WOW ...DH and I just did this 2 days ago. I can answer every single one of the questions :)

1)a) try on every single thing...yep...all of it. Walk around in it and look in a full length mirror and make the decision yes or no. No matter if it is name brand or not...does it fit, look good, still in good condition, right length, do you wear it ( this is a part 3 answer too ) .
b) Make two piles ...at least. Put back in the closet the things that immediately are "yes". ( this included those items from #3) Make a pile for things that are going to be in the "yes" but need repair or what not but will be OK when that is done. Make a pile of things to be discarded...not even good enough to donate ( DH had a couple shirts and one pants to toss). Make a pile to donate.

2) this was the first time in forever for DH cause usually he won't do it. I haven't done as "strong" a purge in a couple years as we just did...I was much more ruthless this time. I do a light seasonal ...very light.

3) I have my wedding dress...it is a short coat/dress ensemble. I have my Mom's wedding dress...it is a sweet tiny knee length dress. A couple other things. Our joint closet is an 8x10 room with lots of storage so I have no problem keeping these and a few other things where I can see them and touch them from time to time. This is something that will be SO individual. That is where you keep these items etc....to each his own on this one.

4) Gorgeous pair of black silk pj's that DH doesn't wear anymore ( don't ask LOL ) . I have a friend that is an amazing artist and she uses fabric to make stunning things and quilts also that are art. I am donating these to her. I don't sew and am not artistic. She will love them. I have donated other things that another quilter/ artist friend has used. It is a great way to recycle.

Wonderful topic. c

Those are great suggestions. This should be an interesting thread and can see more for drawers too.

I don't have a process to answer. But last fall (1 yr), I pulled out all of my stored winter clothes to switch for storing spring/summer. Due to an unplanned course, this didn't happen. I got through the winter just fine and realize there is a ton of clothes which haven't been worn, nor do I even remember what they are. Definitely a big purge will happen very soon.

Also saw the greatest idea. Not for everyone, but my jeans through the years have been kept and was planning on making a quilt using the pockets, etc. A gal saved all the jeans from her children too. She upholstered a chair which was beyond delightful and with so many memories.

Purging my walk-in closet was my summer project. It literally took the entire summer because it entailed two additional projects as part of the overall closet purge. First was battling clothes moths and the second was pulling out and organizing five decades worth of family photos that were stored in there on a shelf.

I've tried the method of totally emptying the closet and then sorting through everything, and that just does not work for me. It is too overwhelming and difficult to sort through huge piles of stuff that I've laid out on a bed on the guest room.

This time I went more or less by category. First I went through winter pants and tossed those that have become tired and baggy. For anything that is totally out of style or doesn't fit, I put on the "donate" pile. This included many suits I no longer wear since I retired (yay).

My other categories were shirts and blouses (which I arrange by sleeve length), sweaters (arranged by season), capri pants, blazers, jacket type tops (what do you call them? Knit tops that aren't exactly like sweaters??), workout clothes, shoes, handbags and miscellaneous.

I pulled out each category and went through them, getting rid of anything worn out, totally out of style, doesn't fit, I hate for no good reason, I never wear or had moth damage.

Then each category went either onto the donate pile, the keep pile or got tossed. I had one rule -- once something is on the donate or toss pile, I was not allowed to to take it off!

Slowly but surely the entire closet was emptied and all the clothes were in one of the three piles. Then I gave it an extra good vacuuming and washing and spraying (for moths). Everything that attracts moths was laundered or dry cleaned, aired out in the sunshine or put through the freeze-heat-freeze method. I now keep pheromone moth traps and sachet moth repellants in that closet.

I got rid of a good third of what I had in there. Now I dress and undress in the closet so I am sure to rehang things. I have one shelf for "been worn" items such as workout pants that I will wear again before laundering. No more throwing things on the bedroom chair (or floor). I also keep a bag in there for anything I know I will never wear again. That goes in the bag for the thrift shop.

All the family pics are sorted into decades and are still waiting for me to figure out what to do with them. Ugh.

Nostalgic clothes items that I have kept are the dress I was married in (not a wedding gown), a pair of hip hugger bell-bottom Levis from the 1960s and a bikini bathing suit I wore the best summer of my life. I also have some of my kids clothes, but in a chest, not in the closet.

It is such a pleasure to know what I have in the way of clothing and to be able to put my hands on things. No more squishing things to the side to get it out. I must have found a hundred empty hangers in there.

I don't have to do the seasonal switch except from the rod in the back to the rod in the front because the closet is big enough for all my clothes.

