Karen Foley
Lynn Raye Harris
Ellen Hartman
Diana Holquist
Samantha Hunter
Shirley Jump
Dee Tenorio
Jeannie Watt
Closet Mysteries and a Give Away
My closet is full of closet mysteries--things I find that I didn't know I owned. Things I own and can't find. Things that I bought and shouldn't have, but keep. Why? It's a mystery.
Here are some things I keep even though they make no sense—thus following the mystery theme:
A twenty-year-old purple Royal Robbins shirt with the collar falling off. I bought it when my son was 2 and wore it proudly for…twenty years. The material has actually given way below the collar and it has to go. But now I use it when I spray weeds, so I may get a couple more wearings out of it before the collar totally detaches.
A tundra jacket—thirty years old. My brother made it out of a Frostline kit while he was in high school. It’s stuffed with tons of down and I wear it when I feed in the winter. It makes me look like the Michelin tire man, and frankly I have coats that are more flattering and just as warm, but I hang onto the tundra jacket—and the tundra hood for when I want to go for full Michelin effect.
A WWI ace fighter pilot coat—sixty or seventy years old—canvas, to the knee with a shearling collar. Patched in many places, stained with oil. Why do I have this? I don’t know. But I do. How can I get rid of a coat the Red Baron may have worn?
A pair of velvet Wrangler flared jeans from 1970. Can I possibly ever fit into these again? Would I want to? But still they remain, deep in my weird clothes pile.
How about you? Any weird saves or closet mysteries, quite possibly for sentimental reasons? I’ll draw a name and send the winner the velvet flares.—just kidding. I will draw a name, though, and send someone who replies the lavendar mosaic mini-mirror. I’ll draw the name on Friday.
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no mysteries
I've moved so much over the past 11 years that I clean my closet each time. Sometimes I'll look for a sweatshirt and realize I gave it away and then wonder why on earth I did that.
I do have some T-shirts that I know if I wear now will either be too short or too tight. One is red with Lulu's Limbo Lounge and hawaiian flowers on the front. I've never worn it because a girl at work wore hers one day. She doesn't work here anymore, but I still haven't worn the shirt!
I have many things that I
I have many things that I wonder why I keep. For instance, just a few weeks ago I threw away my purple shirt that had white paint on it and I had had that shirt for app. 15 years; it was my favorite but enough is enough.
I had evening party bags/purses in my closet that have never been used because I don't go any place that would require them but they are so pretty and well, I want to hang onto them.
I have a lovely pullover that my mohter-in-law sent me but it doesn't fit. I keep it because I don't want dh to be upset or feel bad so I just let it hang there.
There are lamps in our bedroom closet that we don't have use for anymore but one was a gift from dh when we were dating 21 yrs. ago and some are ceramic ones his first wife and he made and he won't part with them
because she had passed away before we met. I shall quit for now. LOL.
I've only given away a few
I've only given away a few things I regret, but when you regret it, it sure slows down the culling process, lol. It gives credence to the "but what if I need a crushed velvet tube top some time in the future" doubts.
Hidden in the closet
Now which closet would they be hidden in?? I have 5 closets in my house and I live alone so who knows what is in some of those closets???? I do know one had dresses I wore to teach in years ago when teachers were required to wear dresses or skirts and I know I'll never get into them again. And I have purses in a closet that I'll never use again because I really like the one I use now and it's too much trouble to change purses. Then there are the WAY out of date textbooks that I couldn't use even if I was still teaching on a shelf in one closet. And SHOES there is a whole bunch of them that I'll never wear again because I love my reeboks for walking and never wear anything else. And I could really list a whole lot more if I thought about it. Oh yes there is a bridesmaids dress that will never see the light again.
I'd love to go through your
I'd love to go through your closets, Ellen. It sounds like lots of fun.
Embarassed
I'd invite you over if I wouldn't be totally embarassed to let anyone see into those rooms since they rooms need cleaning as well. When my mother passed away my brothers and their wives and me couldn't decide what to do with so many things we had lived with most of our lives that they all got moved into my house and take up a WHOLE lot of space. I pity the person who has to clean out all that when I die.
Pleats
I have a pair of ultra pleated slacks in my closet. I guess I'm saving it in case pleats come back in style. Same goes with my high water jeans. I have a pair of those in a box somewhere. It shouldn't see the light of day, but I have no idea why I haven't trashed it yet.
