Clothes — A Daily Thread – Post 5 (The My Wife Was Right Edition)

As many who have followed me for a long time know, I strive to be a minimalist while my wife is, well, quite the opposite. That’s OK. We’ve learned to, at the least, honor each other’s preferences. In one particular case, that of not getting rid of clothing one is no longer wearing, I finally have to admit that she was right.

You see, for as long as I’ve known her she’s stored many boxes of clothes that she no longer wore for a variety of reasons. Some things no longer fit, some are sentimental, some are not currently in style, etc. Whenever I pressed a bit on these, she’d explain that the thought of having to buy something that she’d already bought again drove her nuts. That, often times, something that went out of style would come back again and, well, she’d be ready and could dig it out. Some things, like that favorite band shirt or that sweater she picked up at a Taiwanese street market that reminds her of that time in her life were worth holding on to in the same way the memory itself was — it was a talisman for a positive feeling. Perhaps, the one that is just a bit too small or large will one day fit again. She’d rather not have to spend money that she already feels like she spent.

While I pushed back on this for a long time, I’ve come around to her way of thinking. My recent experience with the jeans and chinos is a perfect example. There have also been times going through an old box of clothes of mine that I discover something cool or trendy that I had forgotten I had and it fills me with so much joy to wear it again. There are the “geek t-shirts” that I got during my many years working in the tech industry that flood me with positive memories just like her sentimental ones and I’m grateful I have them stashed away even if I no longer wear them.

The truth is, we have the space. The boxes of these clothes are not taking away anything or weighing on us cognitively. And they often do save us time and money when we do need to engage with them.

So, this is to say that it is OK to take some things and put them away for a bit if you have the space to do so. It is also OK to “shop yourself first” in this way as we do. It avoids the waste of duplication and buying brand new. It saves that garment from its possible destination in a landfill.