Thank you TR (c) and TC. I really appreciate your time.
TR, I'm glad you mentioned a pile for things needing mending. I didn't think of that as I have a mesh bag in my laundry room, but I have missed things at times so checking while purging is a very good idea.

It's good to see that saving clothing for it's fabric is still being used. It's a great source and often carries memories with whatever you, or someone else, makes with it.
TC, I plan on doing one on organizing drawers later as I recently added dividers to ours for sorting socks and am now obsessed with dividers for the rest of our chest of drawers.
I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one that saves clothing for the memories they carry with them. I have a few things of my folks that hang in my closet. And there's a velour shirt I was always trying to get my hubby to toss early in our marriage. It was velour, including the collar where it had become thread bare from wear, but he it was his lucky bowling shirt so he didn't want to get rid of it. When I finally saw it in the trash I picked it up and saved it. He thought I was nuts.
I've been saving all our blue jeans for years with the plans of making huge pieced rag quilt style blankets (no batting or backing) to give to our children to use at ballgames and other outdoor events with their children.

It's not so much a closet purge as a wardrobe purge...it should include dresser drawers as well including socks and underwear.

I closet purged earlier this year as part of our planning for the vacation wardrobe. Before you shop the stores, you should shop your closet as it's full of stuff you already like...or at least you liked it enough at one time to buy it.

I went through a process like TR did...try literally every piece on, one at a time and then decide...keep, mend or tailor, donate, or discard. Then DO IT! Tailor the stuff, donate the stuff, discard the stuff. (I went through my mend pile and hemmed pants, and shortened sleeves and found I already had a LOT more brand new clothes than I thought!)

As you go through the purge, keep your lifestyle in mind. I went from working to retirement so, even though my suits were still good, I just didn't need so many. That's where a donation place like "dress for success" comes in.

The closet is full of "good" clothes...including dresses, dress jeans, trousers, blouses, jackets, shirts, suits. The good sweaters are folded and placed on open shelves in categories like pull over and cardigan. Blouses are sorted by sleeve length and then by color. Purses go up on the top shelf where they are visible. And it has cubbies for 50 pairs of shoes. I also have a built in bench to sit on to change shoes and such which I love.

I have a set of hooks on the back wall and off of that I hang a brass swag lamp chain (make sure the links are smooth...no snags) from the hook on the left to the hook on the right. I thread my scarves through the chain links so I can see them and they hang without folds or creases. On the hooks in between, I hang necklaces.

Behind the door is another set of hooks for quick-grab stuff like robes and things.

The "every day" clothes go in the dresser...every day jeans and t-shirts and sweatshirts....those are divided into 2 categories. The decent stuff to wear around or go shopping in and the "working" clothes that you don't mind getting damaged by paint or bleach or grease or other working hazards on them.

DT We must have been writing at the same time. Congrats on the retirement! What a wonderful time of life, isn't it?
Your method is very close to mine as I to arrange by categories so I did my purging that way too.
As for your family photos, I've been scanning mine and storing them on my computer and a thumb drive for safe back up. So far I've yet been able to part with the actual photos unless duplicates because many where held and looked at by my folks who are now both gone.

And now I've missed Annie. Now that two of you mentioned drawers I realize I'll squeeze that to the purging article. Since I only keep undergarments and jammies in drawers they didn't seem so important in the purging. I never have had any trouble ridding myself of those items when they are worn out. As you mentioned, you keep allot clothing in drawers. And donating good work clothes to a charity like Dress for Success is an awesome idea. Thanks for the help.

I just purged a few months ago.

I got rid of all of my sill size 10s that I have been hanging onto. If I ever get that small again I will treat myself to an entirely new wardrobe.

Then I sort everything by color. I keep all seasons together in my closet by color. I hang everything when I do laundry, even my boys t-shirts. I have lots of closet space and the only thing that goes in drawers is underclothes, socks, and shorts.

Sleepwear goes on hooks in the closets. DHs workout clothes go on hooks after use.

I have only kept a few items of my own (and lots of my kids things) for sentimental and silly reasons. A t-shirt from high school with our mascot, a cheerleading uniform, a HS prom dress my older sister made for me, a tiny pair of shorts I wore before I had kids to remind me how small I was, my wedding dress, and a sweater my ex-fiancé gave me.

I am not a clothes hound and my closet is very organized. DH is always griping at me to go shopping and buy some new clothes. I hate shopping.

