I'm not one to hold on to my fat clothes. Before someone throws the PJ pants from the coat post in my face I'm getting those altered, dammit! ;-P As soon as an outfit is baggy on me, it goes in the donation pile. I've got a nice lot of shirts to go to my mom that I actually bought with her mind when I got them because I knew I could hand them down to her so I got some that were more her style that I could dress up. Kind of a two pronged approach when I was going from that size into a new one.
Over the summer I bought this great black shirt from Avenue that was a little more than I wanted to spend but the Mr loved it and I got it along with a few other pieces. I felt settled since weight loss was going slow as hell. I grabbed that shirt out of the closet last weekend and put my red waterfall cardigan over it and I was shocked to see it was getting baggy! Seriously!? I just bought that thing like 3-4 months ago! I know I'm no longer in 22/24's at the big gal stores but some of them run smaller and I thought that was one of them. Those big old PJ pants I'm altering? It feels like yesterday that I couldn't wear them, matter of fact it was the beginning of the year. Now they're so huge on me that they look like clown pants despite my leg measurements not changing much.
It is so expensive to have transition clothes until you get to your goal weight. You have to have clothes that are flattering and I thank God I am getting close to the size where I am teetering on being able to go try on things at Old Navy or similar stores instead of relying on their plus sized depts online and hope they fit. I picked up 2 long sleeved shirts for $10 at ON that would've cost me at least 3x that at Avenue. Granted Old Navy has thin material they use but these made perfect around the house or layering pieces. I can't wait until I can get some good deals and have that mean $10 not $20. Transition is expensive and I can't wait until I'm set in my weight and I can just get new clothes because something is cute not because they're falling off my butt and I need 3-4 new pairs of jeans or all new shirts for hot and cool seasons.
What do you do with your "transition clothes?" Do you donate them? Give them to a family member? Keep them "just in case?"
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I hear ya! I think I've spent more on clothing in the last year than I have in the last 10 years. I'm super cheap, and I was always getting hand me downs from a friend who had "the surgery." She was a total clothes whore, so I always had more clothes than I ever wore. It'll all even out in the end!
ReplyDeleteI've donated all of my big & baggy clothes with the exception of two LARGE bags which are currently taking up residence in my dining room. I'm only holding onto those for my mom - who is currently losing - to see if she wants any of it. I don't have ANYTHING in my closet that is representative of my "former self". I lost 120 lbs and I'm never going back, so I don't see the need to hang onto the 'material' past!
ReplyDeleteIt really depends on what the clothing item is.
ReplyDeletePJs/cheap t-shirts I keep for wearing when I work on my painting or do yard work (or sleeping). Same with a pair or two of jeans.
I do have one pair of my biggest jeans saved as my "before" pants (might just do a "fat pant" before pic with them).
For things I'll wear to work, I try to update as needed, a piece at a time. Kohl's is a great resource (love the "kohl's cash" scheme--if I buy $50 of stuff I get a $10 off coupon for my next trip).
But I never buy stuff that's super expensive, so replacing as I go isn't too much of a financial hardship (and I use new clothes as my rewards).
After the first "down size", I started shopping at a local thrift store for most of my clothes. I was lucky in that they had good stock. For other stuff, I shopped at JCPenney and Kohl's and bought as little as I could get by with. Donateing hundreds of items to Goodwill taught me the value of having less. (Not having a corporate job anymore means I also need less.)
ReplyDeleteI keep a few pieces that are one size up, but only a few. I think I have 2-3 shirts and a couple pairs of pants. Other than that, big clothes get donated.
I have to say I'm sort of looking forward to this problem, although I suspect my wallet doesn't. ;)
ReplyDeleteI donate my clothes as soon as they are too big. I just gave a bunch of nice sweaters to a friend who could use them. It's nice to be able to wear clothes from places like ON. I got some great deals there recently..a nice cardigan, a pair of jeans, a few tees, some socks, a pair of sweats and a sweater all for $90! It's weird because I can wear XL with some of their clothes, but certain things I need a 2x. The size 18 jeans I got there 6 weeks ago are very baggy, which is strange because I haven't lost that much weight since then, but have apparently somehow lost inches...
ReplyDeleteI tend to put them in a pile and then when I get a chance I donate a stack/bag at a time. I do most of my shopping at thrift stores anyway so replacing items isn't terribly expensive for me. I do kind of wish that thrift stores would give some kind of credit though. Like a used book store. If I donate 2 or 5 or however many items, I get to take one free.
ReplyDeleteMost definitely do NOT keep them for just in case...that is danger, Will Robinson, danger!
ReplyDeleteI will admit that I have a pretty hefty pile in the closet that is waiting for donation that I haven't gotten around to yet. But will be very soon. Hopefully by the new year.
But I usually let my Mom & Sister pick through what they might want and then donate the rest to Goodwill.
I tossed all my larger sizes out the last time I lost weight, then I gained it all back plus 30 and had to buy new. For some insane reason I didn't save the clothes on my journey back "up" the scale. (I think I was too depressed and just needed to get rid of the reminder of how bad it was getting.) I need to start tossing again, but I'm nervous because, like you said, it's EXPENSIVE! I just need to get it through my head that my last gain really was medical and now that I'm under a dr's care I shouldn't ever gain like that again.
ReplyDelete