Transitional clothing - where did you get it/get rid of it and for how much $$$?
As it turns out, right before I decided to "change my life" I had just finished a shopping trip at Lane Bryant and bought 3 new jeans because what I had was getting too hard to button. Fast forward almost 3 months later, and now I am practically swimming in those pants and only wore them a handful of times.
So, my question is, how do you deal with transitional clothing that you may have even spent a good bit of money on? I do have some things I've had in my closet for awhile that I'll be donating, but these jeans are practically brand new, and it would be nice if I could get some money for them.
Where do you buy your transitional clothing (internet, thrift stores/second hand shops, word-of-mouth, garage sales, etc), how much did you spend/were willing to spend, and when you were ready to get rid of it, where did you sell it, and how much were you able to sell it for? I'd love to get some ideas and see if I can't sell some of this clothing to help pay it off on my credit card :P
Old Navy was where I bought transitional clothing. The clearance racks were my friends for cheap khakis. I basically just worked and worked out during this time (I was recouping from an injury as well) so I didn't need much until I hit a medium shirt and size 8 pants and then I went kind of nuts. I completely wasted one pair of pants, as I was a 14 for all of about 5 minutes (but a 12 for quite a while ). That's a bummer that you bought new clothes, but well worth the sacrifice, IMO. If they are in good enough shape you could Ebay them or take them to a consignment shop. Mine sat at the bottom of my closet for a few months until I moved. Then I took them to the Goodwill in garbage bags.
One of my friends was telling me about Old Navy not too long ago. I thought that the one we had didn't have a plus section, and that the closest one that did was a 1.5hr drive (at least, that was according to oldnavy.com) but one of my friends insisted that the one by our house has plus size, so I might check it out the next time I need some clothes. I hear they have some good clearance and sales, you can get stuff for pretty cheap!
My mom lost a lot of weight after she had hip and knee replacement surgery, the former in 2004, the latter last year. (Funny, just a few months before she had the knee surgery she regained her appetite and kept it after she had her mastectomy 3 months later.) She got new clothes, I think from the Blair catalog, and to get rid of the old ones just donated them to charity thrift shops. If I have clothes I want to get rid of, I either put them in the load for the thrift shop or else over on the St. Paul side of the metro they have a lot of collection boxes for an outfit called USAgain (not a charity) and I sometimes load stuff into a bag and toss them in there
I usually donate my too-big clothes to the Salvation Army or Value Village. I then BROWSE these places for my current size. I find it's a lot easier to find tops than bottoms (I'm so short you see) so I end up sucking it up wearing my friend's castoffs (she's a lot smaller than me now, but had been in a 14-16) or my mum's hand me downs. We don't have an Old Navy nearby (and I'm surprised that it's considered "cheap" in the States--it sure isn't here) but I'm planning on hitting the Niagara Falls outlets and see what I can find.
Here in San Diego there's a store called Great Curves, down in Point Loma. I just bought a red satin slip dress--new, still had tags!--for $23. Niiiiiice. They take consignments for sizes 12 - 7x, and you get 40% of the sales price back. I just dropped off some of my "too big" stuff, and if it all sells (fingers crossed!) I should get about $150 back.
I would suggest looking for consignments shops in your area. If the jeans or other clothes are in really good condition they will buy them or you can often get more for your old clothes if you take in store credit and buy clothes from them. I have gotten some really nice, designer clothes at consignment shops for a fraction of retail.
I've been able to wear my own old clothes so far, because even though I've always been on the heavy side, I used to be shorter, too, so I could just take the hems out. I can vouch for Kohl's, though. If you want new clothes, that would be the cheapest place to go- every time I go there I can find a 90% off sale, so you might only pay five dollars for a pair of pants.
I buy clothes at regular department stores. I'm cheap and have always been that way so I pretty much refuse to pay over $20 for a single item. I shop department store sales and I shop online. I generally try to buy things for about $10 per item. My favorite store is Macys although if you have a Dillards in your area, they have great sales too.
When I sold some of my bigger sized items on Ebay, I actually was able to sell some stuff for more than I paid for it or about the price I paid for it. So it was a pretty good deal.
Most of my old clothes are not worth selling. Ill give them to my sister if she wants them or to anyone that wants them for that matter. Ive been in those BIG sizes for a while now. I was telling Michael I needed some new jeans today and he said "wear a belt, clothes arent cheap" he didnt mean it in a bad way. Just meant Id be losing more so it wouldnt make much sense to keep buying every few lbs. I can see what he is saying but it would be nice to have a few new things. I mean Ive went from a 26 to a 20.
Most Old Navy stores are no longer carrying plus sizes but they do sell things online with $5 shipping and have a lot of sale and clearance pricing as well as 2fer specials.
Although the stores don't actually carry plus sizes, Old Navy's straight sizes go way up to a size 20. The measurements for Old Navy size 20 is a 39 inch waist and 49 1/2 inch hips. I have several pairs of their size 20 jeans... the ones that have some stretch in them I am able to wear even though I wear a size 22W in most other brands right now.
Just FYI!!
I am a big advocate of thrift stores. I buy almost all of my stuff there, though I browse clearance sales all of the time. The things I get at the thrift store are almost always better than the stuff I get new at Wal-Mart or other discount stores.
I have in the past found a single mom who is about the size I was to give a few things to.
I've also used consignment stores... I have friends who have sold on Ebay and last but not least I have donated to womens shelters.
What you have to decide for your self is:
Do you need to make some of the money back? Will what you make back be worth it or will it be so paltry that it makes you angry? Would it make you feel better inside to just donate them?
I have gained and lost so many times that I have quite the box of clothing in many sizes. As a matter of fact, just today I dug in and found a brand new pair of jeans, still with tags on, in a size 22 and they FIT! I started in a very tight 26. I also found 3 more pair of pants to wear. When I outgrow my clothes they generally are pretty messed up... holes in the thighs, stains, ugh. So I throw them out. If you have any nice stuff I recommend eBay.
I have bought most of my clothes from Walmart, ShopKo, and other despartment stores. I usually pay 15 bucks for jeans, 10 bucks for "stretch pants" and 5-8 bucks for shirts. I am cheap. When I get thin, I am gonna buy some nice stuff!
I get my newer stuff at Macy's as they have *great* clearance sales. I also have gotten some stuff at Target and Kohls. I have used ebay and have gotten some really nice second hand LL Bean, CJ Banks, Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne stuff very inexpensively. As far as the stuff that gets too big. I donate to Salvation Army.
I think even though you plan on getting smaller, that you deserve to look nice on your journey there. You can do that for very little $$ if you shop smartly.
Transitional clothing - where did you get it/get rid of it and for how much $$$?
). That's a bummer that you bought new clothes, but well worth the sacrifice, IMO. If they are in good enough shape you could Ebay them or take them to a consignment shop. Mine sat at the bottom of my closet for a few months until I moved. Then I took them to the Goodwill in garbage bags.
