Just bagged up all my "bigger" clothes!!! Now what to do?

VCopple

Have a clothing swap. Get together as many people as you can and have everyone bring clothes they want to get rid of. Organize the clothes by category (jeans, short sleeve shirts, shoes, etc.) and then "shop". Invite people of all sizes and ages so that there is a large variety of clothing to choose from. Anything that is left over after the shopping goes to charity. I find that spring and fall are the best times to do them because people are cleaning out their closets anyway.

Travelbug1955

I gave all of my bigger clothes away to Goodwill. I have given 2 different loads of clothes away. I am not going to grow back into those larger clothes. You can claim your donation on taxes.

airangel59

I hear ya OP, I've yo yo'ed so often in the past I truly hated to part with the bags of 3x down to 1x tops, 24 pants down to 16, cuz um, well, I might need em again.

NO...I cannot think that way, NOooooooooooo. :noway:

I donated so far to Big Bros/Big Sisters here since I got a card in the mail about them picking up. I have 4 more bags of "recent' stuff I've outgrown SINCE being on MFP that I need to re home.

I kept some of my tee shirts as I sleep in them and kept ONE pair of "fat" jeans so can see what I was so I NEVER GO BACK TO THAT SIZE again.

My advice, get rid of them, donate to a shelter, Goodwill, if you have a Buffalo Exchange or Twice As Nice that might buy them back/credit you, someone on the forums posted a trade type site (cannot recall it unfortunately right now) or sell them on eBay.
Don't keep them. You don't need anything to make gaining weight back again easy.:noway:

Congrats on your loss. May you NEVER recover the pounds.:bigsmile:

andromedasuite

Congratulations!

As someone who has lost weight and regained it many times, I understand the desire to hold on to old clothes. I would talk to someone who is knowledgeable, nonjudgmental, and trustworthy about your feelings (such as your therapist). I can empathize because a new wardrobe costs hundreds or thousands of dollars.

One thing I can advise you NOT to do is do not give the clothes to friends -- or especially family members. Although you would be doing it out of the goodness of your heart to help them, and even though they may appear grateful at the time, you never know what resentments are going to take hold and fester. I did NOT tell her that I was getting rid of the clothes because I had lost weight. I told her that I was taking some things to goodwill and asked if she wanted to look through it and take anything. She came over, looked through everything (clean and folded nicely), and took home a bunch of clothes.

I thought I was helping out my sister by letting her go through my old wardrobe before giving what she didn't want to Goodwill. WRONG. She was bitterly resentful, and unbeknownst to me, she carefully saved the clothing and waited for me to regain the weight so that she could spitefully give the clothing back to me. I had NO idea that she was carrying that resentment, and it was an ugly shock to get the clothing back with a ****-eating spiteful grin from her. It really made me feel horrible, especially because I thought I was helping her and that she genuinely wanted the clothing. Your generosity could be misconstrued as rubbing your success in their face. People get weird when we start to better ourselves, or if they feel that we are raising our standards and leaving them behind, especially family members. In hindsight, I wish I had never given her the clothing.

Although you may be doing it for loving and altruistic reasons, not everyone is going to feel the same way. Talk to your therapist, and when you are ready to let go, give the clothing to Goodwill.

spudnut81

Pick you favorite t-shirts and have them made into a quilt(I'm having it done and calling it my fat quilt). Donate or garage sale the rest.

seltzermint555

Have a clothing swap. Get together as many people as you can and have everyone bring clothes they want to get rid of. Organize the clothes by category (jeans, short sleeve shirts, shoes, etc.) and then "shop". Invite people of all sizes and ages so that there is a large variety of clothing to choose from. Anything that is left over after the shopping goes to charity. I find that spring and fall are the best times to do them because people are cleaning out their closets anyway.

That's such an amazing idea. I wish somehow all of my MFP friends and I could do this, lol. Locally, I have mostly friends who have wildly different styles than me and friends who don't shop much or accessorize etc. I could see a "swap" with the ladies in my life ending with everyone taking home MY stuff really happy and me with empty hands. But actually that might be okay too, if I was gonna donate the stuff anyway :-)

ehensarling17

I just donated a box of clothes to Goodwill! I refuse to keep clothes around "just in case"!

katznkt

I put things in one of two piles:donate pile or trash pile. Donate pile I let friends and family pick through then I donate to a local charity. The trash pile gets trashed.

