15 months in I have started clearing out my wife’s clothes. It’s hard but not as hard as I thought. Done the easy things first. My question is what on earth do I fill the gaps with. An empty wardrobe and chest of drawers feels almost as bad as her clothes and all her things on the top of the chest of drawers and elsewhere. How do you manage that?
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Hello @Epe
Sending you big hugs. That must have been so hard for you. You are very brave to have done it.
I’m 2 and half years in, and all my husbands clothes are still here. I actually wear lots of them! Probably easier for a wife to wear her husbands clothes then the other way round (sorry if that’s not very pc and offends anyone)
Take your time, and be kind to yourself.
I’ve no idea how I would cope with the empty spaces in wardrobes and draws.
Perhaps hang in there a shirt or jumper of yours that your wife bought for you, and loved seeing you in.
Sending love hugs and strength
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@Epe
Well done for tackling it. It does seem whatever we do ends up still challenging in one way or another.
My long term plan is to have a summer wardrobe and a winter one, so maybe you could do that and just have less in each. Or have one for coats which are often elsewhere in the house.
I’m with @Cathphil that I wear lots of my husband’s clothes. And between us we had way way too many as we’d both changed sizes due to his long illness and also lost activities so have sports clothes that were no longer used. I have a mammoth task to tame, I’ve done some easy stuff. But I would love to be back to a size that I could fit into fave clothes so keep putting it off. I can’t imagine an empty wardrobe.
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@Epe Well done to you that must have been so difficult i too have lots of Linda’s clothes i cant touch as yet only losing her in 8th oct last i have looked at them many times but its just to hard to do she did have a lot from the past that i have never seen her wear as they prob didn’t fit but she had kept but there are so many i see that are in photos around the house that i couldn’t get rid off esp her fave maxi dresses and her cardigan she always wore over her dresses if it was chilly she had that for as long as we were together at least and she loved her flip flop shoes of them there are some still in the boxes but some she wore very recently which will stay put I’m going to ask her daughter if there are any she wants to keep too when i see her next but as she lives some distance away it might be a while so until i can look at them without becoming a complete mess there they will stay as she left them well done though that was brave 
Martin
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Dear all. Thank you for your kind and sympathetic replies. I am so sorry you’re all going through this too. My mantra is one foot in front of the other. The time is right for me to sort her clothes out. It may not be the time for others. It’s really important to keep those feet going at a pace that is right for you. Sending strength and compassion to all. X
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Hi Epe, it must be so very difficult but well done, little by little. My husband died in July, I have folded into a box the clothes that he had packed into a suitcase for our holiday, that we never went on, I ended up crying and had to stop. I hope to find the strength that you found one day, but like you can’t bear to think of all the empty cupboard space, it will just be a reminder of the empty space in my heart 
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