My thrift store jacket find

Here's the $7.00 jacket I scored at the thrift shop, back from the cleaners and ready for action - if it will ever cool down. 92 degrees today - can it be fall, please?

Thrift shop score!

No picture because it's at the cleaners, but I stumbled across a wool tweed blazer at the local Goodwill for the scintillating price of $7.00 today! It's a brand name, it fits like it was made for me, and it's gray, which is a very "in" color this fall. In fact, it hardly looks like it was ever worn. I don't think the pocket stay stitching was even snipped open. Why can't I be lucky like this more often?

The new fall wardrobe is assembled and barring some minor hemming jobs, I'm ready for cooler weather. I even bought matching hangers so the closet looks nice. Snazzy!

Clothes Hoarding

Clothes hoarding is what I call that stash of not-quite-big-enough clothing we keep in the back of the closet for when we lose that last X pounds. You know what I mean. We all probably have them.

I had some - I'll admit it. Over ten years ago I went on a lose-weight-or-die mission and dropped a bunch of weight. Little Me (or Littler Me) appeared for the first time in years in the late 1990's. I shopped and purchased a new wardrobe. I also kept some of the clothes I wore during the weight countdown that were a size or two larger than the final size I ended up after the diet. But like all dreams, it didn't last. My Waterloo was a medical issue that ended up requiring that I take prednisone daily for over half a year. If you're not familiar with the side effects of oral steroid dosage, one of them is unfortunately weight gain. Oh boy, was there ever weight gain. I went up one size in less than a month. And unfortunately, it didn't stop there.

I repurchased a wardrobe and hung the smaller clothes in the guest room closet. Finally after several years, I gave up and sorted and packed donation bags for Goodwill. Some of the things that were on the larger side of the spectrum were saved, mostly because I was unwilling to let go, but hey, you never know. They were hung back in the closet and the rest went to charity.

Flash forward to this spring and my diagnoses of diabetes, which caused my current weight loss. I have been "shopping" my guest room closet and pulling out stuff that now fits. Yay for me. But I unfortunately found that some of the things that I lovingly saved are going into the donation bag. Why? Because my tastes and my "fashion eye" have changed in ten years. Things that looked good then, even though they fit now, just aren't right. I have two words for you. Pleated pants. Get the picture?

I did another try-on session this morning and pulled out a couple more pairs of khakis that fit, and some short sleeved sweaters. But there are three pairs of dressy pants that didn't make the cut. And there's a couple of knit tops that evoked the "Ah---no" reaction too. I'm still on the fence about two dresses. I think it's the shoulder pads. If they are replaced with smaller less 90's versions and the dresses are hemmed, I think these can be salvaged.

The moral of this story? Even if you get back into your "someday" clothes, will you wear them? Take a long unbiased look at what you have in the back of the closet. If they are being saved for inspiration, great. If they are for vindication and affirmation (hey, I wore this in high school), fine. But I fear that these items won't go back into regular rotation, even if they fit. After a certain "sell-by" date, clothing, like dairy products, expires.

Just sayin'.