I've been going through the contents of my attic as I do some spring/summer cleanings and as one roommate moves out and two new ones move in. One of the hardest things for me as I go through my closet, attic, and the rest of my house is to get rid of old clothes. Why is it so difficult to part with once loved clothing?
It feels like losing a part of your body or yourself, because so often there are so many memories attached to our clothing.
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When I was in high school, I refused to rewear a formal dress. I went to nearly every dance and got a new one for every event. I borrowed a dress at the last minute from a friend once but would never rewear any of my formal dresses. If I wore a dress to a wedding, then I wore it to that wedding and couldn't reuse it for the next dance or social event.
When I look through the Rubbermaid bins of clothes taking up space in my attic, I see more than just dresses, skirts, and high school memorabilia clothing. I see the years I spent running eight miles a practice in cross country with my best friends, I remember the soccer season we were undefeated, I remember dancing with my best girls and showing up to IHOP after the dance sweaty and in formal dresses. There are so many memories attached to clothing. I remember buying that bathing suit while vacationing with family in Florida or wearing that sundress to poolside barbecues at my family home. I remember life before college and bills and a baby and financial independence made things hard, I remember wearing those clothes when I was 50 lbs lighter, there are so many layers of memories attached to these clothing. Some of the clothes, I bought when I was pregnant and would walk the mall for hours trying to induce labor. Some of those clothes I bought assuming I'd lose the baby weight immediately, which was not the case. There's clothing I remember wearing on a trip outside of state to visit a lover or that I was wearing when I met my current boyfriend. There are dresses that I have worn to events to discover my best friend matching me without planning it. It is these memories that make me so attached to these clothes. This is even harder for women with fluctuating weight or who have huge life events connected to their size change such as having a baby, losing a job or getting diagnosed with an illness.
What can you do?
You may not have the physical or emotional space to store your past wardrobes and the memories associated with them any longer. So what can you do and how can you start?
1. Sort!
You can sort through all the clothes. You can have a donate, sell, keep and throw out pile. You can find a great cause to donate your beloved dresses or business attire to. Women's shelters always need professional clothing for interviews for the women residents and can often use formal clothing for the daughter's of the women resident's school dances and other events. There are a lot of highschools and theatre companies that will take clothing donations for wardrobes for future productions. You can also find animal shelters to donate old tee shirts and towels to to line the animal's cages.
2. Document
You can take pictures of the clothes you had loved so you figuratively have that garment forever, you can write about why that garment was special to you, you can sketch a picture of the garment, you wearing the garment and your memories in the garment. You can also find old pictures of you in the garment and write about the time captured in the photograph and other times you wore the garment and make a sort of "look book" for yourself.
3. Reuse
You can find countless DIY projects for t-shirt quilts, t-shirt tote bags, and reuse t-shirts for towels and rags around the house. You can sew old purses, underwear, shorts and shirts into decorative throwpillows and stuff them with fabric scraps. You can use old bras to decorate the house, or as planters, or if they still fit as swim tops or running bras. You can make belts, cardigans, headwraps, rags and straps out of old scarves.You can also use old dresses as hanging art or curtains. You can display your dancing heels or ballet slippers around the house and makes shoe mobiles or mantle decorations. You can bedazzle your old jeans or shoes for costume wear with fabric paint, glitter and gemstones.
4. Remove
You can simply throw some of the clothes out. I found a box of clothes an ex had bought me and was so overcome with bad memories—I threw them all out. You can set them out near your cans with a free sign if you don't feel like donating them. You can also arrange for Purple Heart and sometimes Salvation Army to pick up the clothes. Call in advance and make sure you're information is right. You can bag them up and drop them in one of those "clothes and food" donation boxes, drop them outside of the thrift store or arrange a donation with local community organizations, shelters or schools.
You are not your clothes. You may have had amazing memories in those clothes or they may represent a time in your past you're nostalgic about or a goal you haven't reached yet. But if you decide to no longer hold on to these garments, you can still celebrate those memories. Make a look book with pictures, drawings and stories of the clothes and your memories you had in them. Donate them to a friend or a cause you care deeply about. You can try to resell some of them to resale and consignment shops or garage sale or ebay them to buy new clothes that fit better or to save up for travel or treat yourself. You will feel so much better whether you repurpose and reuse those old tees or if you just get them out of your house. It is okay to mourn the loss of your clothing and your past and future lives you associate with the clothes.
