Thursday, August 13, 2009

If It Ain't Broke...

We leave the house around 7:30 every morning to get Parker to school on time. It has really put as thorn in my workout regimen. I don't like to workout after I'm showered and ready for the day, but I don't like to take Parker to school un-showered.

But after three days of not exercising, I decided I really can't continue on like this just for vanity sake. (Though, let's face it...I work out for vanity's sake. It's as much bigger motivator than good health.) I've already made first impressions and I am now going to be that mom that drops her kids off un-showered in work-out clothes.

SO not the point of my post.

I sported a baseball cap this morning. Anyone who has experienced my morning hair can appreciate why. As I was exercising, I started thinking about that cap. I've had it AT LEAST fifteen years. AT LEAST! It's a Mossimo hat from around junior high age...back when Mossimo was a hot brand found at PacSun rather than Target. I inherited it from one of my brothers who had it a year or two before that but never wore it. The truth is, I don't wear it all that often. I wear hats so rarely it seems silly to buy a new one. But I haven't got rid of it for occasions such as today that it became a necessity. It may be about time to invest in a new hat. I intend to continue shielding innocent bystanders from witnessing my bed-head.

This is the hat in question...worn camping last May.

I'm not exactly a minimalist, but I do go through my closet two, three, four times a year to get rid of clothes. I don't like too much stuff...nor do I have the space for it. But I have a handful of things I never part with. Such as this hat. Or ratty old t-shirts that have worn so perfectly thin they are exactly what I want to sleep in on a muggy summer night. Many such shirts display reminders of football games or girls camp (yeah...I still have my nasty blue--but super comfy--girls camp sweatshirt) or favorite bands or working as an EFY Counselor. I'm not really sure that it's the memory that keeps them from a garbage bin grave. It's probably my frugality. Why buy a new shirt to sleep in when this one is worn in and perfectly comfortable?

I also have a white half-slip that I've had probably since I was old enough to start wearing slips. It's just kind of grown with me. I think slips are magic like that.

...and now that this confession has become a little embarrassing, what article of clothing have you been hanging onto for ten-plus years? I can't be the only one.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

I've still got an old Mossimo shirt that I've had since Jr High. Still wear it on occasion. It was my lucky shirt (I wore it whenever I was planning on asking a girl out or going on a date and needed some luck)

Brooke said...

I have two old sweaters one was my dad's and one ones my mom's. My dad's has holes everywhere (I only wear it around the house) and the other one Dustin calls it my 'starsky and hutch' sweater. I love them!

Amanda B. said...

Hmmmm- not sure if I have much of anything left. If I could stay the same size more than a year or two, than maybe I would....I yo yo so much (sooooo annoying...), that my size changes often and I end up getting rid of the other stuff. But, I do still have my high school senior year sweatshirt (14 years old) with the names of everyone I graduated with. I don't wear it out of the house, but it is comfy on cold winter nights or for lounging around the house when I am sick. :)

Sam and Becky said...

I just recently had a garage sale.. I, like you, like to go through my closet 3-4 times a year.. However, my mom brought over a bag of clothes... In it was my old warm-ups from high school basketball (10th grade perhaps...?) she has been hanging onto those for quite some time! I still have allll of my old practice shirts from high school and college.. My mom was clever enough to make me a quilt out of them for me...I couldn't quite part with the shirts.. its a cool looking quilt!

Autumn said...

Funny question. I was pondering this recently. Most old tees I can get rid of-even the same EFY counselor shirt that I'm certain you're noting. (It took time b/c I LOVED that experience AND the logo...but I finally did--it was huge on me.) BUT I do have a CC running shirt that used to be Jake's-that he gave to me-I wore it all the time as a pj shirt in college-and its now been on his back again. I don't know if I can ever get rid of that one though its uglier than sin.

Lauri said...

As long as everyone is fessing up...I also have that old blue camp sweatshirt but mine is even older than yours (1989). I also have camp t-shirts and youth conference t-shirts from the late 1990's and more recent ones from 3 years ago. They make great work out clothes and painting clothes. The oldest thing I have in my closet is a black suit from 2000. It's starting to wear out but it's such a great style and one I cant replace. This may be the last season I can wear it.

And about the baseball cap--I wish I had one. Like you, I only need it occasionally but when I do, I wish I had one.

Kris said...

Love the hat! I hung onto a white summer dress for YEARS in the hopes of getting back into it one day. FINALLY tossed that thing about two years ago. Know what..didn't hurt at all!!!

Genn said...

That's a super cute hat!! Hats can be huge lifesavers.

I get rid of stuff every month or so. I just hate cluttler, or hanging onto things that don't get worn or used, so if it hasn't been worn in the last 6-12 months, I donate it. I do have a STACK, and I mean stack, of skinny jeans that I can't get rid of. Not skinny jeans as in the new ugly style, but skinny jeans, as in the size I used to be before birthing two children. It's probably just a fantasy that will never come true, but I can't part with them.

jeanine said...

I so remember that hat! Fun. I hold on to stuff WAY too long. I probably have every old camp shirt and my sweatshirt. I LOVE wearing my high school track sweatshirt... it's so comfy! And my favorite is my youth conference shirt from our senior year--the yellow one--it's at that perfectly thin stage. I'm sure there are a ton more... some that I need to throw out... but those are the ones I remember right now :)

Kelly said...

I have kept nothing that long and still wear it- but Dana has and we argue about it all the time!! I did find an OSU Human Ecology Tshirt that I had to have the year I graduated that I probably wore that summer and never again, but can't seem to part with.
Dana, on the other hand has plenty but they get fewer and fewer each time I clean his closet!!

Abbey said...

Oh Katie I have a NKOTB concert shirt that my sister got me when I was maybe in the seconde grade, I have thought many times of donating it but it is now vintage. I also have all my soccer jersey, lets just say I started playing soccer in first grade. Oh yeah and a Rally for life Tshirt from the big march that my mom went to in 1990. I will stop now.

Heidi said...

i have a HUGE plastic bin of work out clothes/ pajamas that I cannot get rid of. I feel like, when get rid of them if I am just going to have to buy new ones, and they are so comfy. Matt makes fun of me for keeping it all.

Nicole said...

I have a stretched out,very loved (at the time) Goofy sweater from 1995. I remember walking into the Disney Store and it sang to me. I just had to have it. Haven't worn it in many, many years but it still has a spot in a drawer of my dresser.

I can't stand clutter either so I also pay my closet a visit a few times a year and donate to the thrift store or have a garage sale.

Traci Elizabeth said...

I am way opposite. I love to get rid of things. Maybe I lack that part of the brain that is sentimental!!

Violet said...

Funny that you posted this because just last week I went through 3 grocery bags of T-shirts from high school that I was saving to make a T-shirt quilt. I did keep them all I just cut out the logo (or front half of the shirt) so that I can make quilt squares some day. The oldest was a girl scout t-shirt from 6th or 7th grade and a Corona Children's Chorus sweatshirt. (The choir Sis. Green had back in the early 90s, sorry I can't remember her new last name at the moment.)Going through the shirts brought back a lot of great high school memories.

amelia said...

SO MUCH. I started a blog post on this a while back and kept it in draft because there was SO MUCH. I just barely got rid of the dress I wore to 8th grade promotion. 12 YEARS!! I stopped wearing it a few years into high school, but still held onto it.