In my previous post, Somewhere over the rainbow, I talked about the three R's; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle as it applies to my vast clothing collection and impending purge.Let the purge begin!
I have decided to focus on that large nine drawer dresser full. Beginning with my t-shirt drawer.
Taking stock:
Current contents = 36 t-shirts
Current contents = 36 t-shirts
Geez louise. I could wear one everyday for five weeks without doing laundry! And that's just wearing each for one day. I tend to re-wear my clothes before laundering if they are not soiled and pass the sniff test. So, unless I have been in the garden, playing with the compost, or taken a cross country bike trip, I could easily double that. Two months without laundry!
I decided I could pare down to keeping 12 of the 36 t-shirts in my drawer. One third of what I was currently storing! I would give eight to my daughter to use for the upcoming school year. She's 12 and growing like a weed! Less money we need to spend on next week's back to school shopping. Yay! They are all solid, plain colored t-shirts. No one will know they were once S-mom's. (I'm a Step-mom) So it's cool.
Twelve will be transferred to the sewing room to be used as scrap fabric for re-purposing. More on that later. These were all stained or so faded that no one would possibly want to wear them anymore. And a measly four are destined for the pile of other castaways currently in the garage awaiting a new home. They are still in good condition, but I never wear them and will be better served on someone else's torso.
This is what remains. Previously it was so packed I could barely get it closed and even had to stuff a few in the front. Now I have room to spare! I removed nine pounds of clothing from my drawer. Talk about taking a load off! Averting nine pounds of "waste" from the landfill also feels good.
Twelve will be transferred to the sewing room to be used as scrap fabric for re-purposing. More on that later. These were all stained or so faded that no one would possibly want to wear them anymore. And a measly four are destined for the pile of other castaways currently in the garage awaiting a new home. They are still in good condition, but I never wear them and will be better served on someone else's torso.
This is what remains. Previously it was so packed I could barely get it closed and even had to stuff a few in the front. Now I have room to spare! I removed nine pounds of clothing from my drawer. Talk about taking a load off! Averting nine pounds of "waste" from the landfill also feels good.According to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year, and clothing and other textiles represent about 4% of the municipal solid waste.
The next time your about to hand over that pesticide laden-overpriced-polluting-sweatshop-child labor produced gotta have t-shirt to the sales clerk, STOP! Take stock of what you already own. Do you really NEED it? If so, why not buy second hand? Sure it is all of the above, but it was already in circulation. The less we buy, the less they will produce.
Waste products from a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, spill into a stagnant pond.
Zed Nelson/Panos Pictures
A worker in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, rests on the floor of a garment factory.
Mikkel Ostergaard/Panos Pictures
The owner of a textile factory in Dhaka threatens a child laborer, who works for 10 hours a day to earn $1.00 US.
G.M.B. Akash/Panos Pictures
The next time your about to hand over that pesticide laden-overpriced-polluting-sweatshop-child labor produced gotta have t-shirt to the sales clerk, STOP! Take stock of what you already own. Do you really NEED it? If so, why not buy second hand? Sure it is all of the above, but it was already in circulation. The less we buy, the less they will produce.
Waste products from a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, spill into a stagnant pond.
Zed Nelson/Panos Pictures
A worker in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, rests on the floor of a garment factory.
Mikkel Ostergaard/Panos Pictures
The owner of a textile factory in Dhaka threatens a child laborer, who works for 10 hours a day to earn $1.00 US.
G.M.B. Akash/Panos Pictures
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4 comments:
Great job on cleaning out your drawer! I always feel great after a good purge. It's cleansing.
Amen, heather. I feel relaxed and at peace in a clean, clutter free environment.
Hi- I found you through One Green Generation. I can't believe you have so many clothes! Actually, what I found out recently was that people really do buy new wardrobes for their kids every year for school. 19 years and I've been deprived!
Kidding. You do bring up a point about how many t-shirts you really need. I always feel like I don't have enough, but I should count them and see for sure. Numbers are more quantitative than standing in front of the full closet every day, trying to figure out what I can wear each day... I'd never throw away clothes though. Always goes to Goodwill or Salvation Army. I just can't bring myself to throw perfectly good clothes away and never have been able to.
stephanie - I am embarrassed to admit that I have even more clothes than you think! Those were just the t-shirts in that drawer. I have more in the closet with the stacks of clothes on shelving. Ugh. I am hoping to reduce my wardrobe by 75%. I really only wear a quarter of it anyway.
It's true about kids getting a whole new wardrobe every school year. We are guilty of that, as well. This year we are taking stock of what they already have (that still fits!) and supplementing it so they have a week's worth of outfits. That's it. It will help that my daughter is starting to fit into the clothes I have outgrown. She shops in my closet now. What she does not want I donate, too.
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