One,Two,Three and Eight.....My New Wardrobe Numbers

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

You may remember that one of my new year resolutions was to sort out my wardrobe and adapt the French style of buying clothes (ie cull what I have, buy less but of greater quality). Whilst most of what I've promised to do has been put on hold pending moving house this one actually had an impetus because of it.

So yesterday began the cull and quickly realising that for the most part I'd too many clothes for what I needed to wear and, particularly on non work days would have been focusing on particular favourites anyway.

Now when I say, favourites, let me be clear. Although through this blog I've stated that politically I've moved seemingly unusually from the right to the left. When it comes to clothes I have always been Conservative. My clothing mantra is simple: Better dull than stupid.

The person who has always fought against this is my wife who has tried to lead me away from being "safe" and to try on new things. In this she's failed miserably.

The number of clothes needed depended on the item. I worked out that the key numbers were one,two,three and eight.

One was simple. One Suit for weddings and funerals. 1 Jumper and/or T-shirt specifically for the garden. Done.

Two was simple as well. Ties. Again all I needed was one tie for weddings and another for funerals. Nothing more was needed. Wife tried to make the case for more ties but it wasn't going to happen. Why keep something I'm not going to use again?

Three: This is for clothes that I'll use for more that one day in the week. Jumpers for example. I've reduced the total of jumpers to six. Three for Winter. Three for Autumn/Spring.

This what really started the wife off. I'd decided to cull a white fleece that my brother-in-law bought for Christmas a few years back. I never liked it,never wore it. Made me look like a grubby Polar bear (and made me feel like a Grizzly one).

Wife was unimpressed. "My brother always buys you quality". She said.

Actually I should have probably pointed out that my brother-in-law's partner buys quality. I should have also said that two other jumpers they bought for me had survived the cull. But when you're in the heat of a sudden argument these subtleties are forgotten. All I could say was.

"I don't like it. You can have it if you want"

Well you can imagine this went down well.

Not that my judgement is foolproof. I feel I need three leisure jackets. But at this moment there's only the one. What was a suit jacket bought from the Marks and Spencer outlet store at £3. But there was also another jacket in the wardrobe, bought from Next that I thought was perfect but turned out in the light of day...literally...to be too shiny and too tight. That was ditched.

And speaking of too tight we come to the number eight. Those clothes that I would only wear once a day so covering the week plus any emergencies. Things like boxers, socks and casual shirts. There are in fact sixteen shirts, eight long sleeved and eight short. So I'm (yes I'm going to say it) covered.

The decision as to which shirts to keep was quite easy. A lot of them were chucked simply because I'd grown wider.

I really need to diet...then again if I was successful I'd need a whole new wardrobe....and then the arguments with the wife would start again.

Until the next time.