How are you managing your closet?
 

Ok, I know this sounds strange, but how do you manage your clothes in your closet these days? I used to have a great system...basically the last thing worn & washed always went back into the closet at one end. I could easily spot the items I wasn't wearing at the other end and weed them out periodically.

These days, it seems like I have a lot more issues to deal with. I have clothes that are too big, but that I can still wear in public. Then there are the clothes that are too big, but I can still wear at home, but wouldn't dream of wearing out anywhere. :lol: Then there are the clothes that are a tad bit tight that I picked up on sale. And, of course, the clothes that fit. And when you add that these are constantly changing, i.e. the clothes that fit will go into the category of clothes that are too big, the too tight ones will move to the now fits category, etc. (Hopefully soon! :lol: )

I am not buying a lot of clothes right now because I know I'll get smaller. I hate just getting rid of the big clothes that I can still wear at home. I can clean house in them, lounge around, etc. That way I can save my newer, smaller clothes for wearing when I go out.

So how are you managing this? Any suggestions?

I went shopping in my own closet today.

Getting ready to go grocery shopping this morning, I found myself standing in front of my wardrobe, pulling out shirts I haven't worn in a year or more. They all fit now, at least 10 of them I pulled out. Only 2 other one's are way to big now, shame cause they still look new, but I'll donate those. I have 2 pairs of jeans, too big to even wear around the house cause they slide right off my hips. I have bra's too big, undies too big, and 1 belt which now I need to use on the very last hole, so I'll have to go shopping for a new one. I even have a couple of shoes, which was bought WIDE which now flop off when I walk in them.

Can't wait to get a whole new set of clothes.

Lily

:lol: I can't wait til I have this problem :lol: I store too small clothes in the top of my closet, and when they get too big, out they will go. I go camping a lot so the clothes that will still stay on go in my camping stuff. Today I am going to model at Catherines for an hour and they will give me an additional 25% off sale prices including clearance. I should be able to get a few new outfits in 2X to wear for the summer. I can't wait to get rid of my 3X clothes, so as soon as they get baggy, I'm taking them to the battered woman's shelter.

i have my clothes separated by seasons, kinda. short sleeves go on one end, long on the other, and the ones that don't fit go right in the middle. i have tons of clothes that i bought that were too small, and until now i had them in a bag on the floor of the closet. i took them all out and hung them up so i could see them and try them on ocasionally. i have been grabbing more from the middle section, and wearing things i haven't worn in a few years. i just reorganized my drawers. jeans that are still a little tight on the bottom, jeans i can fit now but not b4 on the top, and jeans that are just right in the middle. i can actually wear alot of the jeans that i had from 3 years ago b4 i got pregnant. it's weird to look at the sizes on some of these things. i can finally get back into my size 26 jeans, but am still able to wear the stretch ones that are a 30/32. i love the stretch cuz they last for many sizes up and down. i bought tons of those when i was pregnant, and got so used to the comfort that i kept wearing them.
i also have a bag of clothes i am collecting that are still fairly new and now too big 4 me. when it gets full i will get rid of them all at once.

For a while, I had the floor in one corner of my bedroom piled extremely high with size 26, 28, and 30 clothes. I finally bagged it all (it was about six large garbage bags worth of clothes) and donated it to a charity last fall. I kept a few things both so I can try them on periodically and see how far I have come and because I wear a few of the huge old shirts as bathrobes around the house in the evening. My husband hates it when I wear them (I think he has visions of a wife who wears sexy loungerie and this is about as far from it as you can get), but it's comfy!

However, my closet is still a disaster area, because I can't quite let go of the things that are only a couple of sizes too big (I now wear an 18, 20, or occasionally a 22, depending on the brand and how the clothes are cut). I've got everything that fits me at one side of the closet and the stuff that is too big at the other side, but it's basically a disaster area. I know I need to let go of those clothes at some point, but I think I am going to have to take a day off work to sort through them.

My issue right now is that there is nothing in my closet that is too small on me, other than one pair of jeans that I bought to help me gauge my weight loss. I'm about the weight now that I was after the birth of my first child 18 years ago and I went through all the lower weights (down to my goal weight) while pregnant, so I don't have any clothes hanging around that I can wear (I weighed about 180 when I got pregnant with him).