Too funny, Jane. I still
Too funny, Jane. I still have a bridesmaid dress and a couple of 1980s sundresses. I will have to donate them. Someday.
I have moved twice in the
I have moved twice in the last 11 years and I cleaned my closet each time---so nothing mysterious in my closet.
Estella--you're my hero! I
Estella--you're my hero! I usually move the stuff, lol.
You guys are making me feel
You guys are making me feel so good. I'm not the only one with a lot of stuff for no particular reason.
Estelle--are you indication I have to move to get a clean closet? Somehow I just bet I'd box everything up and promise myself I'd clear everything out when I unpack.
I toss it all...
I'm notorious for throwing everything away much too soon. But my one keeper--my tai kwon do outfit from my teens, complete with yellow belt.
I'll never get past a yellow belt, so I have to hang onto that thing forever.
Hey--writers--how many copies of past books do you keep? I think I keep too many....
Hey Diana
I have too many of some books, not enough of others -- w/ my first 2 books, I only got one box of copies, and so I ran out quickly, and now that I get 2 boxes, I have too many stacked up in the basement, LOL. I've been giving them away to donations and giveaways, but there's only so many back copies you can give out. I figure I should just toss about half of them, but I wonder if, since they are out of print, would I regret that? So for now I keep them.
As for my closet, I am also a thrower outer, and I don't think we really have anything too interesting or hidden in the closet. ;)
Sam
I have a lot of books, but
I have a lot of books, but I'm always afraid of not having a copy of a certain book when I need it, so I will continue to hoard.
Hey--I'd keep that yellow belt outfit, too!
Mysteries
I have an attic full of toys that was my sons, he's almost twenty. I tell myself they were the very First Power Rangers. I have a closet full of close that are to small and I tell myself that I am going to loose all of this weight and may fit back in them again. Keep in mind body really changes shape over the years. Hubby has leather motorcycle pants that doesn't fit any more and he doesn't have a motorcycle anymore either. Two motorcycle helmets that are dry rotted, no motorcycle. He said they could be relined, keep in mind no motorcycle and will not have another one either. Why do we keep these things?
This is a funny post. Thank
This is a funny post. Thank you for sharing (and once again, making me feel like I'm not the Lone Ranger).
clothes
I have been slowly weeding out things that I've held on to that I never should have. I gave away a down coat from the 80s that made me look like the Michelin man in my thinner days. I also had several jackets with huge shoulder pads that made me look like a linebacker.
Hmmm
I'm also notorious for throwing away everything when it's no longer useful. I like to donate clothing to the Gaia project, which recycles clothing and shoes to make new items for disadvantaged in other countries or I like to give kid clothes to friends if they're in good shape. But I do have a box of memories and in that box is my high school graduation cap and gown, an old jersey that had been my mom's when she was in high school, a roll of 120 format film that has my modeling portfolio, my tiaras, and all of my journals, dating back to when I was 16. This box is precious to me and I'll likely never get rid of it.
My dh, on the other hand, keeps everything and it drives me crazy. Case in point, I'm staring at a thigh-high pile of Premiere magazines that he has had since the early '90s. Every day I walk past that pile and want to dump them in the trash. Grrr...
The memory box sounds
The memory box sounds excellent. Can you read the journals? I've tried to read my old stuff and get so cringed-out that I have to stop.
Oh, those shoulder pads. I
Oh, those shoulder pads. I love shoulder pads, but in a more modified form than the eighties.
LOL!
I don't think I have velvet flares, but I'm sure I've got loads of other gems, including a handful of bridesmaid dresses (not all of them fit for rewearing...) that I haven't quite brought myself to donate yet. I'm sure I've got more oddities than that, but I'm a bit afraid to dig too deeply ;)
Fedora--since you and I are
Fedora--since you and I are so similar in our "collecting" tendencies, I can relate. Sometimes it's better to just scratch the surface rather than to dig too deep, lol.
Closets
I have way too much stuff in my closets. I don't even want to think about the stuff in them. The current clothes that I wear are on hooks over the closet doors-enough said. If I were to die tomorrow I pity the persons having to clean out my house. One of these days I keep hoping I will get the cleaning throwing away bug to bite me but until then I live with the junk.
Is that anything like a closet monster?
Just curious.
I totally understand. I still have my prom dress. In my defense, it was made for by my mom for my aunt's prom many years ago. It's been altered, worn as a costume and once as drag. I also found t-shirts with sayings that a 37-year-old shouldn't be wearing.