A Wardrobe Change

Have I mentioned before that I live in the greatest neighborhood? During the summer the moms do a book club together. We meet once a week at one of the mom's houses and all of the children go to another house with a babysitter. The book club has a leader who facilitates the conversation and the meeting lasts about an hour and a half. We have great dialogue and it's refreshing to share our thoughts after reading each chapter.

The book that was chosen this year is the book titled "7" by Jen Hatmaker. I knew of Jen Hatmaker because I think that her blog is hilarious! The book is about her "experimental mutiny against excess." She explores 7 areas on her life that there is excess: food, clothes, possessions, media, waste, spending and stress. Jen cuts out excess for one month in each area (for example: clothes- she chooses only 7 clothes to wear for one whole month; food- she eats only 7 foods for a month etc.).

To be really honest, I was a little skeptical about this book. I didn't want to feel like I was being preached at about all of the things I have in my life. I didn't want to be made feel guilty about "the kids in Africa who don't have anything."However, I wanted to be apart of the book club so  I decided I would give it a try. This book has been really eye opening to me on a number of levels. It's opened my eyes to all of the "stuff" that we have, the excess stuff.

This quote was in the beginning of the book. This is the quote that got me thinking:

"How can I be socially responsible if unaware that I reside in the top percentage of wealth in the world? (You probably do too: Make $35,000 a year? Top 4 percent. $50,000? Top 1 percent.) Excess has impaired perspective in America; we are the richest people on earth, praying to get richer. We're tangled in unmanageable debt while feeding the machine, because we feel entitled to more. What does it communicate when half the global population lives on less than $2 a day, and we can't manage a fulfilling life on twenty-five thousand times that amount? Fifty thousand times that amount?"

Say what? We are wealthy in the eyes of the world? I feel like we live a humble lifestyle. We left our old lifestyle for a more simple one so that we could pursue our dreams. I know that we don't scrounge the streets for food and we can afford to buy a few luxuries here and there, but I hadn't really thought our ourselves as wealthy.  If you want to see wealthy I can drive you down to those neighborhoods around Dallas. Our neighborhood is nice but I wouldn't consider the people who live around here to be the world's wealthy. Sadly to say, it actually is some of the world's wealthiest.

As I've been reading the book I have become increasingly aware of all of the stuff that we have. The chapter on clothes really hit close to home. I was kind of surprised that this chapter hit home so hard. Ever since we changed lifestyles I really have not gone shopping for myself. I think this summer I bought a couple of shirts and two dresses. I'm not shopping all of the time however, I have TONS of clothes. So many clothes that they don't all fit in my closet. When I look at the clothes I have I now realize that I bought most of them. I spent THAT much money on clothes. Why? My neighbor made an interesting point, she said, "We live in these 1950's houses and we are constantly trying to figure out how we can cram more things into the tiny closets. Obviously these closets were fine back in the day. Why can't we make them work now?" She is so right! I have so much stuffed in my closet that it overflows into Trent's closet, our storage shed in the backyard (can you believe there is an actual industry that makes money off of the fact that people have SO much stuff?), the coat closet and the guest room closet. It's ridiculous! I don't wear half of those clothes anyway.

My closet... don't judge :)
I'm refraining from adding pictures of ALL of my other clothes!

All my shoes... well almost all...

After reading the chapter on clothes I began to ask myself why I have so many clothes. I answered this question two ways. The first was, I hate getting rid of things because I might need them later or they might come back into style. The second answer I had was because I need these clothes so that I don't wear the same things all the time. The second answer has begun to sound ridiculous in my mind. Who says it's not okay to wear the same things over and over? Is it wrong? Will I get in trouble? The answer is no. It's not wrong and I won't get in trouble wearing the same things. Another mom in the book club shamefully admitted that when she was working in the corporate world she had enough outfits that she could rotate through so that she wouldn't wear the same outfit in the same month. Whoa! After a little more reflection I have realized that I care too much about what other people think about me. I don't want people to think negatively about me. Jen Hatmaker struggled with the same thing. She felt like she always had to explain to people why she was wearing the same clothes. In reality they didn't really care or really seem to notice. At the end of her experiment with clothes Jen says,

"First, wearing seven clothes was way easier than I expected. In my self-important mind, everyone would notice my repetitions and whisper about my wardrobe. People would obsess about my attire. You know what I discovered? Others aren't thinking about me nearly as much as I thought they were. Blending seamlessly into my environment, I brought up "my clothing situation" 100 percent more often than it was observed by anyone." 

It's true. People don't keep count of how many times you wear a particular piece of clothing. I think when it comes down to it other people are too worried about themselves to really care what you're wearing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to show up to a wedding in jeans (there are occasions in which you need to dress properly). What I'm saying (to myself) is that it's okay to wear what you're comfortable in and it's okay to wear the same things. People really don't waste their time thinking about you and your clothes (if they do then they probably aren't people that you want to be spending your time with anyhow). It's easier said than done. This past week I have been preparing for Jonah and I to head down to the beach. The thought passed through my head that Jonah needs a new swimsuit for the trip. When I caught myself thinking this I became aware that Jonah has 2 swim suites that are perfectly fine. It doesn't matter that his rash guard swim shirt doesn't match both of his suites. He will never know and I'm sure the other family members who will be at the beach won't even give it a second thought.

After writing this post I plan to go tackle my clothes. I plan to give them away. Someone out there needs them more than I need them sitting in my closet(s). The idea of simplifying my wardrobe seems almost freeing in a sense. I'm not saying that I will never buy clothes again or that I don't like clothes or that clothes are a bad thing (obviously you need clothes if you plan to leave your house). I've just realized that this is an area of my life where there is excess. An area where I can simplify. Where is the excess in your life?