I freecycled most of mine, gave a size away to a woman whose house burnt down, and then sold a few really nice pieces on ebay. :)

They are removed from my house. If they're too ratty to donate (why exactly was a wearing them then?), into the trash. If good shape, to Goodwill or Salvation Army.

I really didn't want to keep a pair of the biggest pants like many do. I want no reminders of that phase of my life. Even though I was over 250 lbs for 20 years, I really don't feel like that was the "real me" and am putting it behind me.

I'm going to cut mine up into 4 inch squares, sew them all together, throw some quilt batting in there, some backing fabric and make a lap blanket. ;) I did that with my kids clothes that they outgrew.

Eliana - WOW. I can't believe she said that! :hug: This may not be the case with your mom, but I know that many times I've seen things like this happen it's because of jealousy or wishing that they were doing what you're doing.. either way, I agree: you gotta wear clothes that fit you & make you feel confident!

saef - I wonder if any of the hospitals around here do this! I have plenty of clothes that I could probably give away, so maybe I can just divide them up between all these different ideas :)?!

caryesings - I definitely get where you're coming from..!

babygrant - i love that idea!! i can't sew or else i would do this with some of my favorites for sure!

OMG, that just struck me as so funny this morning :)

My mom once asked me what size I was (about halfway through my weight loss), because she wanted to give me some of her jeans. I almost blurted out it didn't matter, because she didn't wear any jeans that I would ever wear, but fortunately I didn't!

aw, ha! good thing!

Yes! Me too!! And yet I had such low self-esteem (well, HAVE low-self esteem) that I went ahead and wore her crap anyway because it was free! No more, no more!

I'm just starting to make really cool hats out of old pants. They are awesome and only take about an hour or so to make. Just an idea of repurposing--I mean, when I realized that all the clothes were CLOTH! It was an exciting moment! Purses? Little animals? Coasters? Even things that are sort of worn out can make good door baffles (you know the things that stop a draft).

Congrats!

thank ya :] and i could makes lots of door baffles (never knew they were called that!) out of my clothes.... good idea!

RomanceDiva, i also wanted to say - i love that word, "freecycled" :)

I held on to stuff for this reason for a while (even before I lost weight I was holding onto the jeans I'd worn holes in because there was so much fabric there), but it has become apparent that I'm not going to get around to it. I don't even OWN a sewing machine. And I certainly don't have the storage space. So now the clothes are all gone (and I'll be shrinking out of plently more if I change my mind)!

I saved every single nice item. Anything that had a hole or stain, or chub rub, including bra's and panties got thrown out or cut into shop rags. I can't even tell you guys how many times I have lost a significant amount of weight and everybody told me to get rid of the fat clothes...so I did...and every SINGLE time (until now...so far) I have regained the weight PLUS more and have had to go buy new clothes. Of course on the way up you buy cheaper clothes because you don't PLAN on staying there, but alas you do, and oh boy it is SO depressing to wear a cheap pair of Wal-mart stretch pants to church when a few months earlier you just gave away a very pretty expensive suit from CJ Banks to goodwill. I found nothing to be as depressing as having to go buy fat clothes...after have given them away. I think digging a pair of pants out of a tote in the attic has to be less stressful, less depressing, and less expensive than hanging my head low and walking into Walmart for a bigger size. SO NOPE...I'm doing EVERYTHING different this time around. I saved it and hope that it will all sit in my attic until the day my kids throw it out... Thankfully I have a large house, and lots of storage room, and well grounded. If we were to move for any crazy reason, I *might* part with them....maybe, but I doubt we'll ever move.

Statistics show that only 2-4% of people who lose weight actually keep it off, so with terrible odds like that I don't plan on chancing it again...and again...and again.

I had some really nice things that I donated to the Salvation Army. The turnover is so high at our local one that the next time I went in, about a week later to shop, that I didn't see any of my stuff. It made me feel good to know that someone else is enjoying them!

I've been very lucky to be mostly trading up. The consignment and other thrift shops in my area, routinely get some really nice things in, even in the very large sizes.

There's at least two ladies who take their clothing to the consignment shop I use (I can tell by the seller identification code) that are roughly my size who must be shopoholics, because often the garments have never been worn, and have tags on them (brands I would never afford otherwise). What's funny is that I sort of feel like I know these two women, even though we've never met. They each have a different style and brand preferences, and sometimes when I see clothing in my size at the Goodwill or other shops where there's no original owner identification, I have a strong suspicion that the original owner was one of these woman.


I had another funny experience in my favorite consignment shop. I saw a nice pair of jeans that looked like they might fit (and they looked just like a favorite pair that I had recently had to get rid of, because they were too big). I looked at the price tag and recognized my own seller ID - they WERE the pair I got rid of."


If I didn't have at least a decent chance at finding clothing in my size at the consignment and thrift shops, I would keep a larger size range, at least one size up and one size down. Where I lived in Illinois, I almost never found anything in my size (when that size was 26W to 36W).


I don't know if there are more larger ladies in our area, or whether they're just more likely to donate/sell clothes.


I know these ladies must be shopping in Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay or some other larger cities, because the clothing isn't available locally. It sort of makes me feel like they're my personal shoppers. They're doing all the work, and I'm not only benefitting - I'm getting a HUGE discount.

I sold them on ebay. I also buy lots of clothes on ebay. So, it ends up being kind of a wash money wise. Which is perfect for people who don't have a lot to spend on new clothes every size they drop.

I was a 22 when I started my diet. I hadn't bought any new clothes for a while, and then intentionally didn't buy any new clothes until my clothes looked ridiculous. I had a box of "skinny pants" that were size 18, maybe 4 pairs of pants and 2 suits, so I was able to get by with those and a few of the stretchier 20s until I got down to 16. Then they were all silly and I decided to go shopping. I went shopping again at 14 (some great sales right after Christmas).

The 20s are all just junk and went to the thrift store, except for some suits which will go along with the 18s to consignment. Most of the 16s are still wearable for me.