Offensive Clothing: Taking Back My Closet

Every one of my teacher friends just read "Offensive Clothing" and thought of teenagers in skimpy attire breaking dress code.  Teachers - You can't change us, so you might as well join us.

So, I have been frustrated for a while with my closet being full, but "not having anything to wear."  I have hated the chore of picking out what to wear for the day because most items in my closet make me feel frumpy and/or fat.  (Can I tell you how great it is to feel both frumpy and fat at the same time?  That's when I don't leave the house and begin craving ice cream.)

Now, I was always told that your body after a baby could be different.  And, like all good first time moms, I didn't really process that because I knew that I would be different.  Hmmm... Nope.  Still fighting that baby weight and change in body shape.

Which brings me to my closet.

Yesterday morning, it looked like this:

 Most of this I don't wear because 1 of 4 reasons. The items are consider to be...

1.  Offensive Clothing: It doesn't fit.  Everytime I look at my closet, this little voice in my head tells me that I used to be pretty.  I used to be fit and skinny.  Both of these imply that I am no longer pretty, fit, or skinny and that I never will be again.   Clothing items in this cagtegory fit 4 years ago, but not now.  And it hasn't fit for more than 2 years.  So why do I have it? I don't know.  I'm tired of it taunting me, so I tossed it.  When I lose this baby weight (not if), I'll want newer, trendier stuff anyways.  So goodbye, size 10 work pants.  I will see a new pair soon.
2. Worn-Out Clothing:  Those favorite articles that I've worn until they're thread bare.  My co-workers could point them out to you because I wear them every week until the season changes.  (This is partly due to category #1 and all those clothes that don't fit.  I only have a few items left to pick from.)  These items needed to go way just so I would stop turning to them time and time again.
3. Wonky Clothing:  Okay, so it was always a funny fit.  Why didn't I notice in the dressing room that the skirt's liner sticks out from beneath the hem line?  Who wants a shirt that stops right at the muffin top?  Seriously?  What was I thinking in the first place.  (But those ruffle collars sure where cute.  That's probably why I didn't notice the funky hemline on the shirt.)
4. Out-Dated Clothing:  These are items that might come back into style... in 10 years.  But a good friend taught me that if I wore it the first time, I don't need to wear it the second time.  Out they go!  (That includes you, adorable metalic-gold-pinstriped pale tan slacks.  May you grace another office one day.  Just don't let it be mine.)

I will confess that offensive clothing that mocks my current body shape is the reason I began this endeavor of closet cleaning.  That meant this was very much an emotional-mental game to win back my self-confidence.

To be fair, I had to explain this to my husband.  He likes seeing me dressed nice, so he'll make completely innocent statements like, "Are you sure that dress doesn't fit?  It's one of my favorites on you."  At these words, my weight-battling self wants to cry.  Instead, I usually just scowl as I shove the dress hanger back on the rack and call the item dirty names for not fitting anymore.  This time, however, I didn't want to try to make the husband happy at the sacrifice of my own emotional-mental health.  I needed to do this for me.  So I asked him to refrain from these comments.  Bless his wonderful heart, he did.  Husband of the year, that one.  (Even after the comments about my gray hair two days earlier... *Ahem*)

In in about 30 minutes time, I managed to go through everything on a hanger.  I did keep one or two things that I couldn't handle parting with - the outfit I wore when Tim proposed, the outfit I bought after I spilled my drink on my skirt at said proposal (I was overwhelmed, don't judge me), the skirt I bought in Germany and wore on the trip back home.  That's about it, and I tucked them away so that they don't make me feel bad about who I am today.

Anywho, here's the piles of folded items to be donated.  All of this was in my closet and I haven't worn it in years.  This is a problem in America.

All together the above stacks filled two garabage bags.  They're in my truck to be donated either to Goodwill or my school's clothing closet.  (The second is a great place to donate cute and gently used items.   Keep your local school in mind next time you have things to donate!)

And finally, here's the after pic of my closet.  I feel like I can actually move in here now. 

Plus, now that it's done, I don't mind walking into my closet.  It no longer mocks me because I have taken control of it.  (I also have a lot more hangers free to use -- always a blessing when doing laundry.)   I hope that someone else reads this and is inspired to do the same.  Just go to your closet and kick out those clothes that make you feel bad about yourself.  It's what you would tell your best friend to do, so do it!

~Stephanie