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The clothes in my wardrobe (often on the floor) fall into three categories :
My very few ‘Good Clothes’ are mostly new and saved for wear only on special occasions – dining with the Queen and such like. In time they are demoted to –
My ‘Every Day Clothes’, which may lack the sheen of new but are smart, respectable and comfortable. Only after some considerable time (years mostly) are they relegated to –
My ‘Scruffy Clothes’. These I wear for lounging around the house, messing in the yard, hiking and climbing in the mountains, doing exercises and physical training sessions. (I am it seems something of an oddity nowadays in that I hike, jog or cycle to feel good for me rather than to show off expensive designer apparel for others)!
Only when a scruffy piece of clothing becomes reduced to a series of inter-connected holes do I discard it. At this point I demote a garment from my every day clothes to replace the scruffy item deceased and I remove an item from my good clothes to replace that one. This leaves a vacancy in my good clothes department which I may replace (note the word ‘may’) with a new purchase … but only on offer of course!
This clothes management system which I employ is testament to my Scottish and Presbyterian upbringing. Each imbued great thriftiness … but my family were not very well off anyway. Clothes were replaced only on the inter-connected holes basis described and I went through many childhood winters with newspaper stuffed into shoes with completely worn-through soles.
But the benefit of all that is that I learned to spend, and throughout adulthood have spent, only a fraction of the money on clothes which many people do. Yet I am perfectly able to be well dressed and maintain a smart appearance. I even shower, shave and comb my hair when I don’t have to!
My system is also eco-friendly (no waste), charitable (not supporting far east sweat shops) and it’s sensible. For anyone unfamiliar with the word ‘sensible’, it’s what existed prior to ‘woke’. The demise of the first coinciding with, nay being created by, the rise of the second … but I diverge …
The money I save by not being a clothes mad shopaholic, I invest in business opportunities and ways of making money rather than ‘blowing’ it. So with my thrift I become better off and, some would say, thus better able to afford to buy more ‘stuff’, more clothes even! But no, I’m very attached to my proven and effective clothes management system.
After all, as was told me in my youth by a highly successful entrepreneur – “Regardless of wealth … you can only wear one shirt at a time!” Think about it.
I am Tom Riach. I live and write in the sunny south of Portugal.
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ONE SHIRT AT A TIME is an original copyright Tom Riach feature.
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See you there! Regards, Tom.
Comments
My old partner was all about show, it had to be Christian D'Or, I like 'scruffy' more and more, thanks, Tom. I enjoyed it.
Funny thought just occurred to me George. In youth I could be flash in appearance (clothes etc.) but no substance in character. With maturity I gradually discarded the flash and (I hope) developed greater substance to my being. As my wardrobe emptied of new and expensive clothes, my character filled with age old wisdom which came free except for the bruises and bloody noses along the way! :-)
Yes George, the man who told me 'One shirt at a time' was a millionaire engineer who rarely wore anything but old jeans and a checkered shirt. He was a smart guy though in the street-wise sense.