Comparison Vol. 2

Today I took pictures of my closet to help sell my house. As I took pictures of my closet I realized how my husband is not just a slob but also unable to part with any of his clothes. Last weekend he pulled two rubbermaid containers out of the attic full of tapered leg jeans and 63 torn Boston t shirts. As he dug through these containers he said to me, "Jesus, why did I keep this?"

And there was no way I could answer his question without gutting him like a fish.

Only because I told him 10 years ago when he put those rubbermaid containers in our attic, "You know, you're never going to miss those shirts."

But he didn't believe me. So he kept them for 10 years.

The good news is I now have 252 cleaning rags made from those 63 Boston t shirts.

Logan often says, "I have nothing to wear. I hate my clothes."

I often say, "I have 3 shirts and 6 t shirts and that just doesn't seem right to me."

In the spirit of our nightstand comparison from a few years ago, let's compare our closets and our dressers.

I decided a couple years ago I would only keep clothes I felt good in. This decision has resulted in an extremely pared down collection. Here is my closet.

Here is Logan's closet.

He never has anything to wear. Please note the 15 shirts right there in the closet.

But wait, there are more clothes! Here's Logan's sweater drawer.

I don't have a sweater drawer. I have three sweaters stacked next to my t shirts on a shelf in my armoire. See?

I just realized haven't worn that sweater on the bottom in two seasons so guess what? I'm getting rid of it.

I have a stack of 10 t shirts. Logan has a very deep drawer full of t shirts.

There are at least 55 t shirts in this drawer.

Comments

[Kyran]

My husband also hangs onto EVERY piece of clothing he has ever owned. Unfortunately, he is also hanging onto the fashion sensibility that first accompanied them. As a little kid, he decided he wanted a job where he could wear jeans and a t-shirt every single t. Thus he became a graphic designer. Now that he is freelance, even the jeans and t shirt seem formal.

The other day I said, "Hey! Who are you all dressed up for?"

Freshly showered, he looked down at his drawstring pants, and clean t-shirt.

"If this is dressed up," he said, "your standards have really fallen."

I call it the standard to which I have lowered my expectations.

[slouching mom]

This is how it goes in our house, too.

Wow, though. Aren't you guys organized!

[zan]

Three sweaters? THREE sweaters?!? Your closet makes me want to cry.

I admire your ability to part with things (or is it about never accumulating more than you need?). I save countless sweaters and other things that I never wear anymore, such as the big brown Chewbacca-looking sweater with a great big hole in the front which I save because it reminds me of that time in 1996 when I was in that band and we played that show and I wore that sweater and...

Oh screw it. I need to throw out some clothes. Now I know what I'll be doing tomorrow when the rains come. Goodwill will be hanging a plaque in commemoration of my record donation.

(Your husband's t-shirt drawer is a nostalgic reminder of the one my dad had, from which I used to pilfer white t-shirts for my own use, often to iron-on some self-made design. Maybe someday your kids will do the same...)

[An Iowa Mom]

You may have just inspired me to clean out closets today.

Darn you!

:)

[katiebe]

My husband is like Logan--he has WAY more clothes than I do (and saves everything because, "they're legendaries!"). He also packs a lot more when we travel. Silly men with all their clothes. I honestly don't get it. He can get away with having 2 dress suits, rotating out shirts, etc. everyday. I stand in front of college students everyday who pick apart my wardrobe. But he still has more clothes than me.

Husbands are weird.

Oh, and congrats on getting the house up for sale!

[Jazz Brown]

You are a brave woman. If I just kept clothing that I feel good in think I'd have:

- A pair of very torn jeans (torn to the point where it would be indecent to wear them).

- Khakis that have the same issues as the jeans above.

- 5 worn but super soft and comfy Tshirts

- A ball gown I'm not certain still fits

- My gray Jones NY suit

- ???

I'm thinking...

Crap, I think that's it. I guess it's time for me to get rid of all that stuff I don't wear/want!

[superblondgirl]

That's like my house only the opposite - I have shirts from high school for the memories, though my husband has purged me of a lot of the stuff I used to hold onto. He, on the other hand, has like 4 shirts and wears them all. But I'm not getting rid of anything, I can't quite handle it right now. I still mourn my Izod sweater collection that he made me get rid of 6 years ago.

[madge]

WORD.

My husband has more t-shirts than the entire Old Navy Empire combined. His hanging needs have somehow taken over our entire closet and two wardrobe boxes in the basement.

I consistently urge him to pare down, using the many Rubbermaids of old clothes as examples. But, noooooooooooooo.

[Suebob Davis]

Man, you are so tidy and wonderful. And compared to me, Logan is tidy and wonderful, too. I have shit jammed in my closet that I haven't worn in yeeeeeears.