I have the outfit from my before picture that I kept. My favorite clothes I would take in a bit too wear just a little longer before putting in one of the piles.

If I keep it I have a safety net to fail. I want every incentive to succeed. Plus it just feels awesome to see my closet dwindle.

mollywhippet

I saved one pair just so I could do this:

[img]http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd389/sshirleyks/Mobile Uploads/image.jpg[/img]

aprilflower18232

Thank you everyone! I decided to get rid of them....a friend of mine actually asked me for them....feels good to have them gone! My closet is sooooo empty now!

mimiteh35

I got rid of all of mine except 2 pieces, 1 top and 1 bottom, so that I could have comparison pics from my first day on my journey. The top is a sweater I wore in a pic that made me realize how bad I had truly gotten, the other is my jeans. Aside from that, I got rid of EVERYTHING as I outgrew it. I literally have a box in my closet that is for when I try something on and its too big! The sad part was when I bought one new thing and it was too small, but when I had an event to wear it to, it was then too big lol, so I never got rid of it.

I put mine up online on a local FB page for my county that has a buy-sell-trade type of thing, what didn't sell went to Goodwill. The money I made off what did sell went into a jar towards some new clothes.

Congrats to you!!

**ETA that I just saw that you decided to give them to a friend, lol, oops! Yay to room for new stuff as you go!

FindingAmy77

I have hung on to one pair.. and gave everything else to goodwill. There is no need to hang onto the rest. You have done great losing it, now let someone else get the benefit of them. :flowerforyou: :drinker:

amy8400

How timely your post is for me. I had bagged up quite a few things that were just too big for me and last week I finally drove them over to the Goodwill donation center. It felt so good handing over my size 14s and XL tops. No way am I going back to those sizes. It's a chapter in my life that I've closed the door on and I'm not saving anything "just in case."

Congratulations on all the extra space in your closet!

Sinisterly

Donate the good ones, burn the bad ones and undies.

jenilla1

Donate and don't look back!

sofitheteacup

For me, getting rid of clothes that were too big for me was hard not because I worried about needing them again (I did, but that wasn't what had me stressed) but because the good stylish items that used to fit me well had been so goddamn hard to find in the first place- it was hard to let go of the clothes that I felt good in, because shopping (even now at a size that is "easier to find") is still hard and difficult and not something I enjoy at all.

MrsCZM138

I went through my closet tonight and pitched it all! Ok, I donated it. But seriously, don't give yourself a way to get back there. Get it out of the house.

VCopple

Have a clothing swap. Get together as many people as you can and have everyone bring clothes they want to get rid of. Organize the clothes by category (jeans, short sleeve shirts, shoes, etc.) and then "shop". Invite people of all sizes and ages so that there is a large variety of clothing to choose from. Anything that is left over after the shopping goes to charity. I find that spring and fall are the best times to do them because people are cleaning out their closets anyway.

That's such an amazing idea. I wish somehow all of my MFP friends and I could do this, lol. Locally, I have mostly friends who have wildly different styles than me and friends who don't shop much or accessorize etc. I could see a "swap" with the ladies in my life ending with everyone taking home MY stuff really happy and me with empty hands. But actually that might be okay too, if I was gonna donate the stuff anyway :-)

I have gone to a few swaps where I took tons of stuff and left with 1 shirt and 1 pair of pants. I admit, it can be frustrating. BUT part of the swap is also meeting new people. So maybe you create an event on facebook or make flyers to pass out at work. Have everyone bring at least one friend. Your chances of getting new-to-you clothing increases as the number of people increases. You just have to make sure there are defined rules, like, "no grabbing out of hands" or "you have five minutes to browse, then we shop". I am actually considering doing a plus-size swap because I have huge boobs and always need bigger tops...

ianthy

I bagged up 2 loads of my larger clothes this week and took them to the local charity shop. Strange they stayed in the boot of my car for 2 days while I tossed and turned about if I would need them again. In the past the larger clothes have always acted as a safety net when I put on weight. I finally deposited them at the charity shop yesterday - i hope this marks a really positive step for me, this time i intend to keep the weight off.

mom2sons02

I re-sell mine. Then I have "credit" to buy in-between clothes. Hate buying pretty new clothes and then they are too big. This way, I have clothes that will fit instead of stuffing myself into too small or having huge ones hang off me.