Interesting topic! As a matter of fact, I'm in the middle of purging our closet now.
When do I purge? In Early Autumn when I am packing away our Spring and Summer clothes and then again in the Spring when I pack away our Autumn and Winter clothes.

I always keep a plastic basket in our laundry room closet for things to periodically take to Goodwill. I'll bring it into our bedroom while I'm purging. Other laundry baskets are lined up to hold clothes to go to the cleaners and to be mended. I love using these plastic laundry baskets because they're very practical, inexpensive, sturdy, they conveniently nest together when not in use (which isn't often! ) and they're square, which means that they line up together neatly on the shelves of my laundry room closet.
Since we have a dedicated cedar closet out in our attached garage for out of season clothing, I have to bring all of that in first in order to make room for the pieces I'm packing away. Then I go through every piece of clothing, one by one, trying it on and deciding whether I still want to keep it, donate it, throw it away or donate it. Although I do sew, I really haven't ever used the fabric of a piece of clothing for anything but cutting it into pieces to use as rags.
Thanks to my earlier thread on IKEA closet products, we've decided to completely gut and redo our closet after the first of the year. With this in mind, I'm even more mindful of scaling back, as I'd been purging and switching out our seasonal wardrobes this week.

I could have written trail's #1 and #2 answers. Just did the exact same thing about a month ago (but not with DH).

I tend to keep a small pile of discards in the back corner of my closet -- when I put on something that I realize is stained beyond repair, looks terrible, etc., it gets tossed into that pile. It doesn't happen every week or even every month, but when the pile gets to the point where it has a bunch of stuff, I deal with it. Goodwill or trash.

I do have my wedding dress but nothing else that I'm sentimentally attached to. DH does have a few things -- a sweater his mother knit for him, a Red Sox official jersey, some band t-shirts.

My 12 yo DD sews, so occasionally I'll offer her an old shirt or something that she can use for fabric.

Mine is now sort of an ongoing thing. Just recently decided to try-when I am needing or actually just wanting something new-then something old-of similar nature or use, has to be re evaluated. As this goes on it gets easier. Just finished doing it with my fall and winter shoes. There are shoes I love the way they look, and work for certain occasions, but are not good on feet-feet are more important so they are going to be replaced..this way I will make fewer shoe, boot mistakes in the future.

Great ideas above about trying everything on--AND love the ideas of deadtired about the bag, hanging,etc.

I purge frequently. With four kids, I'm constantly needing to get rid of things to free up space. I usually have a large bag in the corner of my bedroom that I fill with clothes to donate. Here, we have an organization called Purple Heart that will pick donated goods up from your house. Easy peasy! I just got rid of 6 bags of clothing earlier this week.

With my own closet, I probably go through it for a decent purge about four times a year - somewhat seasonally. Or if I'm just rooting through my closet for something to wear and see something I know I will never wear again, I add it to the bag in my bedroom. Right after the kids went back to school, I did a huge purge of my boys' closets, then decided to go through all my older dd's handmedowns for my younger dd that will fit her this year. I made three piles - donate, save for dd, and return to my sister (some came from her originally). It felt so good to clean out their things that I turned my attention to some of the drawers in my room - namely, my workout clothes. I was shocked at how old some of the things were that I hadn't even laid eyes on in ages. I actually have some things in a couple of the drawers of dh's dresser - one small drawer held bikinis I haven't worn since my dd was born 14 years ago! WHY did I still have them? Into the donate pile right away!

Anyway, I basically have the same system already mentioned: keep, donate, throw out. When I have at least 2-3 bags full, I schedule Purple Heart to come out. Despite regular purging, I still seem to find things that are 15 years old or more! Some things I think I kept from previous purging "just in case" but then realized that after several passovers, it was time to get rid of them.

I do still have my wedding dress though not sure either of my girls would wear it. Just this year my friend had her wedding dress made into a First Communion dress for her dd. What a great idea! But alas, mine are both done with that so unless my girls want to use the dress for their own kids, I'll probably just keep holding onto it. The other thing I've saved are a couple of outfits that my kids wore as babies that were just so cute on them I couldn't bear to giveaway.

MIL saved dh's t-shirts from when he was a kid - ones that were from sports teams, schools he attended, etc. Her plan was to use them to make a quilt. She never did and guess who got the bag of t-shirts? Yep, us. Thankfully, dh had no desire to save any of it except for one San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl shirt from probably the 70s. Not sure why...no place for me to keep it and not sure why he'd want it!

