Giving and Receiving (the Clothing Edition)

As I stated last week, I spent a week in San Diego with my cousin who had a baby in June. Avery and Jameson are exactly 13 months apart. Avery was born in May of 2011. I hadn't seen Laura since March of 2011 at my baby shower. We had a lot of catching up to do. So of course, like any responsible parent who gets up with their kids at 7 in the morning (or earlier in her case...ugh) we stayed up almost every night until midnight.

Disclaimer: We are freaks of nature and realize how lucky we are. And also that baby #2 will probably wreck havoc on our bodies and it will be awful. Now with that said:

Laura is back in her pre-pregnancy clothes and I am actual smaller than I was before getting pregnant with Avery. Don't hate us. We are ducking under the table to avoid getting things thrown at us.

During our first midnight discussion, we were talking about how our bodies and our lives have changed. I mentioned how NONE of my clothes fit from before I had Avery. The only things that fit are things that I have bought in the past 6 months. We're talking all the way down to bras and underwear. But I cannot bring myself to donate anything because then my closet and drawers would be almost empty. The other problem is, over 50% of my clothes were work clothes. When I had to wear a collared shirt and khakis to work with a lab coat. I bought them for work and they aren't really my style, so I haven't worn them in almost 1.5 years. Basically since Avery was born, 50% of my wardrobe hasn't been worn. And the other 50% is too big.

Psychologically, I couldn't get rid of stuff and then feel like I don't have "choices" in my closet, even though I know they aren't really something I would "choose" anyway. I also have an issue with the confidence in myself that I won't gain the weight back either. I have ZERO self control and hate hate hate exercise.

In summary 90% of my clothes don't fit and about half of my actual available wardrobe isn't something I would choose to wear anyway. And if I did choose to wear my work clothes while not at work, it was worn so frequently while working there, it's all faded and grey looking from being over-washed.

The funny thing is, I am a purger. I LOVE getting rid of stuff. LOVE IT! I have been struggling with this wardrobe issue since we lived in San Antonio and I was able to wear scrubs to work. I wanted to purge my clothes then, but didn't know what my "uniform" would be once I got a job in Vegas, but now that I know that it will be scrubs again (YES!), I am feeling ready to purge.

Anyway. So, I confess all this to Laura and she looks at me all, "I am a GENIUS" and says, "This is perfect. I need to purge too."

Laura is in sales and has GORGEOUS clothes. Much nicer than my stuff. It's name brand and she swears it's from outlets. Either way, she is very well dressed and most of her clothes are now my size!!

She unloaded a TON of stuff on me and then we headed to the outlets the next day so that she could help me shop for some things and replenish her newly empty hangers. I am a terrible shopper. I find good deals, but that's about it. A lot of the time, my "deals" are not great quality things, but "good for now" things that aren't well made or quality materials or (according to Laura) not even CLOSE to my size. Apparently the shirts I have been wearing, since high school basically, are TOTALLY the wrong size. Lesson learned. I was buying things bigger than I should. Trying on her smaller clothes, I felt a little constricted, but they looked good. I guess that will happen when you have been wearing too big, baggy clothes for almost a year and a half.

When I got home, I was putting stuff away that she had given me and, holy cow, I made out at Closet de Laura. Almost 30 things. That's more than people buy with 5k on What Not to Wear. They shop at the wrong places on that show, for the record. I'm convinced. Laura needs to take them shopping and get them more bang for their buck. Anyway. I was putting stuff away and 90% of it needed to hang up. I was out of hangers. So I started pulling down everything that I didn't want, didn't fit, or was too worn out. There was stuff up there that I hadn't worn since college. Not kidding.

I wound up donating:

- 9 pairs of jeans (I have an addiction...it's a problem. I still have 11 pairs too.)

- 8 pairs of khaki/corduroy type pants
- 13 polo shirts (all work stuff)

- 4 button down shirts
- 7 pairs of shorts
- 6 dresses (I have a serious addiction. I buy them for events I have imagined. A lot of my dresses still have tags on them.)
- 19 "nice shirts"
- 6 tank tops
- 8 t-shirts
- 3 pairs of shoes

I folded and organized everything in stacks by what it was, so when the workers take things out of the bags, their job is easier. Everything is clean too :)

I love love love Goodwill. I donate there and shop there. It supports great things and gives jobs to people who need them who are in unfortunate situations.

It's a circle of love. Laura donates to me, I donate to Goodwill, and good things happen. AND my closet is super organized. It looks like a rainbow up in there. I should have taken a picture of that. Everyone wins.