Ideas for Recycling Your Clothes after Weight Loss Surgery
Posted: Oct 10 in Lifestyle and Activity by Staff
One of the most exciting aspects of weight loss surgery is the clothes shopping you get to do as you move toward your weight loss goal. And what’s not to love about an entirely new wardrobe for an entirely new body? The dilemma is: what do you do with your old clothes?
Keep one outfit. It’s important to remember your roots. Occasionally looking at one outfit that you wore when you were larger will help keep you in touch with the success you’ve had and can help you keep the weight off.
Donate clothes to others. Donating clothes to abused women (CASA), Salvation Army, Goodwill or one of the many organizations who offer assistance to people in need will make you feel good and will give your old clothes a very important new role.
Use them for cleaning and painting. Your old clothes can be used as rags for cleaning or coveralls for painting and remodeling.
Bring them to a Support Meeting. Most of the people attending your weight loss surgery support group will be struggling with poorly fitting clothes and keeping the cost of acquiring new outfits down. Organize a clothing exchange so you can support each other’s weight loss success in a tangible way.
Sell your clothes through a consignment shop. Why not defray the cost of your new clothes by selling some of your old clothes? Most things that are in good shape with no stains or holes can be sold through your local consignment shop.
Use clothes for quilting. One of the great things about quilting is that quilts can be made with just about any fabric, including those with sentimental value. A quilt made out of some of your old clothes will keep you warm and remind you of how far you’ve come. You don’t have to be handy with a needle and thread to make a quilt. Consider commissioning a keepsake through one of the many quilting guilds around the country (http://www.quiltguilds.com/).
You can do cool things with old jeans like making art bags for your children at school. You cut off the legs and sew them shut. Then you can sew on some ties to the corners of the waist band. Your child will have the seat of the pants as well as the back and side pockets to store school supplies. In these economic times this is a good way to get more than one use out of your clothes and save money for back to school.
These are all great ways to deal with your old clothes. Have a yard sale and use the money you earn to buy new clothes. If you don’t want to sell them I am a firm believer in giving them to goodwill or the salvation army; they can always use clothes and other items, especially this time of year. The point is don’t leave them “hanging” around your house.
Is anyone interested in putting together a clothing exchange??Leslie
AFter the first of the year, we at the Bariatric Institute are planing to organize a clothes swap. We are all encouraged at our weight loss and our clothing sizes changing, but buying clothes is expensive and this would be a great way to get a new wordrobe that fits while sharing our old clothing with others. I wouldlove to hear others point of view on this.
I have given away all my jeans and shirts but have some very nice size 20, 22 and 3x blouses, skirts and jackets…don’t want to just given them away. would love a clothes swap….