Good Morning. Managing your wardrobe

I'm at the point where my clothes are wearing out rather than me out growing them, so I know I need to replace the basics. This is an invitation for Jody to reinvent me through retail therapy when she comes back to my part of the country.    

Anyway, give us some tips on managing your transitions through this WLS journey.  Should we keep any of our big clothes or just take them all to Goodwill?  I got the one about shopping at Goodwill or high end consignment shops.  That, I learned here and had a shopping partner. What are some other ways to span our shrinking sizes and little bounce backs?

--gina

I'm still a Goodwill and other thrift store shopper even at 2 yrs out.  I go into sticker shock in real stores.  There is a Dillards outlet here that I can get stuff at 70% off at times and I do look and sometimes buy there.  Maybe because there is a Tanner outlet near here but I can find lots of high end clothes at the thrift stores.  It's kind of like an always egg hunt.  Right now, although I love my cords, I am pretty sick of them.  They have been my go to pants all winter and I am ready for something else.  I have had on most of my jeans and a few pair of dress pants in the past few weeks on warm days and they still fit, amazingly.  I'm ready to get out the spring/summer clothes then we have a 30degree rainy day like yesterday and I give it up.  Maybe this weekend I can start shifting some stuff around.

Oh yeah, I did keep one pair of 24 pants.  Everything else I gave to Thrift stores.  Some heavy short person got some really good deals.

Yes - I'm coming back!  This weekend too... haven't decided if it's Sat or Sun yet....  where do you want to go shopping?  If I come back Saturday - can you go Sunday?

No - I didn't keep any of my big clothes and I had no problem getting rid of them.  

As far as managing the sizes thru the down then up phases...it's hard to do - especially as the body "redistributes" the fat left.  What used to fit good in the waist, now is tight in the hips and loose in the waist... ugh!

 

 

What I kept was stuff that had meaning to us or I could wear doing stuff that was REALLY grungy! Most of that was tshirts...I did keep the shorts I had til they literally fell off me and then just threw them out as the elastic was shot anyway.

I'm still wandering around in my larger pj stuff...I don't care for that stuff to be tight anyway.

Prefer to shop thrift stores but have discovered I am WAY too hard to fit in jeans...and dh is downright impossible. So we are buying the cheap jeans at WalMart for him...and I just keep trying to find some. Once we are settled in our finances, we will start replacing his cheap jeans with really good pairs from the outlet stores...Levi's are his favorite.

But a vast majority of the stuff at first was given to a friend if she wanted it...the rest to goodwill.

I need a shopper to take me out and refit me. Pout.

Thrift shops don't work that well for me because I am short. So hardly any pants. Hardly any smaller sizes either. But I do buy things there such as fancy dresses -- stuff you don't wear very much so why spend the $$$

I tend to have 5 pieces I wear all the time until they wear out and then I replace them. I'm kind of bad that way. I tend to only wear 1 or 2 pairs of shoes and only 1 purse too.

I will tell you something I am adamant about: good underwear. If your bras fit and are high quality and your panties fit, ALL your clothes look better! Heck, you can "lose" 5 pounds just by buying new bras!

I haven't bought anything in a regular store in years, unless it was on clearance or a really great price.  I have a problem spending more then $10 for anything, except maybe a good pair of shoes.

This is the third warm season that I have been thin.  A world record for me, for sure.  And I have noticed things wearing out, something that never happened before.  The funny thing is that I am really  not that big into clothes.  I have never been what you would call a clothes horse or into fashion or trends.  I live in jeans and t shirts and I love soft clothes, mainly cotton.  Yet I cannot fit another thing into my closet.  I only work 3 days a week and on two of those I can wear jeans but I can't help looking for work type clothes.  I feel like a different person when I am dressed like a grown up, lol.

Ever since I turned 55 and qualified for the senior discount at Value Village I go every Wednesday and buy at least 2 or 3 things to wear, mostly for work.  I also have a thing for button down jeans and I have about 20 pairs now.  I try to buy dresses and nice slacks and blouses for work.  I swear they probably have never seen me in the same outfit twice.  And I love cute sweaters.  I have about 10 of those in all colors.  They work good for layering.  When it's cold I wear a sweater along with my coat and then when I get inside the office I just wear the sweater because it is still a little chilly in there.

Last Wednesday I went there and there was a cute 100% silk dress there from Talbots.  It fit perfectly and it was only $7.  I don't know about washing silk and I'm sure not going to pay to dry clean it so I guess I will hand wa****  The worse part of wearing dresses for me is my legs.  I can't wear anything above my knees because my thighs are really jacked.  Not just excess skin but for some reason the skin looks twisted, like a pair of panty hose that you put on wrong.  In the cold weather I can wear leggings but in the warm weather I don't even want to wear stockings so I guess I won't be wearing too many dresses unless they are longer.

I just went shopping at lunch today.  I love to shop now.  I got 2 pair of capris, 2 tops and a pair of sandals.  I already have a closet full of clothes and probably need to start getting rid of some of them.  I figured I needed some new clothes to wear next week to my meeting and dress is casual.  I hope the weather stays warm like it is suppose to.

I still have a hard time finding a brand of jeans that fit me good.  I like the consignment stores, but there is not one close to me.  Our Goodwill closed down so that is out too. 

I kept one pair of my largest blue jeans just so I have a reminder of how big I really was.

Linda

 

I have been taking the clothes I shrink out of to the thrift store near where I work. I also shop there. I try this store first because the prices are reasonable and it goes to help feed the hungry in our community.

I did buy some new stuff at Ross & a few outlet stores now that I am close to goal. I bought a dress for a friend's upcoming wedding, I liked how it looked so much, I wore it to church Easter Sunday. I haven't worn a pretty dress to church in years. I went back to Ross a couple of days ago after work. I bought a shirt in a size small, couldn't believe it. It took everything in me to not squeal with delight. I will post a photo on my profile this weekend.

I do try to not spend a lot of money on clothes. I've been using thrift stores for so long now that it is hard to spend a lot on clothes. I'd rather spend it on fun stuff.

I kept the pants and shirt I wore to the hospital the day of my WLS for a reminder and the rest I donated to Dress for Success.  They help woman who need interview clothing.

I tried Goodwill early out but I could only find 1 sweater that was too small for me at the time but was marked $2.00 and I still wear it. 

I have worn the same dress pants for 3 years (year round)  and because I get them dry-cleaned they still look like new. I have 2 pairs of each in 4 colors and I switch off every couple of weeks as needed.  They are such a nice fabric that they never even need ironed.  

I'm the hardest on summer clothes and I can carry some of them over but since you can't cover up with a coat or sweater I usually buy new shirts every year. 

What a great post! I have enjoyed reading all of your replies and since I love to shop even in my current large size, I have some ideas for the future when my body changes. June 4th get here soon!