I go through everything once, maybe twice a year, but not all at once. I may do a few drawers one week, the rest another week, shoes/accessories, sweaters, hanging items all on separate occassions - that way it doesn't seem so overwhelming.

Some great advice from a friend - wear a favorite pair of jeans when trying on tops - if they don't make you happy with your favorite jeans, they won't look any better with pants/skirts you don't quite like either. Same goes for trying on pants/skirts with a favorite top.

Pull everything out and only put back what you love and wear regularly (some dispensation for special occassion wear). Donate or repurpose the rest.

Yes, I have occassionally reused fabric from old clothes for something else - a craft project or maybe t-shirts as rags. And one pair of shorts that used to be pants.

The hardest for me to get rid of are the items that were gifts but either don't fit well or just aren't my style. It is much easier to get rid of things that are worn out.

How do you go about purging your closet?

My closet is not large enough to hold all my clothes for all seasons so I move out-of-season items to a closet in the guest room. I keep a laundry basket handy in which to put clothes to give away. I look at each item but don't try on much as I usually know whether it's a keeper or not. Last month I gave away 2 baskets full. I do closet shelves, cubbies, and dresser drawers at the same time. Also went thru my shoes this time but only threw out one pair.

How often do you purge?

Twice a year as we have distinct seasons in this climate so I change at the beginning of April and beginning of September. I have done this for years as I enjoy seeing my closet organized as to level of formality, type of clothing, and color. Doesn't necessarily stay that way for long but periodically I reorganize it.

Do you keep anything because of the memories attached to what happened last time you wore it or who gave it to you?

The only thing I've kept because of memories is the lace coat I wore at my wedding 47 years ago. I may make it into something eventually.

Do you ever use any of your old garments for their fabric to make into something else?

Recently I saw a tutorial for how to make an eternity scarf out of an old t-shirt. So I stain removed it, washed, dried, cut and dyed it, and will now give it away as it's not something I'll wear. Oh well, mark it up as an experiment that didn't work - it sort of entertained me for awhile! LOL I have some items I've kept even tho they are much too large for me but I love the fabrics. I may eventually have them remade (or DIY) to fit. I recently dyed a remnant piece of heavy cotton lace to match one of them altho haven't yet decided what to make with it. IRL as well as online I've been seeing, and am intrigued with, fashions made of recycled fabrics and have been thinking of doing this. It may be a good winter project.

We are packing for 3 1/2 weeks away. This is after the purge ! Glad that DH was my main focus but what a mess tonight. He isn't working anymore and also not playing as many gigs...sports coats all went to Good Will except one . He has a lot of dress shirts that have to be "done"...almost none go with the trousers that fit really well . The new shoes he just got that are FAB don't look good with any pants except his hiking pants...arrrggggghh.

I on the other hand have packed and am sitting here sipping a beer and thinking I am going to have to do what we used to do and take DH shopping !! We just never bother anymore....guess we will re-visit this LOL. He doesn't drive and doesn't shop. I drive and I DON'T shop either ! What a pair.

If Sierra Trading Post or TJMaxx doesn't have it I don't buy it. I have great clothes and sweaters from 20 yrs ago that I wear more than anything else and I add running/biking/hiking as needed.

This has been an eye-opening post. I was so proud yesterday but looking at DH's suitcase makes me shiver. We will be shopping in Atlanta tomorrow and when we finally get to NYC will hit Macy's.( NYC Oct 20-27) WIll look forward to seeing what others discover in and under all the detritus of time in their closets !!! c

