Living Lightly

Three questions for today:

1. Do any women wear slips anymore? Why do I have 5 that I seldom wear?
2. Does anyone really want to wear my used panty-hose and tights?
3. Why do I have a bikini that I wouldn’t dare wear anymore and a swim cap nobody but Olympic swimmers wear these days?

I threw away the cap along with some socks that weren’t even good as rags.

OK, I realize these are primarily female clothes again, but I’m reluctant to throw away stuff from Jim’s drawers. Besides I don’t think you’d like to see his drawers. Again today I decided to wash one nightgown before deciding whether to give it away or now. The spots came out. I think I’ll keep it – at least a little longer.

Today was more of a challenge because in order to decide which tops to give away I had to get out many of my contradance skirts and dresses. So much of my clothing is mix and match and that is good but it also means that tops are dependent on which skirts they match. I’m reminded again of family systems and how we each depend on the other members.

I decided to divide my tops into long sleeve and short sleeve. Perhaps I should have combined the categories, but I don’t want to run out of groupings before the 40 days are up. I think this kind of thinking contradicts the spirit of Lent and generosity – but then I’m also giving up guilt.

One of my packing strategies for trips is to take a bunch of scarves so I can make three outfits out of one. Scarves are also a small and light accessory which helps me fit everything into a carry on – a constant goal of mine. In reviewing my scarves, however, I did find some I never wear. Now jewelry like earrings and necklaces don’t take a lot of storage room but do I really wear them all? I decided to keep a couple heirloom pieces even though I’ve hardly every worn them. Some memories are meant to be kept.

Not only do I have the sweaters I wear on a daily basis (layered of course against the winter chill), but I rediscovered a stash of sweaters I had stored under the bed. I like sweaters. Even the ones I don’t wear regularly are so pretty, it’s hard to part with them. There’s the kelly green one that I only wear on St. Patrick’s Day since green isn’t really my color, ditto for the red Christmas sweater. I remember Dan’s question about parting with things I love but others can use. Well, check out the photo.
Two things I learned from sorting sweaters:
1. I got a boost from my husband and our house guest, Isaac, donating several sweaters.
2. After reading some of your posts about not giving away trash, I felt guilty enough that I mended some holes in the sweaters and washed those that needed it. This is taking more time than just choosing what to give away!

How many pairs of khaki slacks does one need? Well, more than one I guess since I could only get myself down to three (one dress pair for summer, one dress pair for winter, and one casual pair.) I justify these (plus my two pair of black slacks) by saying they are my all purpose travel/speaking uniform since I can match them with different tops and have a variety of outfits. Sounds reasonable to me. I wonder how it would sound to someone in Haiti. How important is it to a speaker’s credibility to have sharp, modern looking clothes? Your thoughts?

Now it gets a little harder. Although my typical daily wardrobe consists of jeans and a turtleneck, I do need to have some professional attire for speaking engagements. (The fashion police, aka my daughter, informed me that my wardrobe really needed a makeover if I wanted to have credibility with the younger generation of couples and parents.) So, I have a few stock outfits that I use for travel and speaking. Plus, there are some really fine suits that I don’t wear all that often but, hey! you never know when I might need a whole week of professional suits. I also want to keep that black suit that’s perfect for funerals. As my mother says, “At my age I’m going to more and more of them.”

OK, I admit this is more of a female give-away item, but don’t worry, you guys will have your chance. Since I’ve primarily been working from home for the past six years, I don’t need to get dressed up very often and that’s fine with me. It saves time and money spent on a professional wardrobe. But…I’ve never pruned the clothes I used to wear to work from my closet. Skirts are the beginning. Although I have sentimental attachment to some skirts, I have to admit choosing to get rid of some was not a difficult decision. They were pretty outdated anyway.

I’ve discovered that it’s hard to pick just one category like “shirts” to get rid of. Some shirts or blouses go with particular slacks or skirts and I shouldn’t decide one without knowing if I’ll keep items that coordinate with it. Although I’ll write about these in discrete categories, I see that clothing is like a family system. Each piece has a relationship with other pieces. No shirt is an island.

PS: In order to put some order to my choices, I’ve decided to go room by room starting with our bedroom. That’s probably where our closet and drawers are most in need of pruning. Besides, that’s where the shoes were.

PPS to Kathleen who promised to match me shirt for shirt: You only need to give away 5 shirts since one of those pictured is from our house guest who is joining in the give-away.

I decided to start my Lenten give-away with shoes. I thought this would be relatively easy since I’m not a big collector of shoes – or so I thought. According to  Soles4Souls, the average American owns 13 pairs of shoes. I figured I was probably under that and could go lower. Wrong. When I added up all my shoes (including slippers and boots), it came to 30 pairs. I was horrified! I pruned it down to 13 but I’m not happy being average. In a typical week I only wear 5 pair. I’ll have to think about this. Soles4Souls can direct your gently used shoes to a good home.