Actually, I hadn't thought about that before, but it's true -- I'm the smallest I've been in 18 years! Okay, I'm still big, but that is an achievement!

I have gotten rid of all my 26 and up gave them to a friend who has yet to choose Atkins as her WOL. Things that now are getting loose I wear often and put them to the front as I return them to the closet. I have two pair of jeans that I wear during the week. I have slacks but will never get the wear out to them because I do not work any more. Shirts that are heavely worn become work shirts. Yesterday I made a trip to JC Penney outlet and for 69$ bought my summer pants wardrobe. 5 pair shorts 2 crop pants two long pants. Shirts I have plenty bought a few in Texas. I need to have a yard sale, maybe I'll take them to Iowa this spring when my DD there has her sale.

My closet is very sparse. I have 2 pair current size jeans to wear to work. 2 pair last sized jeans for yard work. 2 pair next sized jeans for about 4 - 6 weeks from now (at which point I donate my biggest sized to a gastric bypasser I know, who then wears them for a short time and passes them on to another gastric bypasser.)

For shirts, I have a few baggy T-shirts I can sort of wear (thank goodness for covering everything up with a lab coat at work!). 4 nice T-shirts I can almost wear. I also have a nice selection of good fitting short sleeved sweatshirts I inherited from my Dad's closet after he died. (They fit great, look nice, and remind me of him so I enjoy wearing them.)

That's it except for socks, bras, and undies. Oh. I also have two pairs of shorts. I bagged up everything else (that was too big) and donated it. A few years ago, when I was getting ready to move, I bagged up everything that was too small and donated it.

I'm only buying the bare minimum to stay covered and have something to where when the other stuff is in the laundry. When I get to goal, I'm going to wait a while to let my body settle into it's final shape and then get a couple more pair of jeans, a couple more T-shirts, and a few more of those great short sleeved sweatshirts (which are very hard to find in stores. I have no idea where Dad used to get them.)

I also have half a dozen work issued lab coats. I keep having to trade those in for smaller sizes. Nice to have them be company issued so that I don't have to pay for the size change.

My closet is really ridiculous looking. It is a nice change from having it loaded with stuff I can't wear, though.

Lynda

My closet is a disaster! I have all my old work clothes, which still basically fit but that I never wear anymore! I have a bunch of really really old things that are probably too big, but that I can't get rid of. I have lots that are too small. I have tons that fit but are so out of date it's not even funny! But hey....I did finally get rid of the maternity clothes! LOL! ( My daughter is 4 now...BTW)

I have gotten rid of just about everything as it became too big. My closet is bare now! I did keep a few t-shirts for sleeping, same with an older pair of pj pants.

When I had a lot of clothes, I organized by season and then by what I wore the most - keeping them easily accessible.

All of myclothes are too big now and I really don't want to keep them around because if they are not here, I cannot gain weight or I will be naked. :lol:

I had an idea and made a post about a clothing exchange. I have about 3 bags of 30/32 clothes that I cannot wear now and would be willing to give them to anyone here that could use them, they would just pay the shipping cost COD. This may not work out for people outside of US, since it may cost more to ship it than to buy a whole new wardrobe. Also, if anyone has size 26 or lower they cannot fit into, I would be happy to take them off your hands. :lol:

Like I said in my post, I hope this doesn't offend anyone, some people look down on used clothes but I personally do not have a problem with it. If I have offended anyone by this suggestion, please forgive me.

I would appreciate any feedback.

clothing exchange is a good idea, i mean afterall, for TDC we will be going down so many sizes, and who wants to spend all that money buying new clothes for each size. i plan on raiding my mothers closet. she is smaller than i am, and doing atkins, so her clothes will be no use to her, and i should be fitting them about that time. i'm trying to save the shopping for goal weight so i can do a major shopping spree! (a few new outfits here and there of course)

I have a small pile folded up of clothes I can't fit in yet, a few things that I have outgrown under that for referance perposes and everything else is hung by dress / pants / shirt / jacket catagories if I pull it out and it doesn't fit it goes in the bag at the top of the closet to be resized or otherwise reused later, or in the trash depending on what it is and what condistion its in
lately though I am just safty pining things to make them stay on because I hate spring fashion all pastel and floral :bash: (bring back the rich colored velvets :( I should have stocked up in smaller sizes while I could!)

