The Great Closet Purge of 2014

When I saw my doctor a few days ago, I told him that I was getting rid of all of my fat clothes so they wouldn't be there as a crutch to fall back on should I start to regain weight. I was dead serious about this. In fact, I had performed a smaller closet purge in November before heading north for the holidays. While in the process of trying to find fall and winter clothes that would fit me to pack for my trip, I had come across some jeans and tops that really were way too big, so into the trash bag to take to the Goodwill drop they went. While I was at at it, I purged a lot of shorts, capris and summer tops that had gotten too big, plus some random shoes that I really never wore for various reasons. It was about three trash bags full.

So here is my big confession. I am a clothes hoarder. I keep clothes that I have outgrown in hopes that someday they will fit me again. I keep clothes that have a sentimental value attached - tee shirts from vacations and karate tournaments and such. And I had WAY too many clothes. In part, because I had such a wide variety of sizes as my body expanded over the years, but also in large part because growing up poor and wearing clothes that were nearly all hand made or hand-me-down instead of store bought, once I had the means to purchase nicer clothing, I did so. Sometimes with a vengeance. Don't get me wrong - I was never one to purchase designer clothes or anything egregious like that. I am way too practical to spend enough money for a family vacation on a single item of clothing. But I did like to have lots of clothing options because a.) I'm inherently lazy and this meant that I could go longer between laundry days and b.) I didn't have lots of clothing options growing up and having lots of clothes was FUN. Don't judge me. I also had a LOT of clothes from Coldwater Creek. Because I worked in a job where professional attire was expected, as I got heavier and discovered how difficult it was to find attractive, professional clothing in my size, I found to my great delight that Coldwater Creek made nearly all of their regular sized clothing in the exact same styles and colors in plus size. Hallelujah! And the other thing that I simply ADORED about Coldwater Creek clothing was this wondrous miracle fabric called Travel Knit. It became my new BFF. Travel Knit clothing has a lovely drape that does not cling to ones unsightly bumps and bulges and everything has an elastic waist. The the skirts and pants are as comfortable as pajamas and the elastic waist never pinched my ever expanding midsection. The clothes were comfortable, flattering, professional and did I mention, this Travel Knit stuff DOES NOT WRINKLE. EVER. You can wad it up in a ball at the bottom of your hamper and then yank it back out days later in an emergency, shake it out and put it on and no one is the wiser. They don't call it Travel Knit for nothing. This stuff packs like a champ, And when I started working as a consultant and had to travel to client sites, my Coldwater Creek Travel Knit wardrobe was a godsend. Needless to say, I had a LOT of this stuff.

Fast forward three and half years and my client engagement has had me working from home 100% of the time for over three years, so my work wardrobe consists of PJs, shorts and tee shirts or tanks tops. I have far fewer occasions that require me to wear nicer clothing, but I kept that closet full of Coldwater Creek clothes because I know that all good things come to an end and eventually I will move on to another client and will most likely have to travel again and wear professional clothing like a grown up again. Wah.

Now, remember what I told my doctor? Well, when I got home and unpacked my winter clothes from my trip up north, I already had some clothes I had gotten too small for during my stint in Missouri, so they went straight into a trash bag for the Goodwill instead of into my closet and then the trash bag sat on my bedroom floor for a couple of days, waiting to be filled up. After my doctors appointment I made a desultory sweep through my closet and topped off that trash bag and tied it up. I finally got around to dropping it off yesterday. Which made me think that it was time for me to really and truly make good on that promise I made to my doctor, so after running a few more errands, I came home and started my closet purge in earnest. I spent the afternoon trying on clothes that I had been holding on to in hope that someday they would fit again. To my great delight and astonishment, not only did they not fit, they were WAY TOO BIG. I mean REALLY WAY TOO BIG! Somewhere along the line I missed that window of "Oh YAY - these jeans finally fit me again." and went straight to "OMG these jeans are HUGE on me!" This was truly a WOW moment for me. I had to adjourn at 5:00 because I a girls night planned with a friend, but I was eager to reconvene my closet intervention this morning. So after some coffee I eagerly attacked both of my closets. I have my walk-in in the master bedroom, but I also had some winter clothes, and too-small clothes stored in the closet in the other bedroom. Jeans, blouses, skirts, coats, dresses - I couldn't believe the massive amount of clothes that I had hoarded that no longer fit me. Happily, there were also a few smaller sized, really pretty skirts that I had hung onto for years that actually DO fit me now and I moved them into the master bedroom closet. In the process of filling up the trash bags of clothes to donate, I decided that I had liberated enough hangers to finally get rid of all if my wire hangers as I heard the ghost of Joan Crawford screaming in my head. I put most of the newly emptied hangers in the other bedroom closet and then had a little OCD fun arranging them by color. Don't ask. Because I really don't know why.

And on a fun little side note, when I went to my girlfriends house last night for munchies, margaritas and movie night, she mentioned how much I was starting to really resemble my Throwback Thursday pictures. She never knew the old, thinner me because we only met 6 years ago. When she said that it made my whole year. Seriously. Thanks Kim. I heart you.