topic Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . . in Community Chat

Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

LilacTree — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:37:22 GMT

. . . or rather my daughter did. There were clothes in there that I hadn't worn since the late 80s. There are now 10-15 large black bags of clothing, shoes, handbags, etc. in the living room waiting to be taken to the thrift shop across the street. There are many out of fashion items in that pile, but nothing that is tattered or unwearable. I threw away all of the old underwear. My closet has practically nothing left in it, but it's all things I will continue to wear.

I have moved so many times since the late 80s, but I guess I just kept lugging all of these clothes along with me. Not this time. I kept saying to my daughter "I'm so ashamed of myself for having all of these clothes," and she reminded me that these were an accumulation of things I bought over 25-30 years and I felt a little better. I worked full time in a professional environment, and I bought a lot of clothes . . . obviously. I also noticed the sizes ranged from small to large (8 through 12). The 12s were my menopausal years when I had gained 20 lbs.

I am so glad that job is over!! My daughter also got a lot of other things packed up, the paintings off the walls and wrapped in blankets and taped (we will take them over to the new apartment in our cars). She (my youngest) worked for six hours straight. She is amazing!!

Has anyone here held onto their clothes for that long? I doubt it, you all seem so organized.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

Preds — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:45:10 GMT

I've got clothes that are as old if not older than some of yours. I thought I'd lost most of them in the flood, but my mother and stepmother managed to save most of them and now they are right back in the attic and closet. Appreciated their hard work, but I would have never missed them if they hadn't come back. Now I'll have to actually get rid of them. Can you send your daughter over? LOL

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

tansy — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:51:27 GMT

When we downsized five years ago, I was ruthless at tossing out clothes. Unfortunately, I keep buying tops and pants when I see something I like (although I also lost weight and everything was getting baggy).

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

TaxyLady — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:52:37 GMT

This is something I need to do. I can't cram anymore clothes in the closet and maybe they don't date back to the 80's, but most I have not worn for many years. I am terrible. I look at them and say "oh, I may wear this someday" I need to stop that and just pack them up for someone else that will wear them.

I had to clean out my pantry for the plumber to have access to the plumbing. I had about 20 old containers of butter and cream cheese etc. I use them to take a stool sample to the vet. My dog would have to live over 20 years to use them all. ha ha ha ha. Threw out a lot of stuff I haven't touched in a long time.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

terrier3 — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:52:44 GMT

I have a large closet - 7 feet long...another walk in closet with 5 feet of California Closet organizing, and two dressers.

Plus another 7 ft. closet downstairs for out of season stuff.

Yes...everything was filled to the brim!

I have bagged up and donated dozens of trash bags...and sold some stuff at Clothes Mentor too.

I have too much stuff!!!!

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

TaxyLady — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:56:26 GMT

On 3/2/2015 terrier3 said:
I have a large closet - 7 feet long...another walk in closet with 5 feet of California Closet organizing, and two dressers.

Plus another 7 ft. closet downstairs for out of season stuff.

Yes...everything was filled to the brim!

I have bagged up and donated dozens of trash bags...and sold some stuff at Clothes Mentor too.

I have too much stuff!!!!

One time my girlfriend and I were driving to Lancaster to shop at the outlets. I was commenting on how people's lives are so full of stuff. Our houses are filled with stuff. She said "Could we not talk about stuff when we are on our way to buy more stuff?" ha ha ha ha

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

LilacTree — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:57:37 GMT

On 3/2/2015 Preds said:
I've got clothes that are as old if not older than some of yours. I thought I'd lost most of them in the flood, but my mother and stepmother managed to save most of them and now they are right back in the attic and closet. Appreciated their hard work, but I would have never missed them if they hadn't come back. Now I'll have to actually get rid of them. Can you send your daughter over? LOL

We actually laughed about that yesterday, Preds, LOL! I kidded her that she could make a good buck doing this for people. However, she already has a full time job and all of her freelance work, I get her once a week, usually for cleaning and helping me with things I can't do. But for the next three weeks it will be for packing.

