Stocking up: Clothing

[Theo]

This topic occurred to me as I was cleaning out our shoe closet the other day. I ended up with a laundry basket of worn out shoes, and another with lightly worn shoes that had been outgrown or were unsuitable for other reasons. One bag went to the dump, the other to the Goodwill.

I assessed my remaining stockpile of shoes: I have two pair of boots, one pair of runners, one pair of dress shoes, and two pairs of plastic clogs, all in good condition. I feel I can get by for some time with these. The rest of my family is adequately shod, it seems to me (though my daughter would disagree, I'm sure). So shoes are no problem.

However, I just found another hole in one of my basic articles of clothing. I've been putting off buying new clothes, because we are low on ready money just now--one kid just graduated from college, another is about to start--and also because I have been loosing weight, and I want to wait a bit before replacing my old clothes. But it seems I must part with some dough, or walk around looking ragged.

One of my methods for keeping clothes in good repair is putting away my work clothes right when I get home. I also try not to wash them too often--I wear undershirts, for example, so I don't have to wash the shirt on top every time I wear it. (I work part time at a desk, so I don't get very sweaty or dirty). I try to keep from spilling food on myself and so on. Still, washing and constant wear cause my clothes to slowly fade and become tattered.

What do you do to keep your clothes nice? Where do you draw the line when it comes to wearing old clothes? I have clothes that have cycled downward from office clothes, to weekend wear, to backyard only and from there to the rag pile. What would you need in essential wear to get through any prolonged crisis? And, are you ready in that regard?

Food is not the only concern, if there is some sort of prolonged disturbance in the way goods are distributed around the country.

 

[Marianne]

Oh boy...I would hate to publicly admit what I'm currently wearing.

Since I don't work outside the home anymore, I'm A-OK with whatever pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that gets pulled out of the closet. I wear the same clothes until they are:

1. Visibly dirty or
2. Smell so bad that the dog's nose twitches and he backs away from me or
3. Is one step short of being able to stand up in the corner

Okay, maybe that's a small exageration. Maybe. We have plenty of heavy duty work clothes. When we do have to purchase jeans, coats or whatever, we focus on quality first, price right behind it. Most of our winter gear is purchased on clearance sales in January, but again, heavy duty stuff is the important thing.

I have enough free vendor t-shirts and sweatshirts to last the rest of my life time. And the elastic is still good in my drawers, too. Shoes would be my issue in a long term bad situation.

 

[FarmerChick]

we have more summer type clothes cause we are in the South so clothes are cheaper and easier to wash. lighter loads and such with t-shirt, blouses, shorts, lightweight pants...that type of thing.

I hate heavy clothes. We all have one heavy coat. Lasts forever down here cause we don't wear them much. Boots we kinda go thru cause of the farm which is cut down so we do like heavier type hike boots for camping.

Hubbys hunting stuff could double as emergency type wear. I have barn stuff that is good for hard work and durable, same wiht kiddo.


I like good clothes. We don't wear things ripped etc. either they get fixed or rag bag or landfill. But we do wear our clothes til we can't wear them anymore.
We shop when we need things. never just for fancy which is rare.

I wash alot. Most times we sweat like crazy in the heat here so my washer gets alot of work.

I shop end of season sales and get shorts by the boatload at very reasonable prices along wiht t-shirts, short sleeve blouses and stuff for hubby. Alot of my new cloth purchases comein at the same price as shopping a thrift/goodwill type store here so I like that.

Tony has tons of shoes/boots for work, farm, hunting and everything. Kiddo and I could use more shoes.

 

[dfr1973]

Between quality and price, I have been learning to sew garments ... and in the process have learned that practically nothing in the stores actually fits me properly. I'm just not a mass-production shape.

Even washing my jeans just once a week, I've already ripped (at the beltloop where it attaches) a pair I bought earlier this year ... GRR! Oh well, I have denim, patterns, and appropriate thread ... Lee Riders USED to be good jeans. Granted, I've also lost weight since the spring, but these jeans were sliding down anyway since Lee switched to that (*bleepity*) bias-cut waistbands. I've worn out two "manmade materials" belts since May - just how hard is it to find a REAL leather belt anymore in a regular retail store?

As for living in the humid south - LINEN! Since I started sewing, I have switched from cotton to linen and linen blends (no ploy allowed though) and absolutely love it. It also wears better than cotton, in addition to breathing better. It's more expensive, but boy is it worth it. If I can find linen denim instead of the ubiquitous cotton denim, I will bust out my savings to buy the bolt.

