Gails Blog

Despite the way I dress on TV, I’m not a clothes horse, and some people’s obsession with handbags, shoes, shirts, skirts, blouses, jackets, watches… well, I could go on forever…  seems weird to me. I’ve been in homes where there are hundreds of pairs of shoes, dozens and dozens of pairs of jeans, and cupboards and drawers full of clothes, along with loads of debt. I scratch my head. What drives us to collect all this STUFF when a) we’re in debt and b) we just can’t afford it?

According to the Stats Man, in 2002 Canadians spent $21.5 billion dollars on clothing and accessories. Women’s clothing made up about half of that spending, men’s made up about 29% and the rest was on kids’ clothing.

So, just how many pairs of shoes can we wear? Do you really need 40 T-shirts? And how can a handbag priced at $600 ever be a good idea, particularly if you’ve got ANY debt?

Clothing, it seems, has a lot to do with how we see ourselves and others. Many people use clothing as an opportunity to express themselves, and just as many use it as a means of judging others. If you’ve caught yourself looking at some fatty walking along in a too-tight t-shirt and cringing, or wondering why that woman would pair that lovely plaid skirt with that horrible polka-dotted ruffled blouse, you’re guilty.

Men and women are so weird about their clothing obsessions that they actually lie to each other about what they’ve paid. Sometimes they lie UP to impress. Sometimes they lie DOWN to appease. But the very fact that you feel you have to lie about what you spent on an item should indicate how twisted this all is.

I’ve listened and watched people almost get into battles over the question of whether to by cheap-and-often or quality-that-lasts. People get all uppity about their brands. And there are dopes who believe that dropping $400 on a pair of shoes, handbag, new jacket, is something they HAVE to do. There are people who’ve told me they HAD to buy it because they were “saving so much.” And there are people who, despite having several versions of an item already, have to acquire the next one anyway.

Now that the prices of food and gas are going through the stratosphere, it’ll be interesting to see if people are willing to cut back on their STUFF so they can keep eating. I’m not willing to take a bet on it since this aberrant shopping behaviour is totally unpredictable.

If you find that you’re guilty of having too much stuff, but you just don’t know where to start, it may be time to take inventory and make some choices. After all, you can’t possibly wear it all, and there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing.”

Empty your drawers, putting everything on your bed in a pile. If you have seasonal clothes, separate the seasons, and put the clothes you’re not wearing this season aside.

Of this season’s clothes, choose those you really love and actually wear on a regular basis.

If you have special occasion clothes, pick out the ones that are your favs.

Put the clothes you love back in your drawers leaving space around the clothes so you can get them out easily. If you’re stuffing your drawers, you still have too much stuff.

Now, do the same thing with your off-season clothes, putting the ones you’re planning to keep in a bin for the swap-over, and setting aside the stuff that’s just accumulated that you NEVER wear.

Ditto handbags, shoes, jewelry, hats, scarves, undies, PJs, and whatever else you’re hoarding. And, of course, there are all the clothes hanging in your closet. Yup. Them too.

You can do this exercise for your linen closet, your towels, your dishes, glasses, cups and mugs, DVDs, CDs, books.

Now, make yourself a promise that you’ll never impulse buy anything again. If there’s something you need, you’ll put it on a list. You’ll price it out, and write a target price beside it. Then you’ll buy it when you have the money to pay for it, and it has hit your target price. If you want to keep simplicity front and centre, add that you’ll get rid of something you no longer use every time your bring something new into your space.

As for what to do with the stuff you’re divesting: charities abound. If you have women’s and children’s clothes, consider your friends and family, then a women’s shelter. If it has value, sell it on Craig’s List. Put whatever you earn toward your debt. If you don’t have any – YEAH! – put it towards your next experiences.

It’s experiences that make us happy, not STUFF. Commit to having a great experience with a friend, your partner, your kids, and then give yourself something to look forward to that you can use to battle off the STUFF MONSTER the next time it rears its ugly mugg.