[Shawnee]

I have a ridiculous array of clothing. I could be ready to go to an Inaugural Ball, a business lunch or camping (ha! even less likely than the Ball) in minutes. Yet I have "nothing to wear" because I hate the way 90% of it looks on me. If I kept only the clothing that I feel great in, I'd be left with my wedding gown, a cashmere sweater & a super-worn pair of khaki capris. Guess this means it's time to clean out the closet. Probably I should have thought about that before I moved all of this crap. Damn.

Good luck selling the house! We sold ours after 330 days on the market. Yes, you read that correctly. It was harrowing & we lost money but it's over & I LOVE our new place & new neighborhood. I predict yours will be sold by Memorial Day. Good luck!!

[Lisa]

I hear ya. My husband has 8 million shirts too and he seems to wear the same 10 over and over and over again. Every once in a while I go in and rotate the piles so he wears some different ones (he robotically pulls from the top of the pile/drawer)

How many of Logan's shirts are running shirts? You know the "free" ones they give you for registering? My husband has a whole seperate shelf just for those wonderful treasures.

I've gotten much better about clearing out the clothes I don't wear from my closet and t-shirt drawer. Every season I pull one or two more items out. Unfortunatly some of the ones from the t-shirt drawer go into the box of "souvenier" shirts in the storage room downstairs.

Two summers ago I took my former "souvenier shirt box" and donated it only to decide to look for a certain shirt from college about a month later and then realized I had donated it. I kicked myself for months over that one.

[patti]

The truth is revealed.

He is NOT a true metrosexual.

No true metrosexual would ever be caught dead with such an "unruly" closet.

Metrosexuals have creased jeans and crisp shirts, even on their hangers.

So you can rest assured that, based on this closet? Logan is all man.

[karenw]

I have gutted and reorganized my entire storage area this weekend. My husband is a HUGE packrat "you never know when you may need..." fill in the blank... He has about 4 rubbermaid bins full clothes that I have never even seen him in. We have been together 15 years. He is away next week for 4 days...I can hardly wait to move some stuff out to Goodwill. Oh, I won't be moving the bins...let's just see how long it takes him to figure out they're empty. I say 2009.

[lightspring]

Logan has his own iron??? DUDE!!

My ex still has his boy scout uniform. And routinely wears stuff from 1989.

[WannaBeaMama]

Your closets make my closet very ashamed of itself.

[MomVee]

This post made me feel wonderful. For one thing, it reminded me to throw away the cardboard box full of R.'s Genesis t-shirts that I put in the attic 8 years ago. For another, your closet looks beautiful and it is no bigger than mine. After I went to Lowes yesterday and looked at closet kits that chirped "Fits any closet from 5 to 10 feet wide!" I had begun to think I had the only house in America without even a 5-foot-wide closet.

[Melissa Summers]

It's 11 feet wide though. It runs the entire length of the far wall of the room. Logan and I each get a little less than 4 feet of hanging (doubled up) and 2 feet of shelving.

This is a selling feature!

[joanne]

Good luck with the house. We sold ours in 15 days. We lived in Ca. Took us a year of prep work though. We had the ugliest house on the block and somehow a lot of cussing and hard work made it one of the prettiest houses. Well except for the 5 palm trees. Yup, that was too expensive for us to take on.

I need a bigger closet too. I have my clothes in rubbermaid boxes by seasons. Hubby has way too many nice dress shirts that take up half of ours and also our spare bedroom closet. He says he doesn't have anything to wear and needs more clothes.
I guess I need to clean out my extraneous clothing too.

[MomVee]

Oh, I see. That's a mirror in the middle. Yeah, now I hate you. And I am alone with my tiny closet.

[patches]

I just noticed the Pantone color chart on the bottom shelf of your armoire. Guess that's where the computer is too....Never mind.

[Steph]

You could probably make a downpayment on the new house by selling all those tapered-leg jeans and old t-shirts to desperate teenage hipsters.

[momdotcom]

If that is how many articles of clothing you own I clearly have a problem. A big problem. I need four large Rubbermaids just to put away my seasonal clothing!!! Honestly, HOW do you get by on so little??? Man, I wish I had your willpower. Go you! I now feel dirty. Dirty and ashamed...

[Melissa Summers]

A happy medium is probably what we're looking for because I do not have nearly enough clothes. But I really only want like 10-20 more items.

I just hate having so much stuff. It bugs me.

[shiny]

Only three sweaters? Does not compute... brain entering into shutdown...fatal error ... fatal error...

I have tons and tons and tons of clothes. Probably about two and a half times the clothes my husband owns. I get rid of stuff reguarly but on the other hand I buy stuff just as regularly. I love clothes though. And cheap, stylish clothes are easy to come by in London thanks to the likes of Primark and H&M. Clothes give me an absurd amount of pleasure, and I do wear the stuff I have, although we shall see what I will be able to fit back into after I have my baby.

Good luck with the house sale! I hope nice offers come soon.