How is it possible that a ratty old t-shirt can hold so many memories?
I can’t count the number of times I have almost placed a favorite t-shirt in the trash or the donate pile . . . only to put it back in a drawer.
Sooooo many memories.
But I recently had a moment of clarity as I was folding the above favorite-but-too-ratty-to-even-think-of-putting-in-my-garage-sale t-shirt. If you live in Texas, you recognize the symbol and the irony. (Do you have Dairy Queens where you live?)
While folding, I was listening to Money Saving Mom’s book. In one of the lists of ways to save money, she mentioned cutting out paper products as much as possible. One idea was to create rags out of old t-shirts. It was a quick tip, but significantly mind-changing for me.
Not so much as a way to save money, but as a way to break through my sentimentality. For some reason, placing this beloved t-shirt in the trash was saying it no longer meant anything to me.
That it was completely and totally useless.
And that felt disloyal. Irrational, but true.
So I kept it. Long past the point where I could even answer the front door wearing it. Long past the point where I could sleep in it without feeling a twinge of guilt that I wasn’t trying a little harder to look decent for my husband.
Somehow, giving this t-shirt purpose . . . helped me break through that strange guilt that I tend to feel over inanimate objects.
And . . . cutting up t-shirts into 8-inch-or-so squares is a great job for an 8 year old boy!
I know the point is to GET RID OF STUFF but if you really, REALLY can’t or there are a few tees that have total sentimental value… 1 or 2 might make cute decorative pillows for the kid’s rooms.
Pretty easy and also fun for kids developing or possessing sewing skills:
http://jezebel.com/5849901/how-to-turn-a-t+shirt-into-a-pillow
Yay! Good for you! T-shirts make wonderful rags too.
My husband had more clothes than I did when we got married (in our 30s). His bachelor solution to all those old t-shirts and socks that had been accumulating since high school was to keep them. 
So…before we got married one day we went through all his clothes which he’d moved here from California. Wow. There was a lot of stuff there! I wonder if any other woman started married life with as many rags as I had. LOL 
Also, socks make good rags for dusting. They are great to slip over your hands (or your child’s hands) and then just run your hands over everything. You can spray them with a dusting spray if you wish.
An additional tip on that sock/duster is to cut a slit down the back/heel of the elastic so that you (or whomever sorts socks at your house) does not mistake it as a SOCK when it is now a RAG when it comes out of the laundry.
I have this same issue! Here’s a great sentimental way to preserve the graphic, after using the rest as rags: http://quiltbug.com/articles/Tshirt-quilts.htm
So glad you suggested the t-shirt quilt! I had the same idea and was going to suggest checking out Andrea Dekker’s post on Simple Organized Living about the t-shirt quilt she had made by an Etsy vendor. It sounds like a lot of people are sentimental about their t-shirts! I guess it’s because they’re with us for so many memorable times in our lives. It’s nice that you can use them for rags AND save the part with the design for a keepsake that isn’t clutter!
Oh, Nony, my mom has been doing this for forever although more from a cheap/ thrifty POV than for sentimental reasons. Dad’s old white T’s had plenty of useful fabric left as did all the worn out wash cloths and towels. Absorbent, flexible, washable, bleachable. Good for kitchen clean-ups too. They even sell boxes of shop rags at hardware and big-box stores that are re-purposed hotel and restaurant linens – cheap, cheerful and eco-friendly!
Now all I really want is a Vanilla Oreo Blizzard… and look what I found!
http://www.amazon.com/Drama-Queen-T-shirt-Apparel-Medium/dp/B0042GLKCU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1336627365&sr=8-4
My first thought was a t-shirt quilt but when the shirt is that worn…rags seem best.
The good thing about using a too-worn-to-wear-favorite t-shirt for rags is walking down memory lane when you’re dusting!
Just finished 28 days and I laughed when I got to the end and you told us to go wash the dishes! Wanted you to know that I did start a load of dishes when you said to, I just finished the book instead of doing the hand washing.