Ever have one of those days, where you’re sitting in a casual meeting and cross an ankle over one knee? And idly meet-ing and messing with your shoelaces, you look down and realize:
Holy shit. These shoes are toast. Beyond toast. They were old…maybe a year ago? How the fuck old are they, anyway? Counting back…3 years? 4 years?! :eek:
What’s that on the cuff of my pants? Hm, a thread. Two threads…nope…a fray. Shit…two frays. The fuck? Who went at my pants with an ittybitty pair of scissors?
Not looking sharp, are they, the pants…kind of drab colored. I remember when they were sharp. When the hell did I get these pants? Year ago? They already look old.
Wow…look at that. I’ve gone down like 4 holes on my belt. I probably should get a new belt. You can totally see that, and it’s tacky.
Snags in my shirt. Yeah, synthetic fabric golf shirts will do that if you machine-dry them, but I’m busy. Crap. Time for more shirts.
Ugh. I love looking sharp…and I hate realizing that it’s time to spend some dough to keep ahead of the inevitable. And I really hate the fact that I’ve probably looked like crap for awhile, and just realized it.
Well, if you’ve lost some weight, that’s always a good reason to get some new clothes. :D:D
Also, Mr.Tao isn’t the most laundry-savvy person, but discovered the hard way that if he washes pants with shirts, the hardware on the pants will just eat up the shirts, catch on every last thing. So, start washing them separately and see if that helps.
On that note…my most comfortable pair of shoes, EVER, in the WHOLE WORLD, is a pair of 20 dollar Walmart combat boots. They’re at least 3 or 4 years old now, and I have gone literally months without wearing anything else. (That was when I had a job where that kind of shoe is normal.) They are beat to hell and back, of course. Can’t really shine them or fix them up, 'cause, um, they’re 20 dollar Walmart shoes. Just hope my next job doesn’t mind scruffy boots.
About 7 years ago I gained weight, for the first time in my life. Always been somewhat active naturally, so when 30 pounds jumped on me out of nowhere I was in shock. Not enough to get off my ass and DO anything about it, but for many years I wore clothes to cover it.
A few years ago I started working in an office with nearly all women. All pretty fashionable women. As the environment actually WASN’T conducive to wearing heels <on feet most of the day, running around a lot>, I took advantage of the fact that I could wear combat boots and army pants to work and it wouldn’t be out of place. But you can’t work around people who dress sharp without wanting to show off a bit too, sometimes.
Lemme tell ya, on the occasions that I did, I got the most compliments, and among the most common was ‘When did you lose all that weight?!’ I didn’t lose any weight, just started wearing better-fitting clothes.
So yeah, it sure sounds like you need to take a little shopping trip. Enjoy it!
I’d maybe wait until the weather changes, though; would suck to spend all that money on summer stuff that won’t do you much good over the winter.
p.s. Congrats
Wash your stuff inside-out. Seriously. Buttoned up and zippped up and inside-out. Things don’t catch on other things that way, they keep their shape, and stains come out just fine.
Also, check out consignment shops in your area. Much less money. Ask around about what second-hand places are good. It’s unbelievable how good the second hand places are around here. I haven’t bought any “new” clothes in years, and maybe drop about $60-$70 a year on a dozen outfits. It gives me more money to spend on undergarments, shoes, coats and bags. A girl’s dream.
Especially useful if you might be in an in-between size or you’re not sure you’re going to stay where you are.
I don’t think shoes are worn in until they’re almost worn out. Makes for tough decisions on when they’re still acceptable in public. I like a lot of my clothes a lot more when they soften up and get a little extra ventilation. But it doesn’t hurt if I wear the new ones like shoes would.
What SeaDragon Tattoo said! The Goodwill shops in Yuma supply more of my wardrobe than anywhere else; worth the hour drive. Especially 'cause it’s not stuff on the rack; I have no problem with on the rack stuff, except that it’s never what I WANT. Or if it is, it isn’t in my size. I can go to a Goodwill, expecting nothing, and come out with at least a couple things I will wear all the time for cheap, and quite often something so unique and cool that I keep it for a long, long time 'cause it’s just not replaceable.
My boxers that have gotten on in age to the point they resemble fishnet boxers have started dissapearing, like the clothes equivalent of a death squad for political enemies. I suspect my wife.
Are these the places where people bring in clothing, they name the price, and if it sells the store owner gets a cut?
Can anyone tell me how these stores work? I mean, how big of a cut do the store owners get, And can they negotiate price on your behalf, etc.
My wife is a clothes horse, and I have a basement full of perfectly fine clothes that she no longer wears for some reason. Some of the clothes are still in the dry cleaning bags, some have the store tags still on.them. I’ve told her about them, and she says “just throe them away.”
He’ll, if I can get ten cents on the dollar it’s better than throwing them away.
I looked into consignment stores eons ago. If I recall correctly, and I may well be wrong, you and they together agree on what you want for the item, and they add their percentage to it. I believe the store I researched had a policy of marking items down by a certain percent at specified intervals, so the garment you hoped to get $20 for might eventually only net you $8, but it’s not worth anything sitting in the basement, is it? Seriously, what do you have to lose? Load the clothes into the car and get some cash for them. But call first - I know the folks I talked to had specific days and times when they took in new stock.
As for clothes wearing out - I was distressed to notice that my most comfy, favorite jeans were almost worn thru in a couple of places. I bought new ones to wear in public, but I kept the comfy old ones for wearing around the house or working in the yard. About the only thing I’m really merciless about tossing is a sock with a hole in the toe, and I get a lot of those. Apparently my toenails are tough on socks. I learned to buy a dozen of the same color at the same time, so when I toss a bad one, I’ve still got a mate somewhere.
That’s a good tip! I just have to discipline myself to take the time to do it. Yeah, not only the frays and fading, but the shapelesness is bad, too.
Well, I just looked at these..I think maybe I’ll just get some new shoelaces, and put some more polish on them. We’ll see…if I can get them to the cold weather, I have another, newer pair that I prefer in the winter anyway.
I generally can’t do Goodwill Freaky size. Sometimes shirts, but never
pants. Sure with I could, though.
I have culled my clothes collection quite a bit in the 6 months or so. I have been forcing myself to throw away threadbare clothes, which is why I’m down to just a few pairs of pants. I actually had one pair that I recently retired that were suuuper comfy khakis. Howerver, they looked a bit…hm…casual. Kept wearing them, though, because they felt so nice. Then I threw them in the wastebasket in my bedroom. Then a couple days later I took them out and ironed them and wore them again. Finally, I had to grab the scissors and cut out the waistband to remove the temptation!
About time to ditch the summer-weight shirts and get some heavier polos for cooler weather. If I keep my eyes open, I can usually catch them on sale at Kohl’s for $10. And at that price, they really are damn near disposable.
My clothes never wear out, but that’s because I have so much clothing that I rarely rare anything more than once every 1-2 months. I also don’t put any of my clothing in the dryer – I hang or dry flat everything except socks, towels and sheets.
My shoes, OTOH, are a disaster. They seem to go from looking new to looking like crap in only a few months.
I hear ya about the size thing. MrTao has to shop at BigandTall, and won’t look at the Goodwill stuff with me either; this despite the fact that he regularly DONATES to them. You never know who else is gaining or losing weight
If it’s a TALL size thing, yeah. Had a sweetie who was 6’8", and he never, ever ever threw any clothes away no matter how bad off they were because they were just so hard to replace.
Just hope my next job doesn’t mind scruffy boots. 
Freaky size. Sometimes shirts, but never