MY LBI daughter will be helping my Lyme daughter. She and her ex (still friendly and that's all) also came yesterday and took my dining room set. We will be using my Lyme daughter's DR set for the new apartment. So this apartment definitely looks like one in transition right now and there's no doubt about it!!

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

LilacTree — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:59:06 GMT

On 3/2/2015 TaxyLady said:
On 3/2/2015 terrier3 said:
I have a large closet - 7 feet long...another walk in closet with 5 feet of California Closet organizing, and two dressers.

Plus another 7 ft. closet downstairs for out of season stuff.

Yes...everything was filled to the brim!

I have bagged up and donated dozens of trash bags...and sold some stuff at Clothes Mentor too.

I have too much stuff!!!!

One time my girlfriend and I were driving to Lancaster to shop at the outlets. I was commenting on how people's lives are so full of stuff. Our houses are filled with stuff. She said "Could we not talk about stuff when we are on our way to buy more stuff?" ha ha ha ha

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

LilacTree — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:01:53 GMT

On 3/2/2015 terrier3 said:
I have a large closet - 7 feet long...another walk in closet with 5 feet of California Closet organizing, and two dressers.

Plus another 7 ft. closet downstairs for out of season stuff.

Yes...everything was filled to the brim!

I have bagged up and donated dozens of trash bags...and sold some stuff at Clothes Mentor too.

I have too much stuff!!!!

These (all neatly folded up) will be going to the thrift shop first. Whatever they don't think they can sell will go to Catholic Charities. I have no idea where my clothes will end up!!

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

kdgn — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:12:47 GMT

About a year after I retired I went through my closet with complete savagery and donated bags upon bags of clothing. Walk-in closet plus another one. I need to do it again only this time it will be the purses I never use. The only thing left from my professional days are the shoes. I average wearing pumps maybe once a year but at least I have a selection.

For two years we had the most beautifully dressed teacher on staff. We teased her that we never saw her wear the same outfit twice except possibly the jeans she wore on casual Fridays. Neatly pressed-from-the-dry-cleaner jeans, tailored shirt and jacket. She laughed and said she had moving containers in the garage filled with clothing, all neatly hung in dry cleaner bags. They moved often so each new job was an opportunity to start over with her clothing-plus all the new "stuff" she was always buying. As she said, "Why do you think I work?"

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

LilacTree — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:12:55 GMT

On 3/2/2015 TaxyLady said:
This is something I need to do. I can't cram anymore clothes in the closet and maybe they don't date back to the 80's, but most I have not worn for many years. I am terrible. I look at them and say "oh, I may wear this someday" I need to stop that and just pack them up for someone else that will wear them.

I had to clean out my pantry for the plumber to have access to the plumbing. I had about 20 old containers of butter and cream cheese etc. I use them to take a stool sample to the vet. My dog would have to live over 20 years to use them all. ha ha ha ha. Threw out a lot of stuff I haven't touched in a long time.

My daughter found cans of tomato sauce in my bottom cabinet from 2011. One had already burst (but fortunately just from the bottom rim) and others were swollen. She carefully opened all of them and scooped out the tomato sauce into a plastic bag and rinsed out all of the cans for recycling. She was not about to just throw them in the trash, that's how she is.

My problem is I can no longer bend down to get things from that cabinet. All of my canned goods are piled in one place on my countertop. I'm not sure how we will handle this in the new apartment. Perhaps my daughter will keep all of her stuff in the bottom cabinets and I will use the top ones.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

Frau K — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:13:35 GMT

I think that what we think of as out of fashion is highly popular with young people as vintage style. They don't have a whole lot of money, they love it, so it's a win win.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

terrier3 — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:17:30 GMT

I just emptied out my kitchen cabinets and refrigerator yesterday.

