day forty

… and that's it - my restricted wardrobe is no more, and I can go back to the rest of my clothes.  Here is my last outfit, and my first.  (Yes, I am still wearing the same jeans - just because I can wear the rest of my wardrobe doesn't mean I can't still wear my forty!)

So what have I learnt?

1.  I need less than I have.

2.  Sometimes it is easier to have less choice.  If I only have a few options, it takes less time in the morning to get dressed!

3.  But sometimes it is harder to have less choice.  Limiting my clothes was a temporary measure, and I knew I would be able to go back to my old wardrobe in the end.  But when your overall resources are limited, every choice becomes a trade off - choosing one thing means you can't have another - and the time and energy that goes into weighing up these choices is stressful and demoralising.

4.  Each item I own represents different people who made the material, the clothes, shipped and sold the clothes, and I have a duty of care to each of them.

5.  Clothes are fun!  But that's all.  (Okay, they are also necessary for public decency.)  But other than that, they are not that important.

(But shoes, of course, are life itself…)