My dear Hubby was home most of the day today so I'm way behind on commenting, but wanted to thank you each for taking the time to help me out with my article. I really appreciate it.
RedLover, you make a great point to getting rid of smaller clothing. If you do work hard to the lose the weight you deserve new clothes!
Lynn, great idea using nesting baskets for sorting. I have a couple that I'm going to make use of next time. Which will be tomorrow. I figured since I'm taking pictures for the article I may as well go through my closet again.
SueB, I think that awesome your 12 year old daughter sews. Did you teach her or did she learn in school? So many schools around here teach so little of home ec type classes anymore.
ms-thrifty, I need to be more like you and rid myself of shoes that are no longer comfortable. I don't know why it's harder to rid myself of shoes that it is clothing, but it is. Maybe my plan should be to wear them shopping and if I'm not comfy after an hour I have to donate them. Ofcourse I'd bring along a pair I know are comfy to change into.
FourKids4Us, having only one boy and one girl I found it easy to purge their clothing, most often passing their clothing onto young family members, but having four do you pass down to your younger children before purging?
jrueter, that's great advise from your friend on what to wear when trying on your clothes for purging. That's pretty much what I did only I wore just a basic T-top when trying on bottoms.
LuckyGal, you have to be a OCD in how orderly you answered my questions by copy and pasting them. That's just what I do when I have more than one question to answer. :^)
You're lucky (ha ha) to have a guest closet to put your out of season clothing. When sharing a standard closet with my hubby when we first got married we had to box our seasonal clothing up. Later when hubby had a walk in (he could close the door and not wake me in the morning when getting ready) I had a reach in that was larger enough that I could shift my clothing. Loved that. Now we have a large enough walk in to keep everything. Sometimes I miss the smaller closet though. It forced me to purge more often.
Trailrunner, boy isn't it the truth about packing for a trip? I know when I went to Cali with Hubby this spring and then onto Hawaii to see our new grandbaby I realized just how much I needed to go shopping for new clothing. Not that I didn't have some newer garments, but they were all basics, nothing fun for traveling. I rather enjoy shopping for my hubby, but not for myself so I put off most of the buying until in Hawaii.

redlover does have a good point. You have to be honest with yourself when purging. Does the item still look good on you and wishing that it does won't make it so. Our bodies do change over the years and sometimes getting rid of old things that just don't work anymore is the way to go. We also have to be honest about our stage of life when purging. Are we in or entering a more formal or more casual stage of life. This is probably more pertinent when purging the "good" stuff.

I purge my day to day clothes twice a year because as someone mentioned we also have distinct seasons. I try on all of my old t-shirts and make sure that they still fit properly. If they don't and are still in decent shape they get donated. I try on all of my pants/shorts/casual skirts with the same eye.

Although I'm in good shape and slim I am 60 and do try to be mindful of that when going through my wardrobe. So sometimes those shorts are now just a little too short and need to be dispensed with and that goes back to my comment about being mindful of changing bodies.

I have very few items of good clothing and again that comes from a stage of life. We are casual people. A few years ago I did go through my "good" wardrobe and got rid of just about everything and went out and bought just a few good pieces - you know the kind - the black pencil skirt, the good pair of black pants, the go anywhere nice tops, a couple of nice jackets and sweaters. Those items that can be used to dress up or dress down an outfit.

Do I keep some emotional stuff? Sure I still have my wedding dress, my going away outfit, a t-shirt from Venice, a t-shirt from Disneyland and a couple of other items.

BLFenton, you make a very good point about being aware of what stage of life we are in when purging. Whether it has to do with age, body type changes or even what our current pastimes are we have to think of that when deciding what to keep and what to remove from our closet. Or bring into our closet. I'm doing a mini purge tomorrow afternoon so I'll have photos to share in my article and I'm going to keep in your idea in mind when doing so. I might even shop for a few new items to fit my life stage now. Thanks!

Wanted to check back after taking DH out to shop. We found absolutely nothing in our town at both Dillards and Belk. We have shopped there in years past. Dillards used to be Gayfers. I can remember buying him beautiful well made shirts and ties etc and he still has many of those dress shirts. They still fit and look great.

Fast forward to this weekend. We spent hours last night in our town...nothing. Every single shirt is made badly, sized poorly, cheap cloth and ugly colors and hideous plaids. So we came to Atlanta on our way to Canada as it is DD"s birthday. Went to Nordstrom and Macy's...replay above comments. The only shirts we saw that might have done ( DH refused to try them on were by designers). We even saw some $200 shirts marked down and they were equally ugly. So ....we ended up with 2 dress shirts. This after he had visited all these stores in 2 different towns. He wanted and needed sports shirts. Really disgusted. We will be checking vintage and consignment shops as we travel. Only good clothes are old USA made clothes as far as I am concerned.

I would be curious how your DH's shop and what brands and stores and price range they shop. c

"I do still have my wedding dress though not sure either of my girls would wear it. Just this year my friend had her wedding dress made into a First Communion dress for her dd. What a great idea! But alas, mine are both done with that so unless my girls want to use the dress for their own kids, I'll probably just keep holding onto it."

Brilliant!!

Mine is safely stowed away and looks exactly like it did more than 30 yrs ago. Oldest dd wouldn't even try it on :-( when she got married

Younger dd just smiled sweetly at her sister when I asked her if she might wear it someday. Perhaps I will have it made into a first communion dress for a someday granddaughter. One can dream! I guess it is kind of 70 for the girls of today :-)

I also purge twice a year in spring and fall. I am being more brutal this year since I know there are some things I have kept because their quality is so good, but I now accept that I will never get into again. We donate to the Vietnam Vets. The stuff that isn't good enough to donate is repurposed or tossed. For example, socks go to school where the kids use them as white board erasers, shirts go to the art or kindergarten teachers as painting smocks, etc.