I got rid of everything that had expired...washed down all the shelves and cleaned up all the counters.

I have a small kitchen and backed up cans and boxes on the counters made the whole place look messy.

My son is coming home from sunny LA tomorrow and I wanted to get everything in order before he returned.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

Lion — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:24:16 GMT

LOL I feel better after reading this thread. I guess my ""stuff"" that I need to clean out isn't so bad after all.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

Blahblahvampemer — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:26:53 GMT

Years ago I started asking myself this question: If I were to move to a smaller home, or even out of the country, would I take this with me? Outside of artwork, it has worked quite well. I never realized that the amount of wall space we have is abnormally high.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

LilacTree — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:28:16 GMT

On 3/2/2015 tansy said: When we downsized five years ago, I was ruthless at tossing out clothes. Unfortunately, I keep buying tops and pants when I see something I like (although I also lost weight and everything was getting baggy).

Tansy, I had like 20 jackets and 20 pairs of slacks (who wears slacks anymore?) and about ten winter coats and jackets, not to mention probably 50 tops and about 40 pairs of jeans. I have four pairs of boots which I am keeping (I cannot get rid of my boots), and I probably tossed about 30 pairs of shoes and at least ten handbags. That has been whittled way, way down. I am donating at least 3/4 of everything I had in that closet!! The movers will need only one wardrobe box.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

ROMARY — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:35:04 GMT

Lots of folks out there will be happy with your donations!

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

TaxyLady — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:35:50 GMT

On 3/2/2015 Ford1224 said:
On 3/2/2015 TaxyLady said:
This is something I need to do. I can't cram anymore clothes in the closet and maybe they don't date back to the 80's, but most I have not worn for many years. I am terrible. I look at them and say "oh, I may wear this someday" I need to stop that and just pack them up for someone else that will wear them.

I had to clean out my pantry for the plumber to have access to the plumbing. I had about 20 old containers of butter and cream cheese etc. I use them to take a stool sample to the vet. My dog would have to live over 20 years to use them all. ha ha ha ha. Threw out a lot of stuff I haven't touched in a long time.

My daughter found cans of tomato sauce in my bottom cabinet from 2011. One had already burst (but fortunately just from the bottom rim) and others were swollen. She carefully opened all of them and scooped out the tomato sauce into a plastic bag and rinsed out all of the cans for recycling. She was not about to just throw them in the trash, that's how she is.

My problem is I can no longer bend down to get things from that cabinet. All of my canned goods are piled in one place on my countertop. I'm not sure how we will handle this in the new apartment. Perhaps my daughter will keep all of her stuff in the bottom cabinets and I will use the top ones.

I was lucky when I bought this house that it had two pantries. One I keep old dishes etc and the other canned goods, cereal etc. My problem is I have to get down on my hands and knees to clean out the bottom of the pantry and there is a strong chance I may have to stay there. Once I get down, it is hard to get up.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

TaxyLady — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:36:39 GMT

On 3/2/2015 Ford1224 said:
On 3/2/2015 tansy said: When we downsized five years ago, I was ruthless at tossing out clothes. Unfortunately, I keep buying tops and pants when I see something I like (although I also lost weight and everything was getting baggy).

Tansy, I had like 20 jackets and 20 pairs of slacks (who wears slacks anymore?) and about ten winter coats and jackets, not to mention probably 50 tops and about 40 pairs of jeans. I have four pairs of boots which I am keeping (I cannot get rid of my boots), and I probably tossed about 30 pairs of shoes and at least ten handbags. That has been whittled way, way down. I am donating at least 3/4 of everything I had in that closet!! The movers will need only one wardrobe box.

Good luck with your move. I shutter to think of moving.

Re: Cleaned out my closet yesterday . . .

LilacTree — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:41:13 GMT

On 3/2/2015 ROMARY 1 said:
Lots of folks out there will be happy with your donations!

I hope so!