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My first shoe purge in 2010 got me from 30 pairs of shoes to 13 pairs – the national average. This was progress, but since I work at home, heels hurt my feet, and I really don’t care much about shoe fashion, I felt that certainly I could do better. I just reviewed my shoe wardrobe, but was only able to decrease it to 11 pairs. This doesn’t sound like much reduction but my rationale is that I bet the national average does not include boots and slippers. I’m counting everything!
Today, instead of showing what shoes I’m giving away, I decided to take a photo of which shoes I’m keeping and why. In studying my shoes I realized that 90% of the time I only wear 2 or 3 pair. The other shoes are for back-up or special occasions. Why not give away all those extras? Good question. My justification is that it would be a waste of time and money to go out and buy a fancy pair of shoes for the once or twice a year dressy event I might go to. Likewise, even though I only need snow boots several times a year, I want to have them around when it does snow.
- 1st Row: Shoes I wear almost every day depending on season (cozy bedroom slippers, all purpose semi dressy sandals, all purpose summer walking sandals, all purpose winter comfortable shoes)
- 2nd Row: Back-up shoes that I seldom wear, but use for special occasions (travel slippers, fancier flats, water socks for walking along rocky streams, back up casual shoes that don’t look too dworky when worn with black slacks)
- 3rd Row: Unique need shoes (extra fancy shoes with heels that are comfortable enough in case another child gets married or I get invited to the Oscars and need to have shoes that look dressy and I can also dance in; snow boots; semi-snow boots for looking professional during the winter)
So this is the best I can do for now. Do any of you, simple-lifestyle loving readers, have other solutions to taming the multiplication of shoes?
PS: Oh oh! I just realized that I have two pairs of shoes in my dance bag that I only use for contra dancing. I forgot about those when I took the photo and counted. But I really must have those and do wear them weekly. Hmm, maybe the Oscar shoes can go and I could wear socks instead of travel slippers.
Update (1 month later): I wore those “semi-snow boots” today for a walk and slipped twice. Jim said I should throw them out. “It’s not worth a sprained ankle or worse.” I have to admit he’s right. I took them off when I got home and planned to trash them. Now I just looked for them and they’re nowhere to be found. I think Jim threw them in the garbage lest I lose courage and decide to keep them. 😕
