Now that summer temperatures have finally arrived in Raleigh, I decided to rearrange my clothing on the shelves in my closet. It was time to move my winter shirts to a lower shelf and organize my summer shirts by size and sleeve length.
Since I moved here four years ago, I’ve transitioned from wearing size L shirts to size M and eventually to size S. Some of this was due to losing weight but mostly it was getting used to wearing properly fitting clothes.
I’ve gotten rid of all my large shirts, fleeces, coats and pants. I still wear some of the medium ones when I want a looser fit. Small shirts fit the best. I only have a few of them because I just started buying size S this year.
Or so I thought.
After pulling everything off the shelves and sorting it by size, I realize I have 7 Small long sleeve summer shirts and 7 Medium ones, plus 7 short sleeves Medium t-shirts that are cut to be form fitting.
I don’t need to buy another shirt for a long time.
In winter, I only wear 2 shirts a week. In summer, I might double that due to sweat. At that rate, I can go for months without running out.
I’m covered with 7 fleeces of various weights, 4 pairs of small pants, 3 pairs of medium pants, 2 pairs of jeans, and small jackets of various levels of insulation that span summer cool days to frigid winter nights.
When I think of all the clothes I used to own, I am dumfounded. I had drawers stuffed to capacity and closets packed. Even after I downsized after finding minimalism in 2010, I still had clothes I never wore.
All of that was bought at retail prices and eventually all of it was donated to charity for a 100% loss.
What a waste of money. And what overconsumption.