Did you have trouble getting rid of your suits?

[Nodak]

Suits?

OK, I was in software development so wearing a suit just wasn't something that was ever going to happen.

I did own a "going to funeral/wedding" suit and I upgraded that just before I retired. Should last me another 10 years or so.

Me too, I don't own a suit. I do own a couple of Jerry Garcia ties.

 

[FreeAtLast]

I kept 2 suits , 3 sport jackets and a tux. I donated the rest. I use them a few times a year.

 

[M Paquette]

Well, once I got on the retirement glide path, I dropped 55 pounds, so losing the officewear was easy. I did keep the funkier logo'd shirts that were handed out reguarly, just because they were pretty funny (to me). The freebie t-shirts are handy workout duds.



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(At least two of those belong in the "What I hated most" thread... And yes, we had a VP of Excellence one year, dedicated to trying to win the Deming award.)

 

[Dawg52]

Never had to wear a suit to work. I own 3 and only 1 fits well. The others I'm keeping in case I get small again. I also have a blue blazer that I wear when a coat and tie is required, which is extremely rare these days.

 

[walkinwood]

Yes. 5 years after ER, I still have too many suits and dress shirts. I can't seem to pare them down to 3, which I think is the right number for someone who wears them maybe 3 times a year.

 

[SJ1_]

So I've been FIREd for two months now.

Shortly before FIRE, I purged a bunch of older dress shirts, but they were ones I wasn't really wearing so I still have a full compliment. I also have a bunch of suits still hanging in my closet.

The logical thing to do would be keep one or two and donate the others. But for some reason I can't get myself to do that just yet.

Did anyone else have this experience?

Congrad. on the Retirement!

I didn't have any work related suits to throw out but I had NO PROBLEM throwing out all of my computer books (I actually donated them to Good Will)

 

[Semiretired2008]

Should you admit on an open forum that you still have leisure suits in your closet? Maybe there is demand for them on Ebay...

 

[Moemg]

No suits but lots of scrubs to get rid of & nurse's clogs . I gave them all away except for one set that I kept for an easy halloween costume .

 

[Meadbh]

Should you admit on an open forum that you still have leisure suits in your closet? Maybe there is demand for them on Ebay...

You would have been very well dressed at the 70's party I attended recently!

 

[Moscyn]

I kept 2 sets of winter and summer suits each - only those that still fit. I still find occasions to wear them ESP in winter when I wear a jacket over jeans. It's the nice looking high heeled shoes I find difficult to part with. They look so good but I'll break an ankle if I wear them now. Every year I say I'll give them away but I fail to.

 

[hakuna matata]

I haven't had to wear a suit for years but I do have 3 of them and they all still fit. I haven't wore a dress shirt for 2 years now but still have about 25 of them. I only have about 3 or 4 ties--rarely did I wear a tie with the suit. In my profession you can get away with a more casual look and now that I am on my own it is real casual! I was just commenting to my wife the other day that I haven't been to the drycleaners for quite awhile It seemed like I was going weekly a few years ago.

Oh I also own a nice tux.

I will likely keep them when I full retire (semi retired now) only to have something to wear on a special occasion. But it is nice to not wear them but occasionally it is nice to dress up for a special occasion.

 

[martyp]

Back in the 80's and early 90's I worked in air pollution research and the conferences I went to were filled with civil engineers who always wore suits. Then I switched to DNA research and all that those biologists wore were blue jeans. Never wore a suit again. Don't have any to get rid of.

 

[kramer]

I have not worn a tie for 14 years (who is counting? ha ha) and really dislike them -- and they are a piece of clothing that serves no purpose. It's the tie part of a suit I really dislike. For a couple of family funerals a few years back, I wore a nice collar-less black dress shirt under a sports jacket and it looked great. Even mom, ever the fashionista and whom I consulted to make sure I was not under-dressing, enthusiastically approved.

 

[travelover]

....... and they are a piece of clothing that serves no purpose........

They can serve a Darwinian purpose around rotating machinery.

 

[martyp]

I didn't have any work related suits to throw out but I had NO PROBLEM throwing out all of my computer books (I actually donated them to Good Will)

Oh. I had tons of science and engineering books. I gave them to my local library. I kept a few books on ergonomics that I thought I might use if I did some post ER consulting. Never happened. They are still in a box.

 

[W2R]

Oh. I had tons of science and engineering books. I gave them to my local library. I kept a few books on ergonomics that I thought I might use if I did some post ER consulting. Never happened. They are still in a box.

I donated most of my books, but still have all of the textbooks I used for my electrical engineering and oceanography degrees.

