Monday, February 02, 2009

Spring cleaning

For Christmas I received a number of shirts, socks, underwear etc so I figured it was about time to do a spring cleaning of my closet and dresser to throw out old clothes. I knew there would be stuff to throw away because I am one of those guys who never throws old clothes away. If I opened my sock drawer and see an old pair of socks I'll just grab a newer pair to wear, I'll never actually throw out the old socks. The last time I did a "spring cleaning" was when I moved to Qatar almost 3 years ago so it was high time for one.

Man, did I have a lot of old clothes. The old socks and underwear alone filled a small shopping bag. The shirts, work shirts, old trousers, and even an old robe filled up an entire black garbage bag! The socks and undies I threw out, the garbage bag of shirts I'm holding onto until I find a charity or a group of needy labourers to give it to. A lady in the office thinks she knows of a group who could use the clothes so I will wait and see if she has found someone.

Cleaning out the closet also allowed me to take an inventory of the remaining clothing. Even after getting rid of the old stuff I still have 40 T-shirts and 13 casual collared-shirts, yet I only have one pair of shorts. 40 T-shirts!! Geez, where did all these T-shirts come from? Looking at them I can tell that at least a dozen of them are souvenir shirts from my various travels, the rest are just T-shirts I picked up while shopping or gifts from family and friends.

Y'know, I have always considered myself a bit of a anti-materialist, someone who doesn't go off the deep-end shopping for stuff or spending hundreds of dollars for high-end brands. Given the amount of clothes I had I guess I should reconsider my views about myself, and be a little more careful about shopping for unnecessary things. I have now made a promise to myself not to buy any more shirts. Who needs 40 t-shirts? I'm now set for t-shirts for the next 3-5 years.

I do need to go shopping for a pair of shorts though.

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