I need to start wearing my clothes - anyone else? How best to plan what the wear

[RitaPanda]

I have a wardrobe of lovely clothes. I love shopping probably love it a bit too much but I never wear my clothes! I might as well give them all to the charity shop.

Obviously I don't walk around naked - I just always wear the same few things. I work from home a bit and always throw on old joggers and a hoody. Ok fair enough if I'm not leaving the house all day, apart from maybe a quick walk to get fresh air at lunch time.

To work (when I'm in the office) I have a couple of dresses that I alternate - the ones that are top of the pile. I have to leave the house super early, and get back super late so don't have the energy to really think about what to wear. Also my office is insanely hot so that rules out all my nice jumpers, boots etc as I tend to just wear a thin dress (with a massive coat for outside in winter).

Weekends I am often out doing sports (although not at the moment as pregnant and sick) so I would wear my sports kit then when I get home I shower then stick the joggers and hoody on or a onesie

Occasionally I'll go out such as for a meal with DH and I'll wear 'proper' clothes then. But that's not often.

I had a clear out last year, and got rid of anything not flattering, scruffy, etc so I don't have piles and piles of clothes - just one wardrobe of dresses skirts and tops and one drawer of knitwear, so it it not as though I have loads of clothes.

I need to get more organised. I used to plan my outfits with matching jewellery and everything and felt so much smarter back then. Lost my mojo!

When I was young and not knackered, I used to do the thing Ana suggested. Every now and then I would get everything out of the wardrobe, find new combinations and try them on. Now that I am older and knackered, I've developed a new method:the cba to iron. I do iron my clothes, but not frequently. That forces me to find ironed, wearable combinations in my wardrobe. It can be stressful when I am trying to get out the house in the morning. So I'm going to try to get an outfit together for tomorrow.

nelldo the dresses need heels? Could you not wear some smart flats?

So this weekend I actually wore proper outfits, and put make up on. Even though I wasn’t doing anything special.
I felt so much better about myself. And it didn’t take long to quickly do hair & male up

Another added complication is, I find, my weight loss/gain thing. I have fab clothes that are either too big or too small at any given moment.

tiedie I am blessed with incredibly short legs so the dresses would benefit from heels. There’s one that I have worn with flats and it looks okay. It’s a bit shorter than the other dresses so maybe I should take the others up a bit and see if they work with flats.

I agree fluctuating weight can be an unhelpful issue.

I have a Reiss pencil skirt from my early 20s, it was the first item of decent clothing I bought when I got my first (proper) pay packet. I loved that skirt and felt a million dollars in it. Until recently (I'm currently pregnant and fat) I could just about squeeze into it, but not comfortably. I have a few other items that are too small now too.

I think once the baby is born, I will give myself a year and then see where I am weight wise. I will then be honest with myself about whether I am ever going to fit into my size 6s again, and if not, time for them to go. I might keep the Reiss skirt though, I know it sounds sad but it reminds me of being a slim 20-something and feeling really great about myself (after years of no self-esteem).

I'm like this too- my problem is more that 1) my body shape has changed due to weight gain, pregnancies, breastfeeding etc so I actually don't know how to dress myself and 2) the things I do have don't really fit me well any more. So I've lots of things that don't fit but suit me, and lots of things that fit but don't suit me, and then a few things that achieve that mythical middle zone on the ven diagram! I wear them to death so they look tatty quickly, plus I do stupid things like get hair dye, then bleach, on my new jeans so they look horrendous. I am a sahm so don't need smart clothes and so I keep wearing what I have hoping I'll lose some weight. My skinny wardrobe is lovely. I have done kondo in the past but that only works if you have some clothes left over, or money to buy the things you really do need.

I partly resolved the issue by buying a massive, lovely winter coat which covers up all my horrible clothes underneath. But soon Spring/summer will be here again!

I will have some money for Christmas, so I know a decent pair of jeans is on the list, but I don't know what else I need. What I really need is to lose a stone, then I'd have loads to wear but probably the same problem as I think the issue is largely in my mind.....!