What the week holds: Operation Clotheshorse

Hubby's wardrobe needs help.  For 30 years I have been the one that buys, cleans, presses, and organizes his clothes.  And not that I have fallen down on the job at all, but he is soooo resistant to getting rid of stuff!  Recently I was able to talk him into revamping his wardrobe.  So much of it either did not fit, or was in poor shape, or he just didn't like...I was shocked that he agreed!

 So, Step One was the Big Purge.

 This is his shirt rod in our closet AFTER I pulled out about a dozen things or so.

The pants rod was not as bad...but it turns out that about half of these no longer fit, so he actually pulled them out.  The rest of them got washed and pressed - all of his work pants are washable.  Only his suit gets dry cleaned.

He owns a million lot of ties.  Some are from college!  Others belonged to his brother, who passed away before we finished college.  There were many that were stained or a weird color, or just hopelessly outdated.  And there were some "fun" ones that the kids and I have bought him over the years.  Usually I can find nice vintage silk ties at thrift stores.  But I think I may find him some new ones. 

 

 The holiday/fun ties went to live in a zippered ties storage bag, and the rest of them fit on this hanging tie rack.

I hauled everything out of the closet that I knew was going to go and just started making piles.  Almost all of it will go to Goodwill, but I wanted him to go thru it, before I tossed in the back of my car.  And it's a good thing I did - there were a couple of things he had a particular attachment to...

 Tee shirts!  He owns so many that the drawer wasn't closing properly.  I "archived" all of the cub scout tees that I knew he wouldn't part with. Then I refolded the rest so that they would fit into one drawer.  Compressed clothes will eventually smell funky since they are not airing out.  So, when I put folded items up, I tuck in a bar of soap here and there.  Also, I try to get him to put the clean stuff on the bottom of the stack so he can cycle through the shirts.  Sometimes he will - it's hit or miss!

 I finally reached a point where I could sort and fold the stuff that was going.  And I actually went through my stuff, too!

An old gallon zip loc got stuffed with about two dozen ties.

 Sweaters from the 90's...enough said.

 Pardon the phone pics, but I had my phone handy so I could take a pic of the colors of shirts he had to avoid buying those colors when I went shopping.

I did the same for his suit, so I could get ties and shirts to go with.  We went through all of it together and made a plan for what to buy.  The list includes a couple of new suits, a blazer, shoes, and shirts.  I am going to shop places where I will get discounts for using the store charge card, or special offers and cash back.  But almost all of it will be new, both because he needs to look sharp and he's worth it.  What a job!  

Operation Clotheshorse has begun!

Gina