I'm Cleaning Out My Closet

If you remember this post, then you know that I enjoyed shopping in my own attic over the summer.  I didn't have to buy many summer clothes to fit me this year because I had plenty of things from college saved.  I knew I had lots of summer clothes from smaller sized seasons up there because I'd seen bags labeled "Summer Clothes" when I put away KA's baby stuff, but I had never seen any bags labeled with "Winter Clothes" in the attic.

So, I felt a lot of fear in my heart when I saw the temperatures dropping these last few weeks.  I am not kidding... I didn't have one long-sleeved shirt to wear.  Not one single, solitary shirt that fit.  About two weeks ago, I went to Kohl's and spent $200 on clothes - jeans, shirts, two pair of dress pants - just because I had to have something to wear to work.  Saunders wasn't too pleased about it, but I told him that he better just get used to the idea, because I can't wear pants that are six sizes too big for me to work.  People were starting to make fun of me at the end of the winter last year, and this time it would be much worse.  Most of my winter pants from last year are 14 or 16, and the jeans and dress pants I bought last week for my reunion were a 6.  So, that math just isn't going to add up... or look at all professional.

I did need to put away all my summer clothes, though.  So, I thought I'd pack them up and just check to see if there was anything in the attic today.  I dragged my one little bag of summer clothes upstairs...

When I went through this little door, I had very little hope of finding anything I could wear.

When I pulled out the three boxes labeled "Winter Clothes", it was just bad news... all my clothes from the last two winters would not fit.  I packed them all back away (because I know I will need them after I have another baby), and prepared to go downstairs and inform my poor, sad husband that I would indeed be spending $$$ on new clothes...

But wait.  What's that stacked in the far, far corner of the attic?  What is that mound of dirty trash bags, with no labels, that have obviously been up here for years?  Could it be?

Yes - wow!  Count them!  Seven trash bags ... all filled with winter clothes!  Hooray!

There are no pictures of me trying these things on, because I didn't really feel like trying them on after digging them out of the attic and sorting them.  But, I did snap a few illustrative photos of things I found...

I found lots of things with the tags still on, like this sweater from Eddie Bauer which actually may be too big...

Pair of new with tags super-cute red dress pants from Gap... perfect for an office party or UGA game!

Then, there were a lot of old faithful things from winters gone by.  Oh, "Ground Beef" sweater, how Saunders has missed you... he will be so happy to see you on my body - haha!  (Saunders really hates this sweater, which is why he says it looks like raw ground beef.  But, I love it.)

Also, I sadly found that one of those bags was an unlabeled summer clothes bag, full of things I would've enjoyed wearing this summer, like this cute little fuschia skirt... sigh...

 As you can expect, since most of these things have been packed away since 2005, a lot of the clothes are now out of style or just old or plain wierd. (And, how smart of me in 2005 to double-bag... no clothes were ruined inside.  The bags were filthy because they were in the attic when we had the house reroofed two years ago.  I guess that, since they were piled in the dark corner, we didn't see them when we moved everything out before roofing began.)  But, a lot still can't be used.  For instance, there's this unflattering shapeless greenish-blue sweater thing...

 

Why would I do that myself?  But, I remember wearing it to work a lot!  So, needless to say, much of what came out of those seven bags went right back into the Goodwill pile...

 

 However, after I culled out the old, should've-never-been-saved stuff and the trendy-two-years-ago stuff, I wound up with a BIG pile of current, still-nice-looking, my size stuff!  Here's a picture of the final haul, all sorted and ready for washing or dry cleaning and wearing!

So, I won't look like a total homeless clown when I get dressed this winter.  And, Saunders will sleep much easier tonight, knowing that my insane need to save my old clothing and my forays into the deep recesses of our attic today have saved us lots of money! 

And, one little fun addition to this post... whenever I clean out my closet, I like to sing Eminem's song of the same name.  I only know the chorus, but I just sing it over and over, every year.  Kind of a whistle while you work thing, I guess.  Katie Anne picked up part of the tune as I worked, and here's a little video of it: