Closet cleaning and that secret stash
Categories: Uncategorized, cleaningIn an unscientific poll of some people over on LJ, I discovered I’m not alone. That’s right, other people keep stashes of clothes that don’t fit in hopes that they will someday fit!
What prompted this was a fairly major purge of my closet over break. I ruthlessly went through my stash and only kept a few things. Really! Some things had been in the pile for 5+ years which means I probably moved them twice without wearing them. Large piles are destined for new homes and getting the heck out of my closet.
This poll was comforting in many ways. First, pants were revealed as the most common thing in all our stashes. I purged an embarrassing number of pairs of pants and jeans from my stash. So embarrassing I’m not even going to tell you because I was too scared to count. Really. Now all that’s left in my pile is a couple of shirts that are the Right Color Green and Too Soft To Part With and several (okay, 6) pairs of pants and jeans. I didn’t ask any questions about the volume of people’s stashes - that’s way too personal.
Second, for some reason I didn’t expect guys to keep stashes too. Stashing clothes fits so well with the female psyche that I didn’t expect it also in the male psyche. In fact, of the guys who answered the poll, most of them kept stashes too. I guess it’s human nature to hang onto something that’s still perfectly serviceable but that only a few pounds or pesky trends in fashion are keeping us from wearing. Of course, that stash grows as a few pounds becomes a few more pounds and fresh “just a few pounds” items get added.
If you’re a procrastinator (like I am), that means eventually you end up with a stash of epic proportions that really just isn’t worth cluttering your closet with. I do in fact still have a beautiful green chamois shirt that’s just waiting for me to shrink a little and for embroidered yokes to come back in. I really should send it on, but I love it so. (Triple whammy: “just a few pounds”, waiting for it to come back into style, and emotional attachment. I’m doomed to keep this shirt forever.)
It’s nice to have a large chunk of the shelf space in my closet back. For my next trick maybe I’ll cull my shoes.
tags: cleaning, closets, clothing, stashing
January 9th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
While I was in college, I couldn’t afford clothes. I had maybe a couple of pairs of jeans and one pair of very uncomfortable shoes for a long time. So, since then, I hoard clothes. I keep clothes that are both too big and too small because I’m just afraid to part with them. It takes a good long while until I give up things like blazers or nice shirts because there might be a chance I’ll need ‘em again, or fit into them. Its the economics of fear.
January 9th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
You make a good point, Mike - a lot of stashes are prompted by that fear. Or you could call it good economic sense! When we were kids, nothing ever was thrown out. Ever. A year or so ago, I think my parents finally wore through the last of the cloth diapers they had kicking around as rags since our infancy. Everything that could be handed down/up/sideways was distributed and redistributed. Some of my stashing comes from growing up with that metnality. Why risk having to rebuy when you could just stash?