I like clothes. I always have. One of my most vivid memories of my child hood is visiting my Aunt up north in the late summer and she would buy me a complete back to school outfit - skirt, top, tights, shoes, and upon occasion a hat.
By the time I was a teenager, I had learned to sew and could make my own clothes. I didn't really enjoy sewing, mind you, I just liked the variety of clothing sewing them myself afforded me. It's no wonder that my first job was the sewing section of a department store.
However, like I said, I really didn't enjoy sewing, especially after I tried to make a living at it at one time. Then I discovered discount stores and second hand clothing stores, and I was able to feed my love of clothing without having to work so hard at it.
I have trouble resisting a bargain when it comes to clothes. Giant Tiger had light, summer t-shirts on sale and I bought one in every colour. Value Village is a mecca of gently used clothing. And then my sister started to volunteer at a second hand clothing outlet and she'd send me clothes she thought I might like - they were free, so if I didn't like them I could just pass them on without feeling guilty.
Which is how I ended up with this as my closet:
The white bathrobe is hanging on the door because there's no room for it in the closet. I have no idea why the black blouse is hanging on the other side, but the skirt is there to remind me that it needs mending, and the purple dress is the one I wore at my daughter's wedding - it's only been hanging there for a couple of years. The pile on the shelf is made up of work out clothes, t-shirts I thought I could use for working out in, and sweaters I didn't have room for in my dresser.
Many of the articles of clothing in the closet are old favourites, some of them are left over from my days working in an office, a few are no longer my size, and some I've never worn. When I'm shopping in the second-hand stores I tend to gravitate towards clothes that look interesting and are in my size. This does not always mean they look good on me. But I'll hang them in my closet in hopes that maybe some day they will look good on me. :-)
Thus began the long, heart-breaking process of going through the closet and weeding out the clothes that I haven't been wearing and will probably never wear.
Here's what my closet looks like now:
The basket on the left side of the shelf holds my sweaters, the one on the right my work out clothes and my Disney t-shirts - I really have to stop buying them - and that small pile between the baskets is mending to be done. I have no idea what's in the box on the far right - I never thought to look. On the floor of the closet is a laundry hamper I never use, and you can just see the corner of the blue bin I keep my shoes in with it's cat hair covered denim cover that Taz likes to sleep on.
While I was at it, I cleaned out my dresser too, and was a little appalled at just how many t-shirts I have. I have a veritable rainbow of colours - long sleeved, short sleeved, three quarter length sleeves, and let's not forget the ten or twelve Disney t-shirts now in the basket in my closet.
And proof of all my work . . . here's a picture of the pile of clothing I have to donate:
The stack actually looks more impressive in person. :-)
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