I really plan to be ruthless, but in the back of my head, I hear, "oooh, that would be great for dress-up!" The fact that I have no grandchildren yet does not quiet that voice-which explains all the formal gowns hanging downstairs! ;)

I also do fall and spring. For example, clothes I wore last fall/winter that I got used to wearing may suddenly look very worn with fresh eyes. Anything that can go to Goodwill will make it there, but if it is stained or ripped, it gets tossed.

I have my wedding dress boxed (it is huge), and the veil is boxed separately in a smaller box in case I ever want to give that to someone.

I also have some timeless cocktail dresses, other formal wear, and suits I really don't wear anymore.

I am very good at purging worn workout clothes and worn underwear. Those I keep in drawers.

We got a Container Store Elfa system for our MBR closet, where DH keeps his clothes. It is a great system, and even though the closet is small, it helped a lot.

Trailrunner I hope you have been luck finding clothing for your hubby on your trip. Mine's pretty easy to shop for. I'd have to look in his closet for sure to see what brands, but I know one he's liked since I met him is Arrow and I can't think of the other brand, but I'm sure you'd recognize it.
red lover your wedding dress is beautiful. I never even mentioned my wedding dress (which I still have as I designed and made it myself) because I knew it wasn't a look she'd like. In fact I also have her wedding dress hanging in the back of our closet. She lives in Hawaii, but I'm thinking after almost 16 months of moving it around trying to find the perfect place for it, I'm about to pack it up and send it to her.
cyn427 thank you for telling me about the VVA. I looked them up and they even have a pick up service in our area.
I hear you on planning for grandchildren long before you have them. Five years before our first grandchild was born I wanted the panels on our six panel pantry door painted in chalk board paint. Hubby wondered why I wanted the bottom two painted knowing I wouldn't need to bend down to use them. I said "our grandchildren will use them." And they have. So go ahead and keep the dresses for your grandchildren. They'll love them and what a delight for you to watch them plan in them.

gsciencechick Guess I guess the TV must have distracted me more than I thought.
I've debated about putting some type of drawers in our closet. Right now I'm using pull out containers that have worked well enough, but I'd rather have shallower storage so one day I'll build drawers. We don't have a Container Store near us so I'll just make some. We built the closet system we have now, so it's doable. Time is the big deterrent.

Well, not closet, but this thread inspired me to grab DH's behind and go upstairs to the attic which is such a total mess. We have a lot more to do, and we really aren't tossing and donating yet...just trying to create categories and organize...lamps here, cookware there, dishes here, linens and towels there...I mean the place looks like a freakin' goodwill store. We have a lot more to unbox from when we moved. But this is a good time of year...not so hot and not so cold up there.

I think the hardest part of purging is reckoning with all the stuff I have never worn much and thinking about all the money I spent. Not that I buy that much --but after doing the purge my impulse is to not buy anything! And I send some of it to online consignors to recover some of the money -- that seems to work pretty well, makes me feel better. I never shop any more. I wait until I realize that i need some specfic thing and then I hunt for that thing and nothing else.

Well darn it. I must not have hit the post button on the preview message page Annie. Sorry about that. What I wrote was that I was happy this post inspired your to get your things organized. It, and more so the article I'm writing, has done the same for me too. Living in an unfinished home can be a real pain when you need to take photos! Makes me head to the fridge and grab a handful of my Special Dark Chocolate Chips to calm my nerves.

Sayde I have the same problem, which is why I've started to purge at least twice a year. It reminds me not to impulse shop. If I don't actually need something, I just plain don't buy it. I also try everything on before I buy it which helps reduce buyer remorse since I either see it's not the right garment for me or more often I don't feel like trying something on I really don't need just to see if I really like it on ME.
Our adult daughter has been using consignment shops she since was a teen. She constantly is changing her wardrobe so getting something back helps.

Trail runner,

I suggest looking at golfing clothes for your DH. The best quality men's clothes that look good on middle aged plus are microfiber golf pants, and dri fit type shirts that can be worn with a sport coat. Both mock neck and polo collars. This is what DH wears to church or to travel.
Nordstrom no iron pinpoint oxfords are excellent quality and what my DH wears to work with his suits.