More Clothes...

Brent reorganized his part of the closet over the weekend which freed up a whole section I could use. At first I didn't think I would. My clothes all fit into the space I already had and the bar in his section was really high (he is about 7 inches taller than I am so...) but then I realized I could lower the bar (as is my way) and spread out a few things that were pretty snugged in there.

I had on the calendar to do a clothes sort at the beginning of June with the thought that I would just donate all of those too small things that are in the spare bedroom closet. But just last week I had decided to push that off for a year. Yes, a year. There are some changes coming that could affect my weight and I would be big mad if I got rid of all of that great stuff this year only to need it next year. Am I expecting to fit them next year? Not really, but it won't hurt to keep them for another year, they aren't in the way.

So with those things changed I decided today to go ahead and do my normal seasonal sort of clothes. I knew there were a few things that needed to be moved to the "this really is too small, honey" closet. Things that with a little layering and little pinning I thought I could make work, but I was avoiding wearing because I knew they needed a little help to actually fit. Anything you lay hands on in your closet should be fine without a lot of work to make it fit. Time to sort.

If you ever want to test a be happy with your size no matter what mantra may I suggest trying on clothes in front of a full length mirror? Good challenge. Luckily I was up for it. Just kept reminding myself that the whole purpose of what I was doing was to make sure that no matter what I put on it would fit and I would feel good in it.

And there were a few things that went in the too small closet, like I had thought. Some closer to the front, some a little farther back. There were a handful of things to go to Goodwill. Things that either used to work, or I wanted to work and they never did. There was a dress that was just the wrong color for me. I couldn't quite figure out why I had it, then realized if I still had bright red hair it would have looked great. But with the brown going to gray hair it was not good. Amazing what a change in hair color does.

There was a dress I've had for years that I had to get honest about and ask, "If all of the laundry was clean, and you weren't a crazy person who worries about hurting the feelings of inanimate objects, would you ever reach for this dress?" And the answer was no. I have things that fit me better and look nicer, though the pockets on that dress will be missed.

There was a sweater that I have always loved the IDEA of, but it never looks on me like it looks in my head. Those things are never going to match so I finally let it go as well.

And then there is the purple dress. It fits. It's a nice dress. Good drape to it. Good color. But it always makes me think it looks like it's a dress for an old lady. And YES I KNOW, SHUT UP. I've worn it to the symphony and to a play, both decidedly grown up places, and both times I thought this is an old lady dress. Maybe matronly is better? It's very matronly. Either way, even though it's a nice dress, it's a color I love, it fits me very well, I finally let it go. Maybe some other old lady will find it and love it.

I also put my winter workout gear in a box in the closet. Hopefully next year when it cools off and I'm wondering where my long workout pants are I'll remember!

Overall (aside from the winter workout gear) I got rid of or moved to the different closet around a dozen pieces. The drawers and the closet are both a little neater. There was one t-shirt that went from the closet to the pajama drawer. It probably should just go away, but it's the softest t-shirt I've ever owned. It was part of a promotion. Buy this, we give you a mystery item for $5 sort of thing. Well the jeans I was buying were really expensive so the mystery item helped me justify it, two items of clothing for that price instead of just one. What a bargain! Then the mystery item turned out to be a nice, soft, good material, t-shirt. That happened to be bright pink.

Bright Pink.

I've tried to love it even though it's pink. It's so freaking soft. But I've never worn it out in public. Finally decided to give it a try in the pajama drawer. But I'm not sure even around the house it's going to work for me. Bright. Pink. But it survived another cycle. We will see what next year brings.

So the closet is sorted. I know what pieces I need to buy to fill in areas and what I have plenty of. I escaped it all with my ego intact. Not a bad day's work.

No old lady dresses allowed...