tomorrow is fashionably hopeful.
You are oppressing that dress which needs to find someone who will wear it. What is a dress for but to wear? And if that is not the use to which it is being put, then find someone who will put it to that use. I donate clothing I can't wear or haven't worn, and I edit every 6 months -- I will keep something past one edit, but not two. Be cruelly neutral towards the dress as much as you are to us.
The folks who say get rid of it if you haven't worn it in a year have obviously never been pregnant. Or at least haven't been pregnant more than once.
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