A good tailor helped remake some favorite items at a fraction of the cost of new clothes – he remade one skirt 4 sizes smaller and it looks like new. He even remade my button-down blouses – far less expensive than buying new.

Symbolically, giving away the clothes was a personal commitment to keeping the weight off.

Your post made a lot of sense to me – and I wanted to share my little story.

So, yeah, I hear ya. And until that darling baby outgrows the messy stage, I’d keep lots of “don’t care if they get fooded on or puked on” T-shirts on hand.

Not even her wedding dress. She kept it, and the length was OK for me because I’m only about an inch taller than she is. But my shoulders are wider. There is no way her dress could have been altered so that I could wear it for my own wedding.

Old clothes are old clothes. They’re shabby or out of style, or both, when you quit wearing them. If they’re suits or special-occasion wear, they’re likely not tailored to fit anybody else. My daughter won’t need an interview suit for another 10 years; here’s what she’ll say to me then if I keep one of my 2008 Banana Republic suits “especially” for her and she tries it on in 2018: “Gee, Mom, thanks for keeping this suit for me for 10 years, but the cut went out of style at least 5 years ago, and this is not a stylish shade of brown anymore, and, oops, is that a moth hole right in the seat of the slacks? And the jacket arms are too short for me because you had to get them altered for your own munchkin proportions. Uh, mom, there’s a parking ticket in the pocket here dated March 23, 2014. When was the last time you had this suit cleaned? Can I have a couple hundred dollars now so I can get my own suit, please?”

@Gregory – So true. I had a friend who once asked if I ever wore jeans. Which I found interesting because I wear jeans a lot (I stay at home). More recently, another friend remarked that when I wear casual clothes, I still look stylish (which I guess is why people don’t notice that I dress comfortably). In my opinion, dresses are the most casual and versatile things a woman can wear. They are instant outfits that require little styling and are appropriate in nearly every situation.

So that said, dresses comprise most of my wardrobe. And while I do follow Michele’s rule (out with the old, to make room for the new), I tend to hold on to my collection of dresses in the hopes that my daughter will want to wear them someday. I remember wishing my mother and grandmother had held on to some of their more classic clothes.

Deborah