Too Many Clothes

When I was in New Orleans waiting to move full time to Portland I acquired more clothes, which means that I brought them with me when I drove here from New Orleans. It also means that I had to get rid of more of what I already had in Portland in order to fit them in my closet here. This is painful, but I did it last week. I now have enough room to pack in my clothes like sardines in a can. You see, my rule of thumb is to never throw away clothes unless....and here is the rub..I have no room to fit them in my bedroom closet.

Given I had in my former homes and now have a walk in closet in my bedroom that has much space, it means I have way too many clothes. Yet I feel pain when having to discard them. I do eventually bundle them and deposit them at charity sites like 'Good will", which resells them and uses the money for charitable enterprises. But what to throw away? One person's ideal in clothes is another's terror. Given that I am a sloppy dresser who likes comfort over style, I usually keep the worst clothes..the T shirts and casual pants, and throw out the better ones. When someone stopped working his attire degrades in porportion to the time since he has stopped.

This time, besides getting rid of pants too tight because of my increasing fat, I made over use and non use the standard as of what to give away. That is, if I used then so much they are beginning to look worn they are candidates to be thrown away. Similarly, those clothes never worn or barely worn (if they aren't comfortable, I don't wear them) get tossed too.

It amazes me how many clothes I have that I bought and never wore. What was I thinking when I bought the item? Oddly, this seems to be a male transgression more than a female one. We men tend to wear a smaller range of clothes than do women, because we are not nearly as concerned with fashion style. If we men wear something "too much" it matters not the look, because it's probably comfortable. So this time I threw out many clothes never yet worn. No wonder there are so many new clothes to be bought at thrift stores like 'Goodwill'.

I have too many suits and suit coats, because I rarely wear such clothes now. I did manage to get rid of one suit and one suit jacket, but after looking at all the pretty suits and sport coats I could not bring myself to jettison any more of those. I saw some that I wore in films I worked in. Who knows when the next film will come my way? With luck, maybe the cleaners will ruin a few of them instead of me having to discard them. When going through those suits I found some were so old the store that sold them has been out of business for 20 years or more! Yet, they look brand new and are still of good style. How can I throw out such antiques?

I easily got rid of some button down shirts because I wear more casual non collared knits now. Sadly, I also know that I will never wear the many that I kept. My T shirts....oh, I love them. I only threw out a few well worn ones. I don't know how many T shirts I have but it must be about as many as some female shoe collections...too high to count. My message shirts are also off limits as to discarding. How could I throw out T shirts that say things such as, "Who are these kids and why are they calling me dad", "I'm huge in Japan", "With a shirt like this, who needs pants"? Uh, those are just a few of them, and I DO WEAR them often as a perverse fashion statement.

My sport T shirts, some with logos and all with at least the team name, never get discarded...no telling when I will need my Yankee shirt (I wear it only at Yankee stadium when watching the Yankees play), my LSU, Tulane or UNO (University of New Orleans) sport shirts....or my latest incarnation, my green "Oregon" T shirt. My holiday T shirts are also items I never discard. What would I do without my Mardi Gras or St Patrick's day shirts.... or my orange shirt that says 'This is my Halloween costume' T shirt? I have shirts for every holiday that I wear just one time a year. Wearing them on the right day is a sacred ritual. Those are all identity shirts, and to discard any would be to lose my already shaky identity. For a man to discard team or holiday shirts is psychological castration.

I noticed quite a few of my collared knit shirts were never worn. I got rid of them on the grounds of 'non use' and wasn't sorry They either were too tight or had too much l. I don't wear collar shirts that are uncomfortable. Then there are the "untouchable shirts" that have memories attached to them. Those are kept as reminders of better days of youth and fancy. Can you believe I still have my many sizes now too small navy issue wool Petty Coat? A wool Petty Coat today sells for as much as $1000. How can I part with that! I would only send my memory items those to a museum, if any museum would take them.

I think I have made my point and need not continue my discard report. But if the old adage that says "Clothes make the man" is true...I am a complete mess.