moonwise: (kittycat)
[personal profile] moonwise
Because I had many better things to do yesterday, I cleaned out my closet. (Hey, it was more fun than thinking up an introduction to my chapter.)

In the process of removing clothes I didn't want, a pattern in the clothes in the closet became apparent. I think we've all got a closet like this, at least the pack rat segment does.



1. Clothes you actually wear every day.

No explanation required. They rotate on and off the hangers and there's no question that they should remain in the closet.

2. Special occasion clothes.

They take up way too much room, but you can't get rid of them because of those three days out of the year when you actually have to get dressed up. For men this is not as much of a problem, because often dress-up is the same as go-to-work, but for women it can be a real space cruncher. This is often the origin of the Too Many Shoes problem also.

3. Clothes you don't quite fit any more/only fit into at certain times of the month.

Come on. We've all had that one pair of jeans (in my case, actually, it's jeans and a long velvet skirt) that we just KNOW will be great once we take off that five pounds. So, they stay on hangers and take up room even though they've been collecting dust for a year.

4. Clothes with sentimental value.

Cosplay getups. SCA garb. Those nylon pants I bought because I thought [livejournal.com profile] fireceremony's were cool (which incidentally now fall into the "clothes you don't fit any more" category) Scads of T-shirts, including my American Cyanamid ugly-ass blue shirt with a tractor on it. (it's very closely related to T-shirts with big strands of DNA on them.) You just CAN'T get rid of them.

5. Clothes someone else gave you so you feel bad about getting rid of them.

My mother-in-law gave me snowman pajamas about two years ago. They still have tags on them. Not that I don't like them - they're very cute - but full-body pj's with long sleeves are not my style, esp. since we have a feather comforter. My preferred sleep clothes are ratty T-shirts and boxers or a cami and long pants. So this pj set has been taking up more than its share of drawer space for years, since I don't wear them and I can't get rid of them.

6. Clothes you don't actually like but your mother insisted you get. (Arafel only)

My mom has this thing that if she likes it, I ought to get it. Case and point was a coral-colored twinset we saw at Ann Taylor. I hated it - coral is a terrible color on me - but my mom thought it was great and hassled me all afternoon. She wanted to buy it for me, and in the past I would have given in and said yes (I've gotten a lot better about this.) But, previous to this, there was always a shirt or a pair of pants that my mom insisted I get that I just hated.

These six types of clothes are terribly detrimental to the sentimental pack rat, and one of these days I will learn the value of just throwing things out. Until then, the drawers will continue to bulge at the bottoms. *sigh*

Date: 2003-03-04 07:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com
And then there's me, who has a Completely Disorganized Clump of Clothing.

I'm so bored and lonely here in the lab. You should come keep me company.

Date: 2003-03-04 08:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ssilverfish.livejournal.com
You just described my closet! Well done. Now, I'll post a picture of my DNA shirt if you post a picture of your tractor shirt. :D

My future mother-in-law gave me an addition to category number 5 on Sunday. It's a light blue sweatshirt with red, white, and dark blue hearts sewn onto the chest, with light green vines running over the tops of them. (?) Oh, Valentine's Day. So, now it will live next to the extremely busy Christmas tree sweatshirt she gave me at Christmas four years ago, the lavendar turtleneck from three Christmases ago, and the peach-ish colored fleece she gave me two Christmases ago. Last Christmas, I chose a fleece for myself on our big outlet mall shopping trip together. I wear it quite often, actually. (When I picked it out, she asked about the other fleece... "Did it fit you?" I dodged the question as artfully as I dodged her question this past Sunday about whether I was interested in borrowing her copy of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Gag!)

Date: 2003-03-05 10:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] arafel.livejournal.com
Oh ugh, I know exactly the kind of sweatshirt you're talking about. The kind worn by older ladies in the checkout line in the supermarket, right? You don't strike me as a lavender or peach-kinda girl, either. Happily, my husband has interceded for me and now my inlaws don't buy me clothes, but my mother-in-law kept buying me things that were white even though I never wear white.

Hee, I'll go take a piccy of my tractor T-shirt. It is SO ugly.

Date: 2003-03-05 05:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ssilverfish.livejournal.com
Yes, those are *exactly* the kinds of sweatshirts she buys me. They're so ugly... but how can I possibly say that? I'm hoping that my not wearing them will be hint enough, because I've let it go too long...I dread the "why didn't you TELL me?" more than I dread the next ugly piece of clothing. So, I will continue to collect them.

Hee... I definitely don't wear lavendar or peach either. Try dark blue, dark green, or maybe a dark red!

Ok, I'm going to photograph my dorky science shirt now. I will post it in my lj shortly. :)

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