If you read the Intro, you know that I’ve decided to pay a little more attention to what I wear to work. As an engineer there’s something a little cathartic about thinking through how to break the problem down into its component problems and making a plan to address them. One of those steps is to remember to start taking care of myself 15 years go. This particular step is doing some data analysis to try to figure out what I have and how I got here. What I discovered was that I haven’t gotten rid of clothes in over a decade. It’s not good.
Let’s just get it over with- here’s the data.
I might tell you I’m not sure how it happened, but in the process of doing the work to get all my clothes together I now know exactly how it happened.
When I get ready for work in the morning my concerns are typically centered around getting out the door as quickly as possible. Most of the time the clothes I wear typically come straight from the dryer. I haven’t given it much thought, mainly because it’s a system that, until now, had worked for me. But I has slowly created a situation. A shame inducing, mountain of bad clothes, situation.
First, my typical work wear is the software engineer’s uniform. Polyester polo shirts with company logos, jeans, khakis, tennis-shoes- the look is ubiquitous in the industry. Unless its hot- then the jeans get replaced with cargo shorts.
Second, my weekend wear is basic. I work on my house so most of the clothes I buy are clothes I know I’m going to ruin with paint or caulk or expanding foam. For that reason I’m steeped in a rainbow of various pocket T-Shirts from Target and Wrangler Cargo shorts.
Third, when I absolutely must get half-way decent I’ll rummage through the closet, not find anything I’m super happy with- mainly because it’s a little more snug then last time I saw it- and run to the store and pick up a button-up. It’s typically Kohl’s, or an outlet mall. I hate shopping, especially for clothes so sometimes I’ll find something that fits and grab 2 or 3 of the same brand.
These factors, over time, have resulted in a local economy of sorts, that keeps my dryer filled with employee swag polo shirts, and an ever aging collection of other clothes that somehow keep getting smaller over time.
I’m going to get up in the morning and sort this out. It’s probably going to be terrible.