 

[ORChick]

Following an idea from "The Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyzin I have (or try to have) a 3 year plan for jeans - a new pair (this year) for *good*, last year's pair for *semi-good* (not ashamed to be seen in town with them on), and the pair from 2 years ago for mucky work around the home and property. Unfortunately, though I have the new *this year* jeans I haven't got around to hemming them to my length yet, so I am still running around in last year's jeans, which will very soon become the jeans from the year before last This idea works for other things as well, like sneakers.
As DH and I are both retired we don't need masses of *good* clothes. And we also do not wash after every wearing. We have some nice clothes, of course, but mostly we wear casual pants, or (in my case) jeans, and a shirt and/or sweater. We have lots of shoes - but that is just because I haven't got around to going through them, and tossing those we no longer wear - which is most of them I would say that I have 3, maybe 4 pair of shoes that I still wear with any regularity.
I have to say that I do not subscribe to the idea of getting rid of clothes to cut down on clutter, or on laundry. I might not be inclined to buy many clothes, but if I already have them I will keep them until they are no longer good. As for the laundry argument, I figure that one does just as much laundry over time, but with more clothes I don't have to do it as often, and I can always be assured of a full load in the washer.
And yes, sewing is good. Even if one doesn't want to sew complete outfits, just learning how to sew on buttons, or make simple repairs is invaluable when it comes to keeping the clothes one has wearable.

 

[Marianne]

Oh, you're right about sewing, gals. With some sewing knowledge, you could figure out how to alter a shirt or pair of pants to fit someone in the family during hard times. It's a useful skill.

I have made a boatload of clothes for myself and the kids when they were young. Back then it was a real money saver and the sleeve didn't fall off if you pulled a stray thread. I never have bought curtains, I always made them, tab curtains, roman shades, whatever.

But these days, in my area anyway, it's cheaper to watch for sales/clearance or hit the thrift stores. DH used to be brand loyal to Levi jeans. After I repaired the third pair of jeans where it tore by the pocket, or belt loop or wherever, I said they weren't the same quality as they used to be and I wasn't fixing them anymore.

My fav jeans are Dickies from the farm and ranch store, but DH has been buying Wranglers carpenter jeans. We're kinda the same shape (round-ish) so I just grab whatever pair is in front of me. He usually buys two new pairs of jeans every year so we're doing the rotation, too. Never thought about it, but some are designated messy work jeans until they fall apart, the new ones for him to wear for work and the in betweens.

 

[FarmerChick]

I just never had the interest in sewing but sure admire the skill in others.

for me, I am packing a million giant safety pins for emergency repairs

 

[hqueen13]

Oh boy...I would hate to publicly admit what I'm currently wearing.

Since I don't work outside the home anymore, I'm A-OK with whatever pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that gets pulled out of the closet. I wear the same clothes until they are:

1. Visibly dirty or
2. Smell so bad that the dog's nose twitches and he backs away from me or
3. Is one step short of being able to stand up in the corner

heh, I'm glad I'm not the only one that follows that formula!!

I usually wear things until they're dirty enough, which if I don't end up in the mud is about a week. That really translates to mostly evenings because I work a day job that I have a uniform for. So I pull on the same clothes over and over again once I get home. The polos I wear for work get washed inside out, and hang dry only, I don't ever use the dryer on them. My Other Half also does not like his tshirts dried because he's afraid they'll shrink (he's fairly tall, with a little extra around the middle, and so when they do shrink, they get too short, and then he doesn't want to wear them anymore). So at this point we do not dry tshirts, long sleeve shirts, polos, or underwear. This helps the longevity of the items a LOT. Drying clothes is part of what wears them out so quickly in the first place, especially things like underwear that have a lot of elastic in them. The heat of the dryer keeps melting the elastic a little bit at a time.

I also buy most of my clothes at a local consignment shop. With all of the things that I take back to her that I just don't want anymore, or are beginning to wear to the point that I don't like the quality, I almost never have to pay for clothes. When I do, I can walk out having spent 25.00 and come away with 4 items or more sometimes if I hit her during the change of season sale when everything is half off from the previous season. Then I don't feel guilty at all for getting nice things!!

 

[THEFAN]

We buy socks, underwear, bed sheets in bulk. 4 or 5 packages at a time. Another way we bulk is having family members get us these items the birthdays and Christmas. Even though we are are adults our parents can't hekp themselves. Because no is not an option we ask for essentials.

The next items we buy a lot of thru out the yr is jackets, boots and shoes. We hit the yard sales and thrift stores for these items. Just picked up 2 pairs of rubber boots at our dump this past week. FREE WEEE!!!

 

[Hinotori]

Hubby used to only like Levis, but I asked him to try the Costo Kirkland brand ones for work. The Levis were expensive and only lasting a couple months before wearing and ripping out. That's just to much wasted money. The Kirkland ones last well over a year, and he says they fit better. I know at 13 bucks they hurt the wallet much less. I bought a couple pairs to work in around home, and have two pairs of womens jeans to wear out in town.

I always hit up the clearance sales at season change. I have a hard time buying full price when I can pay 6 dollars or less on sale.

It does seems that everything is made with cheaper fabric than it used to be. Shirts used to last me so much longer. Mens clothes you can still find the thicker fabric. We hit up sales for T-shirts for hubby, and stock up if it's a really good price. I just put them in storage until needed.

We've taken to wearing good quality wool socks. They cost more but they last much longer and are more comfortable for us. Hubby was having an issue with wearing his work boots and sweaty feet and abrasion sores. An old hiker that was buying boots at the store when we were suggested wearing liner socks and wool socks over them. It was night and day difference. The wool liners wear better and helped eliminate the smell.