Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Following the "Reduce" of "Reduce Reuse Recycle" slogan, this thread is a verbal promise to completely use a item. Ere forums and elsewhere are examples of stating a goal publicly making it more likely to succeed. This is small microcosm.

My goal is 25% reduction in clothing items strictly from use. My work and daily life are not dependent on fashion. This makes for both easy acquisition (goodwill & salvation army) and use (wear, wash wear again in the same week). This is an arbitrary goal, an exercise of will. Clothing is very little of my budget.

Since a garment will endure roughly 100 washes, restricting your wardrobe to those [25%] you want to wear out will increase turnover and thus make the process faster. Insofar the goal is to wear clothes out, it's better to have a smaller wardrobe lest it look like you're only wearing the same semi-old pieces "forever". This way, you can bring in new pieces according to current fashion or whatever. Alternatively, it's possible to live higher on the food chain and donate/sell while it's still possible. This costs somewhat more in churn.

Depending on what you do in your clothes, wearing out white clothes without them getting all stained first can be difficult. So I'll recommend darker/brown colors for this. Or - very dark pants and a medium tone shirts.

@Toska2

Another thing to remember is that not all clothing and other items need to be washed every time. Handwashing and linedrying are fabric-savers as well. Items can be mended or appreciated as-is. Some people purchase holey jeans; we make our own.

DH is not a fan of wearing clothes out. He seems to like getting the one-off new stuff, especially gear. DS is more like me, though I appreciate vintage more. As a teen, thrifting has become embarrassing.

@C40

Wearing out white clothes and/or repurposing is hard. If linedrying in the sun, they seem to stay whiter.

UPDATE: DS (DH, trying to go more gender neutral) has starting using things up more. I wanted to upload the Rod Laver Adidas he’s still wearing but couldn’t figure it out. (Fair disclosure: They are no longer being made.).

I am currently wearing my clothes out. Currently, heming the pants legs and patchigns holes where possible. However might need to get some new ones soon sadly. Probably make something out of them that can be useful.

My goal is to use up the excess fat stored upon my person in order to avoid wearing out my hip joints.

I always wear out the vast majority of my clothes, the biggest exception being some work stuff that because of my line of work (sales) cannot be worn if they are in bad shape.

In regards to:
Jeans
Casual shoes
T-shirts
Sweaters
Hoodies
Socks
Underwear

They all get worn till they break.

Does anyone know the origin of the children's game hot potato?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_potato_(game)

I view possessions like the hot potato. I don't want to be the one left holding the potato when the music stops and the item is worn out. As Jacob said, there are costs to the churn.

@Ego - You have the benefit of sitting pretty in the stream (set up for both sourcing and sinking) with your resale/flipping business. This seems like the ideal setup. Bea Johnson also get rid of her hot potatoes but as far as I understood, it was mostly by donating back to thrift stores. On a similar note, DW semi-often gets a bag (or three) of clothes from SIL who also has massive clothes turnover. In her younger days, S did something similar to you but at the buy new->sell used->buy more new stage, thus partially funding her fashion addiction by selling off "unfashionable" stuff.

The lazy approach is certainly to "decompose" but being a more active member of the cycle certainly makes the wardrobe look better.

I have a bunch of t-shirts I would like to wear out as it seems t-shirts are a go-to gift for many which has left me with far too many in my wardrobe. Unfortunately/Fortunately they seem to be unwilling to wear out XD.

Remember, no longer serviceable t-shirts can be cut or torn into strips and then crocheted or woven into all manner of objects. Socks with holes in toe or heel, if not of a quality to warrant darning, may be creatively altered into puppets or beer bottle cozies for holiday giving.

@7wb5
I'm not as creative so most of my worn out t-shirts get turned in to rags for cleaning around the house and for polishing my shoes.

@Jacob, agreed, my situation is unusual. At the other end of the spectrum is Rent the Runway for people who must dress fashionably for work. Our penthouse dwellers loved it and always appeared (to my untrained eye) to be dressed as if walking down a runway.

A similar more frugal option is what I call an ebay rental. It works well for those who know exactly what they want and can anticipate a future need (for example an interview suit: Hugo Boss Trim Fit wool navy suit size 40 Regular / 32 X 33 Waist). Create a saved search for it on ebay. You'll get an email when one is listed. If it is an auction, bid at the last minute. Auctions for such specific items will generally sell for a fraction of retail price. If you are not sure of fit, go to Nordstrom and try it on.

I have three pair of nursing scrubs I purchased 3.5 yrs ago when I started traveling nursing. They are worn/washed 1X weekly for about 48 weeks a year. I have been repairing seam rips in armpits, pockets, crotch for about a year now. It's gotten to the point I have to inspect them after every wash cycle and repair at least one hole. Still, I'm hesitant to replace them because I feel it's a commitment to work FT for another 3 years!

The fewer number of certain possessions one has, the more important to 'wear it well' instead of 'wearing it out'.

The concept of wearing it out always seems to include a certain non-negligible probability of being bare assed at the least opportune moment

I think this applies to clothes, body parts and relationships.

jacob wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:07 am

@Ego - You have the benefit of sitting pretty in the stream (set up for both sourcing and sinking) with your resale/flipping business. This seems like the ideal setup.

But is it really?
If selling when stuff is well worn (but not really about to break because that wold feel dishonest to me) what could I realistically expect to realize?
Maybe $2 for a Tshirt and $5 for a pair of jeans? Might as well wear them out, I wold expect the utility to be same (or even above) market price at that point.

I also use my unusable tshirts as rags

Seppia wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:07 pm

I also use my unusable tshirts as rags

Rags are good, but I feel like the lifespan of a tshirt rag is longer than the tshirt and I ultimately just end up with a huge pile of rags in the end - with the exception of oil rags - those are done pretty fast.

My oldest tshirt is 15 years old and still hanging on, I don't think there is a single hole in it but it's getting pretty thin.

One thing to keep in mind here is that a simple textile item like a cotton/poly blend t-shirt isn't much more energy intensive than many other items which are commonly disposed of after single use. Since price is a reasonable proxy for energy intensity, throwing away a $5 t-shirt likely isn't any worse than using $5 worth of toilet paper.

Anyways, I hate to appear immodest, but I might suggest that only those of us who have successfully dated a septugenarian can claim true mastery of this realm.

Seppia wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:07 pm

If selling when stuff is well worn (but not really about to break because that wold feel dishonest to me) what could I realistically expect to realize?
Maybe $2 for a Tshirt and $5 for a pair of jeans? Might as well wear them out, I wold expect the utility to be same (or even above) market price at that point.

I also use my unusable tshirts as rags

Oh no! How many of these have you used as rags?
https://www.ebay.com/sch/T-Shirts/15687 ... 1&_fosrp=1

Keep in mind, ebay is old school. I have friends who are regularly selling 90s tshirts on instagram for $100+. For now they are doing it with zero transaction fee but instagram just introduced some store features. Next time you are thinking of buying something, check out the hastags on instagram first.

There are many creative people who buy expensive designer dress pants with worn cuffs and re-hem them shorter for resale. Reweaving is making a resurgence. De-pilling has always been popular. Replacing broken zippers and changing buttons so they all match can be fun. A cigarette burn on a camel hair jacket or an ink stain in an otherwise fabulous dress shirt is seen by many as a challenge.

Patagonia's Worn Wear is the tip of the iceberg.

I forget people are crazy.
Luckily I don’t have many concert t shirts, just random satanic band ones