I had kept my all my class notes and other papers for every class I ever took after high school, neatly organized in binders, and I hadn't needed them in all these years since my Ph.D so I threw all those class notes out in 2010. Then, wouldn't you know it, while talking with Frank this week I was trying to describe a particularly hellish vector analysis problem we were given on a test, and really wanted to show it to him. But it's gone, gone, gone. Oh well.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Well, once I got on the retirement glide path, I dropped 55 pounds, so losing the officewear was easy. I did keep the funkier logo'd shirts that were handed out reguarly, just because they were pretty funny (to me). The freebie t-shirts are handy workout duds.
(At least two of those belong in the "What I hated most" thread... And yes, we had a VP of Excellence one year, dedicated to trying to win the Deming award.)

Lotus Improv, written for Next, was astounding. I still keep my copy. Blessings on your karma.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I wore mostly dress slacks and blazers with a nice top underneath for w*rk. If I knew ahead of time that I would be installing laboratory or computer equipment or making optical connectors, I wore black stretch jeans and wore a Tshirt. I could always throw on a knee length lab coat if I had unexpected visitors on a tour.
I did own 2 "power suits" for briefings and out of town conferences.

After I FIREd, I think I did the full closet cleanout during the 2nd year. I gave everything to my housecleaner, who picked out what she wanted and took the rest to her graduating class of brand new LPNs. I kept 2 blazers and 3 dress slacks for myself.

Now that I no longer have to prove myself in the w*rkplace, I bought and frequently wear girly sundresses and miniskirts in nice weather, something I would never have worn as a female Engineer. I even wear makeup these days.

I am assuming this is Freebird and not Mr. B?

 

[REWahoo]

I am assuming this is Freebird an dnot Mr. B?

With both using the same forum ID, hard to tell..

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I have not worn a suit for about 30 years. (Until our DD got married, then I had to buy a tent at Men's Warehouse. That won't happen again.) I think it dawned on management that they were paying extra for guys with suits.

I kept two groovy ties: a wide pink paisley one (a la Tom Wolfe, who liked pink clowns, as I recall) and a Jurassic Park model with what appears to be a hand-painted tyrannosaurus on it. DW cut up the pink one without consulting me first, to put into a quilt (an acceptable use, but I grieve for that tie still).

These days I am a contractor. They are lucky if I wear pants.

 

[Amethyst]

I'll throw away my worn-out suits and hang on to the rest. No sense giving them away; they wouldn't fit anybody else. Outside of work, I wear jeans or shorts, but when I have a dress-up occasion I usually wear one of my nicer suits. Since off-the-rack suits offer matching jackets and skirts in different sizes, suits fit me better than a dress does. Dresses tend to be too short through the waist, or some other problem, so I either feel like I'm swimming around inside the dress, or it's binding me somewhere. Give me separates any time.

In addition, I have a collection of lapel pins which need lapels to pin them on. You cannot put a heavy pin on a T-shirt - it would make it hang very odd! I don't like sweaters, so will not be one of those sweater-wearing old ladies who display pins on their bosoms.

Amethyst

 

[48Fire]

So I've been FIREd for two months now.

Shortly before FIRE, I purged a bunch of older dress shirts, but they were ones I wasn't really wearing so I still have a full compliment. I also have a bunch of suits still hanging in my closet.

The logical thing to do would be keep one or two and donate the others. But for some reason I can't get myself to do that just yet.

Did anyone else have this experience?

Nope, but downsizing significantly was the big motivator. Funny, I downsized to 5 ties, but I can't find them

 

[prof12]

I dumped maybe a dozen suits but I kept 2 suits--one for winter & one for summer. I have a three season sports jacket and an all season blue blazer. I pared down to maybe ten ties. Since most of my dress shirts were long sleeve, button down collars, I continue to wear them with jeans and shorts. And I generally wear the blazer either with khakis or jeans. But those times are getting fewer and fewer, I'm pleased to say. prof12

 

[LitGal]

DH has 7-8 blazers or suits in about 3 different sizes each. No wonder his side of the closet is so crammed. He'd be happy for me to ship all of them to Salvation Army (keeping 3-4 for special occasions).

I just can't do it yet, since they cost so much. But, really, they served their purposes in his career; so, it's just my issue.

Was able to do some purging on my side of the closet. It felt great. Just kept enough "teacher clothes" for the 2-3 days/mo. I mentor......and for special occasions.

Otherwise, it's the t-shirts, work-out clothes, and yard work grubbies that get the heavy use these days.

 

[brett]

Suits were only part of the trouble for us. We each went three rounds on our clothes. I did not realize just how many dress shirts, etc. that I had.

It was not only suits. We downsized from a 3600 plus sq. foot home w/finished basement to a 12 X 8 X 8 PODS container. We had to prepare the house for sale. We emptied/painted one room at a time. 26 gallons and nine months later were ready.

And now that we are back from our travels and about to unload the container into our rented 2 BR condo we are very certain that we have items in that container that we should not have kept! So 'round' four of discarding will start next week....and I know of at least one suit, some jackets, slacks, and dress shoes that will not make it past round four. DW feels the same.

The first two rounds of discarding things were a little difficult. By the third round we became ruthless. It was so liberating and looking back it was the best thing we have done.