Does anybody else have clothes in their closet that...

I was going through my closets this weekend picking out the “doesn’t fit/never wear it” stuff that’s in good condition to donate for the clothing drives for the tornado victims. I haven’t been through these closets in a while and came across a couple of pairs of mens pants that are 34 waist/34 leg, a size 6 dress and some other stuff, and I’m wondering, “Who the hell did this belong to?”

Men in my family have had 34 calves but not waists- nobody comes close after the age of 9. Ditto with women’s sizes- I think my sister is about a 10 (hard to tell with women’s sizes) and she’s the thinnest- really the only- woman in the family other than my mother who was never smaller than a 14. I seriously doubt my mother (who lived in the house before I did and whose clothes I boxed up and donated years ago) ever had spend-the-night company of either gender and if she did she was a chubby chaser (considered Raymond Burr and James Earl Jones the sexiest men in film- later liked Vincent D’onofrio but said “He needs to put on weight”) so it wouldn’t be that size. My own sleepover romantic life in the past few years was best summed up by a song from Dreamgirls so it didn’t come from there. It’s been many years since we had to use a laundromat so I can’t imagine that’s where they came from.

So to complete the title question:

Does anybody else have clothes in their closet that they don’t have a sodding clue whose they are or how they got there? And if so- or if not- any theory about how such clothes materialize into your closet?

Not in my current apartment, no.

OK, there’s one sock that I’m sure is not mine.

In my last apartment there were all sorts of crazy things. There was a pair of long johns that I never wore. I’m sure they were left behind by a previous roommate.

Who has access to your room or closet, any sisters/cousins/kids/friends/visitors? When my daughter was young and had friends over, or sleepovers, I would find a surprisingly large number of strange clothes and shoes in her closet, or more likely under her bed, left behind by … I dunno who. But I don’t know about adults, who would stick items they don’t want into your closet??

I live alone, except for a couple of dogs. I’ve thought of getting one of them a Thundershirt but that’s about it by way of clothing.

It is possible that my biweekly Mexican housekeeper asked me “Is it alright if my cousins Manuel and Jorge sleep here while you are at work?” and that I misunderstood and said “Of course!” and bought some Pinesol.

I have kids…

The means that I have a house full of “who came over and left their PANTS behind?! How do you DO that?”

They switch clothes with each other. Your kids are missing clothing.

Are they dry-clean type stuff? I’ve twice brought home a jacket or skirt in the center of a row of dry-cleaning hangars.

Now that is a possibility. They’re exceptionally neatly folded and very clean.

Oh, dear God yes! When my daughter’s friends are over, the girls pretty much immediately swap clothes with one another. Or when my daughter goes to a friend’s house, she comes home wearing an entirely different suit of clothing than she left in. I’ve finally come to accept that little girls are insane…

And the dry cleaning mixup sounds like the best explanation for the OP’s situation… For me, random clothes showing up means that there have been a gaggle of girls around my daughter, or my mother* has dropped off another random collection of stuff that she’s sure I need.

*Honestly, she shops recreationally, and can’t resist bargains. I haven’t bought clothes for myself, except underwear and bras, in years, and the kids benefit too. I wouldn’t complain, but some of the offerings are truly weird… In recent weeks, I have awakened or come home to: a recently-refrigerated casserole sitting on my kitchen table once; a bag of baby clothes; a stack of picture frames; a box full of half-used rolls of foil/containers of paper plates/bottles of detergent/and similar - Mom was cleaning out closets and shelves; and about half-a-freezer full of pork roasts, hot dogs, chicken, frozen veggies, and frozen blueberries. My husband has finally figured out the “random stuff at the house” means that his mother-in-law struck again. He walked in the other day and announced “Your mom was here while you were asleep. There’s a box of sheets, a black table, a wool coat, and an alternator on the carport.”

OMG that last one caught me off guard. LMAO!

I’d like to say “Me, too,” but I’ve known my mom a long time…

No but I’ve come across clothes (and shoes) that I don’t remember buying. I have a friend with a similar problem and bought a blouse, took it home and realized that she already owned it.

Yes, I have a problem…

Well, I found a copper colored dress shirt and matching tie in my van (usually only home to assorted soccer cleats/shorts/nasty socks) that not one male in the family or assorted SO’s remembers owning. I have no idea where it came from. Not even my daughter’s boyfriend – it is a medium shirt and he’s 6’7" and about 350 pounds.