Hah... :) I just made an almost identical post to this one... I just sold a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit me anymore on Ebay. Huge market for plus sizes. I got enough to buy a stylish new Jacket and pants in my current size for coming Sydney winter for work. Next year when they are too big, I'll sell those on ebay too :)

I also bought a bunch of great shirts on ebay in my new size for $4-$5.

Check out ebay. I LOVE 2 of the new shirts I bought, they were like new and would have paid $80 in the store for them, easy.

I have sold tons of clothes on ebay, but have never bought any. plus size clothes are a big seller on ebay.
last year i went thru and got rid of a bunch of stuff that was too small, thinking i would never ever fit it again. hmph!

This is good timing. Tomorrow I've set aside the day to go through all my clothing and try everything on.

My closet is (was) quite organized - good and longer items (e.g. dresses) on the left; two rows on the right, long sleeve shirts on top, short sleeve shirts on the bottom, pants usually on the bottom as well.

That worked well when everything fit. Now that I'm going through the shrinking (yipee!) it's another matter. I pull something out, forget it's too big, put it back, try again.

The short sleeve shirts aren't too bad. I figure it won't be too noticeable that they're too big, at least for a little while. But some of the long sleeve shirts and sweaters are starting to look odd. Good thing it's starting to warm up outside. I can start packing up some of that stuff for Goodwill because I'll need smaller sizes next winter anyway.

The pants that I bought in 1, 2 & 3 sizes too small [2 months ago - 1 & 2 sizes too small fit now!!] I put on my extra end table so I wouldn't mix them up with pants that fit (or are too big now).

Yikes!!!! I need to know what fits and what doesn't! I bought myself several underwear (from the regular women's sizes!!!) and cleaned out that drawer today.

Overall, it's quite a fun plight to be in!

I got rid of all my big clothes, even if it was just slightly big...cause I don't want them around!!! I just bought 2 new shirts that are now big on me...I will wear them for awhile longer and then they will be gone as well. They only cost $6.97 at Walmart and I like to see myself going down in sizes. Pretty soon I will have to replace all my pants too...

This is my plan...I'm gonna purchase 2 blue jeans, 1 black pair and one beige or whatever...I'm gonna buy them as cheaply as possible-(which is hard at our weights but the mens section is always cheaper than the womens), and then when their time is up, it's up...I'm gonna enjoy buying new clothes.

Also with shirts, I'm gonna stick to Walmart whereas I used to have to pay $30 per shirt at Catherines because I couldn't fit into the cheaper Lane Bryants clothes. So, when I outgrow the Walmart clothes...I'll keep buying the $6 shirts until I am fitting in a smaller size and won't have to shop in the Plus size ever again...

P.S. I had to buy some new bras cause the ones I have were very big...but I couldn't get the new ones around my waist. I decided not to take them back again because in a few weeks I'll be able to fit them. I snapped my bra on the last notch and just a few days it's loose even on the last notch. So, gonna try my bras again and if not I'm gonna wear the ones I have until I can fit into the new ones...

I couldn't do the same with my bottoms. They were so loose on me I had to take my dd's hair bow to tie it up so I could go shop for new ones. I bought undies that were several sizes smaller than I was wearing and they fit...their just slightly tight but they fit...can't wait until I'm out of these too!!! :yay: :yay: :yay:

I have a somewhat different problem, or maybe I'm just making excuses. My mother, now deceased, used to make most of my clothes, or at least alter the ones that I bought. At five feet tall, and apple shaped, it is almost impossible for me to buy clothes that are short enough. So I have all these "who cares how fat you are" jumpers that she made me. Plus jeans, pants, etc. that she shortened.

Some she made years ago when I was thinner, some are way too big now.

I keep thinking that I should throw them out so as not to have these "big clothes" to fall back on. But they have some sentimental value as well as being irreplaceable in terms of fitting me should I ever gain weight again.

I am now wearing some clothes that she made for me when I was much thinner back in the early 1970's. I'm glad I kept them.

What to do? My closet is crammed with things I no longer want to wear.... Perhaps the attic, where I seem to confine things to never being seen or remembered ever again?

Kay