The Picnic Shirt

The other night, Hub and I were sorting through our closet, pulling out old clothes (and sometimes brand new clothes - unfortunately) that we never wear anymore. While I do this “closet clean out” sort of thing a little more often than him, I still had much that I should part with…since I always have the hardest time letting go of clothes that I don’t wear, either because they are in perfectly good condition or I have some sentimental reason attached to the article of clothing.

Yet Hubby rarely goes through his side of the closet because...well, first of all, he’s a guy and doesn’t buy clothes as often as I do. And secondly, he’s a guy and this is really one of the very last things he wants to spend his time doing.

But in preparation for our upcoming yard sale, he really needed to go through his side of the closet. While he kept saying he was going to do this, he never did. I decided he needed a little "push" and someone to do it with him.

So, getting into the spirit of closet cleaning…I decided to go through my clothes again. And as we were trying on clothes together and laughing hysterically at each other over goofy shirts and tight pants and saying things like “no, you can never ever wear that out in public!” I realized a few things…

1 – I’m now a staunch advocate of cleaning out your closet with your spouse. It can actually be an (occasionally) fun thing to do…good bonding, you know. You can laugh at (and with) each other and also recall memories together…like “ohhh, that was the big funny Hawaiian shirt you wore on our 2nd date together!” (And yes, it’s true, he really still had that shirt.)
Plus, you can hold each other accountable for discarding clothes that perhaps if by yourself you may be tempted to sneak back on the hanger and put back in the closet…just in case, because you think you might wear it…sometime.

2 – It feels SO, SO good to get rid of things that you don’t need…less clutter in your closet and in life in general, more focus on the clothes you actually DO like. It really helps to be able to find the clothes you do like…which leads to my next point…

3 – You find new things! I discovered a couple of shirts that I really like but had totally forgotten about because they were buried underneath piles of other shirts.

4 – We are very blessed and have wayyy too much stuff. I want to be more mindful about what I do buy and not buy as much. I resolve to buy only the things I truly LOVE and are unique to my wardrobe…and to not buy something simply because it is cute, comfy, and/or on sale.

5 – This isn’t really a realization but a question…Why did clothing manufacturers previously make shirts soooo short and sort of boxy? It seems not all that very long ago shirts only went to the top of your jeans…so even if it’s still a fine and dandy shirt, now I’m used to the long and lean shirts and this has forever wrecked my feeling comfortable wearing a regular/short shirt. I realize styles change and whatnot, but a longer shirt just feels so much more natural and comfortable…like how a shirt should have always been designed in the first place. (Does anyone else understand what I'm saying here?)

My favorite line of the night came from Hub as he tried on this enormously over-sized, red and white gingham, short-sleeved button up shirt. It was so large I could have fit in it with him too. As he held his arms out wide, he said, “I’m lucky that when I used to wear this shirt nobody ever tried to have a picnic on me.”

Perhaps it was actually funnier at the time while seeing him wearing this ridiculous shirt. But maybe we’ll hang onto this one, just in case we ever want to go on a picnic. :)