My Clothing Endeavor

It's March 6th, 2013. I decided today not to buy any new clothes for a year. What prompted this? I think it was the combination of having just moved--packing and unpacking my whole wardrobe--and listening to Macklemore's Thrift Shop on the radio, and watching Michael Palin's Sahara documentary.

I love clothes, I love shopping, but sometimes the rampant consumerism of our culture makes me uncomfortable. In the third episode of Sahara, Michael Palin spent time with a group of nomads in Niger. I was busy packing around the time I was watching this. Let me be clear: I don't want to walk around the desert. I like tea shops and watching Breaking Bad on Netflix and hanging out with my dogs in my temperature-controlled house. But it's amazing how little stuff those people need! I CERTAINLY do not need as many clothes as I have.  See below:

My drawer full of tank tops

My drawer full of jeans

My closet: sweaters and sweatshirts on top, then, from left to right, shirts, skirts, dresses, and pants

In addition to all this stuff, I have, of course, socks, tights, leggings, bras, underwear, pajamas, and workout clothes. I have jewelry and accessories.  I have 26 pairs of shoes. (Including these new ones!)

My new shoes! (Seen before I bought them, when I texted a picture to my mom to get a second opinion)

So. Here are my rules/caveats: 

• No NEW clothes. 
• That means clothes from thrift shops are A-OK. If the idea is to reduce consumption, buying from thrift shops makes sense. I also hope it will make me more creative and skilled in modifying clothes/
• Likewise, sewing my own clothes is okay. So I can buy material and a pattern.
• I am going to buy a new bathing suit. I had a fabulous retro-styled one, but I lost it. My current suit is a leopard print bikini top and men's orange swimming trunks. 
• If I need basics like socks or underwear because they've worn out, I can replace them. REPLACE, though, not add more.
• I can buy jewelry/accessories. This is like a release, to make it easier, particularly because I'm going to be traveling around Europe in May/June and I know I'll want to buy myself things to remember little boutiques.  This won't be a big deal, as I already have rules for myself regarding jewelry. I only buy jewelry if:
• It is made by an artist and is rare and special and high-quality OR
• It is really, really cheap

That's it! We'll see how it goes!

Why didn't this happen when I was there?

I'll just quote the whole article here:

Giant Lego man found in Dutch sea

Tue Aug 7, 2007 4:56pm BST

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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A giant, smiling Lego man was fished out of the sea in the Dutch resort of Zandvoort on Tuesday.

Workers at a drinks stall rescued the 2.5-metre (8-foot) tall model with a yellow head and blue torso.

"We saw something bobbing about in the sea and we decided to take it out of the water," said a stall worker. "It was a life-sized Lego toy."

A woman nearby added: "I saw the Lego toy floating towards the beach from the direction of England."

The toy was later placed in front of the drinks stall.

Library

Here is what I want in a room: Big windows and a comfortable chair to sit in.  The chair upholstered in some beautiful, colorful fabric.  Shelves and shelves of books.  A pot of oolong tea to pour steaming into my favorite clear glass mug (bought at HEMA in Amsterdam).  This is my perfect reading situation.

I have this now, sort of - I want to reupholster my chair (or at least sew a slip cover), I want more bookshelves (that will have to wait till I move somewhere bigger), and I want a couch that isn't godawful  ugly and covered in dog hair (and dogs).  But the dream library is not an impossible sort of dream.

With a good book, though, those things don't really matter.  A favorite reading experience: sitting on my mom's couch as a kid, reading 101 Dalmatians (the original novel, not a novelization of the Disney movie), eating piece after piece of buttered toast and drinking cup after cup of sugary black tea.  Another: sitting at a picnic table in a campsite for two hours, tearing through the last several hundred pages of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Another: laying on a lounger in the sand by the North Sea in the Dutch city of Zandvoort, sipping Coke out of a glass, eating paprika-flavored potato chips, and reading Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros.

So while the library described above might be ideal, I truly only need an engaging book and a quiet space carved out for myself.  Snacks, clearly, don't hurt either.  Ingredients for a fantastic evening: a great book, no grading to do, and some paprika chips.