AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
I have too many clothes. Far too many. This comes from having three levels of each garment type. Save for best, daily decent, and slobbing about the house. The save for best hardly ever gets worn, unless I'm running behind on other laundry, and takes ages to get demoted to daily decent. The daily decent does most of the work, and the slobbing around the house/garden never really gets completely worn out, yet grows in number as the daily decents tire and get demoted. Every so often, I do a purge, then get a load more daily decent stuff, some of which I decide is too good and should be saved for best, and the cycle begins again.
Anyone else, or is this just me?
I'm going to break the pattern, and try running with a minimal wardrobe for the next three months.
June, July and August, should theoretically be the warmest months, where the simplest wardrobe is needed. This means I should be able to focus on short sleeve and long sleeve single layer shirts and tops, and lighter weight trousers and shorts. I'll split the wardrobe contents, so a "minimal" amount of what I own is available to use, and the rest will be kept separate. If something wears out, then I'll replace it with something from the separate reserve stuff. However, I'll only increase the number of a particular garment type, if health, weather, or whatever, means I'm using stuff faster than its getting washed and back on the rail.
That should be a nice easy stage one.
Come autumn, I'll need more layers, and so for the following three months, I can allow more layers/garments to creep in. I won't need more shirts, but I'll either need something to wear over it, or a warmer single layer instead.
Again, as winter sets in, the heavier layers will be needed. Clothes take longer to dry inside too (I don't use a tumble dryer) so I might need to increase quantities of something that was previously enough. By springtime, I should be working back through the autumn weight items I've already shortlisted.
Voila, I've got a wardrobe that actually meets my needs.
At no point (yet) will I be throwing stuff away, unless it's wrecked, or simply doesn't fit anymore. It will just be kept in reserve while I figure out what I really need, without falling into the trap of thinking I've left myself too short and starting shopping again. I won't have that excuse, if there's more stuff that can be called into use.
I'll use this thread to make summaries as I go of what numbers I'm starting with, how many I'm leaving available, and whether it's actually working. The target isn't to run extra lean, more to understand the actual needs, so I'm not in perpetual excess or false perceptions of needing more.
Anyone else, or is this just me?
I'm going to break the pattern, and try running with a minimal wardrobe for the next three months.
June, July and August, should theoretically be the warmest months, where the simplest wardrobe is needed. This means I should be able to focus on short sleeve and long sleeve single layer shirts and tops, and lighter weight trousers and shorts. I'll split the wardrobe contents, so a "minimal" amount of what I own is available to use, and the rest will be kept separate. If something wears out, then I'll replace it with something from the separate reserve stuff. However, I'll only increase the number of a particular garment type, if health, weather, or whatever, means I'm using stuff faster than its getting washed and back on the rail.
That should be a nice easy stage one.
Come autumn, I'll need more layers, and so for the following three months, I can allow more layers/garments to creep in. I won't need more shirts, but I'll either need something to wear over it, or a warmer single layer instead.
Again, as winter sets in, the heavier layers will be needed. Clothes take longer to dry inside too (I don't use a tumble dryer) so I might need to increase quantities of something that was previously enough. By springtime, I should be working back through the autumn weight items I've already shortlisted.
Voila, I've got a wardrobe that actually meets my needs.
At no point (yet) will I be throwing stuff away, unless it's wrecked, or simply doesn't fit anymore. It will just be kept in reserve while I figure out what I really need, without falling into the trap of thinking I've left myself too short and starting shopping again. I won't have that excuse, if there's more stuff that can be called into use.
I'll use this thread to make summaries as I go of what numbers I'm starting with, how many I'm leaving available, and whether it's actually working. The target isn't to run extra lean, more to understand the actual needs, so I'm not in perpetual excess or false perceptions of needing more.