The Great Pre-Retirement Purge

[rayinpenn]

About 5 months ago the firm went to casual dress all the time. They had been experimenting with much beloved ‘Friday Jean Days’ and discovered that the world didn’t end if we wore jeans.
So there I am with a closet full of dockers and beige, dark blue and a occasional light green dress pants. You see I start each summer off with a couple pairs of new slacks . The trouble is I never toss the old ones out. So today with retirement roughly 75 days away I thought what better time.

I culled through them and tossed 17 pairs, no fooling.. if I hadn’t lost weigh with the first knee operation a while ago and shifted sizes god knows how many there would have been. At first glance those beige slacks don’t show ware but when you look closer...

Next week operation dress shirts - Do I have an interesting life or what? You know that walk in closet now looks kinda spacious.

Did you pre, post or both retirement purge?

 

[Jerry1]

Pre and post. Before retirement, I moved and downsized. That ended up with me getting rid of 11 old suits and other assorted cloths. Then, after retirement, I got rid of everything but one suit, a couple jackets, few pair of slacks and three dress shirts. I’m sure I could do with even less, but now, even in my smaller home with standard (small) closets, I have plenty of room.

 

[marko]

We purge ever spring and fall as we reassess our Florida clothes; just donated about 10 fairly new golf shirts.

I was always a clothes horse; had 9 or 10 suits and maybe 20 pair of slacks and 50 dress shirts. Needed them for work.

One of the more interesting things when I RE'd was how few clothes I now wear/need. It was quite amazing! I can get by all summer with 3 pairs of shorts, one dress pant and 5 golf shirts/one dress shirt.

I'm not a bum but 15 years later I will now wear the same shorts (and sometimes golf shirt) for two or three days before changing.

We're now in the process of pulling stuff together for our winter in Florida and I STILL have two dozen white shirts that I'll never wear. Dresser drawers I haven't opened in 5 or 6 years only to find sweaters and stuff I forgot I had.

DW gets p!$$ed at me for wearing the same things over and over but...I don't care!

 

[calmloki]

I found myself way long in Tshirts. Way too easy to wear one, toss in laundry rather than trash, then fold and - dang it! - it's back in rotation again. Got the Gal involved. Put the giant stack out, flopped 4 down and said which one is the worst? Went through the stack in that manner and culled a quarter of them. A few weeks later I did a quick sort by color and had her pick the worst in the various colors - don't really need 6 green Tshirts. Felt good.

When we went to Nova Scotia for ten days I took my worst socks and threw the used pair away every night - that was great and forced replacement with new, something I have a problem forcing myself too.

 

[Midpack]

Pre and post here too, cut my "wardrobe" in half if not more, and I was pretty good about donating clothes all along, before pre-retirement even. Kept too many spring/fall jackets, and just enough dress stuff (e.g. suits, shirts, ties, shoes, belts, socks, etc.) so I can be presentable for formal affairs when needed.

In summer I wear shorts and T-shirts/polos with Keen Newport sandals most days, or golf or sailing specific clothes. In winter I wear jeans, mock turtlenecks/long sleeve polos and fleece jackets with Merrell Moab's most days. Plus workout clothes/shoes year round.

And if we move south as expected, some of my winter clothes will go to Goodwill too. We are closet rich these days...

 

[Bir48die]

Last year my son was married. Went down to my old work suits. As I tried them on they reminded of the zoot suits with the baggy legs. Gave away about six suits and bought a newer stylish one.

Have probably 30 button down long sleeve shirts to cull.

 

[scrabbler1]

Also pre-and post. My first big purge was in late 2008, a few months before I retired. At that time, I got rid of a lot of work clothes eve though my company had gotten rid of its dress code 10 years earlier. Many of my work outfits simply didn't fit me any more (I was really skinny back in the 1990s). This freed up considerable space in my main, walk-in closet. I kept a few sport jackets and other formalwear which still fit.


Last year, driven a lot by the upcoming change in the tax law, I did a second purge, this time mostly shirts and sweaters I had accumulated over the years but simply hadn't worn in at least 10 years (since I had last worked). Some of the items I hadn't worn in over 20 years, even if they still fit. Also, the weight of these items on the clothing rack bar had collapsed the bar a few months earlier. Getting rid of half the items fixed that problem and enabled me to free up some space in both main closets.

 

[gayl]

RE twice: 1st time left hospital administration (govt) and gave EVERYTHING to Wardrobe for Opportunity (2004). 2nd time (last January) left private sector and again gave everything ex underwear to Wardrobe for Opportunity. By everything I mean all clothes, shoes, costume jewelry. Not the expensive gold stuff or underwear. Went shopping both times as wardrobe significantly shifted. I want to go shopping again but can't justify it

 

[Fedup]

Good idea, I might give some of my working clothes to Working Wardrobe in my area.

