When Rob and I first started dating, I knew that I really liked him, but I wasn’t exactly in love with his entire wardrobe. I remember confiding in my good friend Meggan, “I think he still wears some clothes from high school.” One day last year, while Rob was cooking dinner in a brown shirt that I am certain dated all the way back to the late nineties, I mustered up the courage to ask him how long he had owned the shirt. Rob looked down, smiled shyly and admitted that yup, it probably came from his high school days.
Rob is such a simple man. He does not share my great love of new clothes and staying with the latest trends in fashion. That’s one of the ways in which we complement each other. Rob helps keep me grounded and I help him put his best foot forward when he leaves the house each day. Within a few months of that conversation, Rob gathered all of the oldest (and most outdated) items from his closet and donated four black garbage bags full of clothes to the Salvation Army.
Life was good and I was happy with the fashionable strides forward Rob continued to make with his wardrobe. Until a few weeks ago.
When the brown shirt resurfaced.
Rob was wearing it around the house one day. I pointed it out that it was intended for the Salvation Army last year, and thus began another round of cleaning out Rob’s closet. We formed a huge pile on his best of all the lingering outdated clothes.
Here are a few of the highlights…
A navy blue leather University of Michigan coat was about 2 sizes too large for Rob.
A cream sweater, that was in good shape and fit Rob well, but also had a certain 90s vibe to it.
And then there was Rob’s collection of bad ties.
The most entertaining item I discovered when I helped Rob clean out his closets was a heap of green and red socks from his days in Boy Scouts. I love Rob very much and I am certain that the scouting program had a profound impact in shaping the caring, selfless man that I know today.
But I think it’s time to say goodbye to the socks.
Rob kept about six pairs of the really comfortable socks from his scouting days. They are not shown in the photo and I completely understand the desire to keep items for their sentimental value. The “good socks” get to stay, but the rest of the socks had to go. Unless you know of a really good craft that we could create with a bunch of old green socks.
The giant heap on Rob’s bed was enough to fill one large garbage back and provided a nice little write-off for the 2014 tax season.
Rob’s bedroom contains two small closets. I took this photo a few weeks ago as a peek into the remains of both closets. They look so sad and empty.
Thankfully, Rob got a few new suits, dress shirts and sweaters for Christmas; and I cannot wait to expand his wardrobe with high quality clothes.
After we finish Dave Ramsey’s debt plan, of course.
Yep, that’s a man for you. My husband still has items that I know he had in college. Luckily he is on a cleaning spree and is beginning to discard.
He looks so cheerful in every picture! What a good sport. :)
That’s my Rob! He never stops smiling. (OK, that’s not entirely true. He doesn’t smile when he’s hungry or he’s driving). But he smiles a lot and he is a good sport!