Packrat.

[porphyrin]

This morning, among other things, I dropped off a bunch of clothes, books, and miscellaneous stuff (including three thermometers, although they didn't want the fourth) at Youthlink.

I got out my summer clothes and put them in the closet.  I put away my winter clothes.

I went through every box in the goddamn closet.

There are 2 boxes of Size 12 Nice Clothes, and I mean *nice* clothes, waiting for me to lose weight.

There is an *entire suitcase* of Size 10 niceness. 

I couldn't afford, now, to buy anything half as nice as these clothes.

I haven't been able to fit into the Size 12 for the last 3 years.

I don't know that I ever will.

I'm really torn between selling the damn things (out of my house!  out!  you take up space!) and keeping them In The Event of Cachexia.

My war with my packrat instincts (and my husband's EVERYTHING MUST GO SINCE WE ARE MOVING commandment) and my knowledge of the budget (IF I lose weight, I can never afford to replace these) are going head to head.

Advice? 

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I have personally kept my Nice Clothes through moves literally across the country and back again. And now I have shrunk enough to have gotten rid of a lot of them because they're too *big* for me. So it's possible! I'd keep them, myself.

[chance88088.livejournal.com]

Let them go. In the event you get back to a size 10 or 12, you will probably want new stuff. And the real problem with storing clothes for a long time is that if you aren't careful they will get faded crease marks, moth holes, you name it, and by the time you can wear them (or give up on wearing them) they will be unwearable anyway.

Give them to a battered women's shelter is my suggestion. Nice clothes, especially suits are always hard to come by as donations there.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Are they nice clothes that are styles you would currently wear, both in terms of your life and in terms of the fashions right now?

I kept a bunch of dresses because I wanted to have backup in case I had to go get an office job. I finally looked at them with fresh eyes and decided that they looked way too young and had dated in ways I hadn't noticed when the nerves were taking over.

If they're not only nice but timeless, I'd keep 'em. After all, you're moving! You'll have storage space, right? And if M. gripes about carrying things, I'll carry the suitcase of size 10 clothes if they are genuinely nice and it makes you feel better to have them.

That's the other thing: if you look at them and self-flagellate for being at a different point in your life, it's probably better to let someone else have them, for whom they would be a positive thing. If they look pretty and like a happy goal, then they're your positive thing and the guys will each carry a box, I bet, while I get the suitcase. (Clothing boxes are light.)

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Keep a few (no more than half a dozen) of your Very Favorite Things. Sell the rest. Earmark the proceeds for new clothes.

Spend some of it right away, on some really nice quality pieces that fit you now. Stretch those dollars by getting those nice quality pieces on eBay, or at Filene's, or whatever. I'm a firm believer in the power of feeling like you look great now.

Keep the rest of the money wherever it won't be tempting to spend it on More Important Things -- in a jar at the back of your closet shelf, or whatever works. When you need new clothes because the nice ones you bought in the previous paragraph are too big, celebrate by going shopping with that money.

You know where you want to be; keeping old clothes isn't going to make any real difference in your resolve to get there. This way you'll still have a reward on reserve when you do, but it'll take up much less space. Plus, shopping. :-D

[janne.livejournal.com]

I'd say: Give them a new home where they'll be appreciated now rather than wait and maybe have to ditch them because they're aged beyond use in some years. Getting into 'thin' clothing is a happiness-inducing enough event in its own that it doesn't need to be all that fancy. (Which reminds me: I had this really wonderful outfit I bought in London once which I kept lugging around in determined hope of dieting into it again, even turning down a thin friend who offered me good money for it. And then it met with a little accident, so now I've neither outfit nor money. Ce la vie! I've become somewhat better at getting rid of surplus clothing after that :)

[destrukto.livejournal.com]

I think a mixture of both is in order, like wiliqueen suggests above.

I personally have gotten rid of a few things because they didn't fit or because I was making cross country moves (there have been four thus far) and now grossly regret the loss of a few. If you think that style, colour, or fabric is hard to find/will be hard to find and you truly find it worthwhile, keep it. Because you might not get a chance. Especially if it's pricey, because you won't get as much selling it as it will be worth when you try to buy something to replace it.

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Ohh. *packrats, too*

Maybe like they said, since maybe they don't have packrat tendencies? Keep your favorites, sell the rest...

*really wants to say keep it all*

[palinade.livejournal.com]

I'm with those who suggest keeping your faves and donating the rest. If you haven't needed them in the last year, you probably won't urgently need them in the next. A basic all season gabardine suit is not very expensive and you probably already own a nice shirt/sweater/camisole/tank to go underneath the jacket. That kind of suit is suitable for just about any occassion save for clubbing or girly tea parties (although I'm sure if you dressed it up with a floppy hat, silk scarf and jewelry, you could still use it for that). :-)