 

[gayl]

Yeah. I won't use them again but those going from welfare to work can and that can be a relatively expensive shift!

 

[Dtail]

Still have many long sleeved button down shirts, but cleaned up the rest of the wardrobe.
Now there are the better and not so better t shirts, etc.....

 

[Bamaman]

I remember those suit days at work back in the mid 70's. Our golf shirt/khaki pants Fridays were moved to every day, and we got a whole lot more work out of comfortable employees.

Post retirement, I build constantly on our properties, do maintenance and cut grass. I went to Walmart and bought 3 pairs of jeans shorts and Dollar General to get a couple of Alabama and a couple of Auburn shirts. I swap my wardrobe around daily. My ball caps also come from Dollar General.

I've already told my wife that if I need to be buried tomorrow, go to J.C. Penny and just buy me a new suit coat--available as separates. I won't need pants any longer.

 

[Beldar]

The day after I ER'd, in a celebratory fashion, I purged my work wardrobe. I probably donated to the VVA about 5 or 6 trash bags full of suits, ties,dress slacks and shirts, shoes, etc. I knew I would never "need" them again,and if for some reason I did need a formal attire Goodwill was close by.

Now it's casual living every day, which always is Saturday.

_B

 

[Teacher Terry]

I have always purged regularly but after retiring gave away half my clothes.

 

[Fedup]

I have always purged regularly but after retiring gave away half my clothes.

I’ve been giving away my kids clothes, brand new or only wore them once, top brand. I have not got time to clean out my closet yet.

 

[cbo111]

For the past couple years in Bradenton, FL, I predominately wear shorts. I could count on one hand the number of days I wore long pants. But I still have a dozen pairs of jeans and slacks hanging in the closet. Are cuffs still in style??

 

[old woman]

Twice since retirement. First to go was all but three skirts and most sweaters. Then moving and kept only three skirts and some pants and tops and one blouse. I am a homebody living in pajama pants and shirts. When I go shopping I might only wear an outfit an hour or two so rewear. My walk in closet only has about 10 hangers, other bedroom closets have no clothing and very little of anything, I don't use the two spare bedrooms.

 

[DeborahB]

I change weight a lot, very irritating! So I need clothes that will fit no matter what. That said, I still have too many clothes. At the end of 2017 I gave away 25 13 gallon bags of clothes. I had probably done the same the year before.

I’ve been retired for 8 years now. My basic outfit is knit black cotton pants and a nice t-shirt, add a cardigan or whatever in the winter. I bought a whole lot of new clothes recently that are funky and colorful. I need to cull some others. I look eccentric but I AM eccentric. I need to get rid of all but one suit and anything else that was work clothes and only keep what I like.

I do have some dressier clothes to wear to a wedding or “occasion”. And my grandmother’s mink, from the 1940s, lol! And enough funky socks for life.

Now if I could find my jewelry, which I carried in hand luggage on the plane when I moved, and subsequently has been misplaced really thoroughly for over a year. It isn’t stolen. Just gone walkabout.

 

[davebarnes]

I purge golf shirts by putting them into the "international travel" bag.
They leave the country and do not return.

 

[aja8888]

DW has every piece of clothing since after she gave birth to her last child in 1966. Yeah, closets full of it. Shoes, too! Her stash looks like Macy's Bargain Basement.

I have about 6' of closet rail for everything I own except for several dresser drawers full of 30 year old sweaters. Really don't need those here. Maybe I'll chuck them.

DW throws out my latest "favorite shirt" every few months and buys me a new one.

I have one suit and one sport jacket for "events".

All work clothes are gone as I purged them (heavily worn Business Casual stuff).

I have one large coverall which is used for garage work and it's left over from oilfield work and is FRC rated. I still have my field boots too.

 

[goingtotravel]

Multiple pre-retirement purges going on. First one was due to starting to telework 2 days a week. Then 'temporarily' went to full time telework about 5 years ago but still kept many work outfits in case I was told to return to the office full time. Now officially on full time telework until I retire in a few years so this year had a big purge of work clothing that were all donated to charity. . Still hanging on to a few outfits in case of work travel or needing to attend a big meeting in person but looking forward to cleaning those out soon too.

 

[Aerides]

Pre and post-retired men: there is a good chance your wife purges stuff for you when you're out of the house, and you have no idea

 

[audreyh1]

My purges occurred post retirement, at many different stages. We’re about to embark on another one.

 

[kcowan]

Had a wholesale wardrobe change at Megacorp when they switched. Got rid of shirts and suits. Then is my consulting life, bought three high end suits for executive positions. Still have them. But purge the casual stuff every year.

 

[aja8888]

Pre and post-retired men: there is a good chance your wife purges stuff for you when you're out of the house, and you have no idea

If this is true, it's no wonder I can't locate some favorite things.

And I don't mean just clothes!