36 t-shirts, 15 dress shirts, 13 tank tops, 12 shorts, 7 hats, 5 pants, 3 hoodies, 3 ties, 2 sweatpants, 1 belt, 1 onesie.
I donated these clothes this past Tuesday. This isn’t even half of the clothes I’ve already given away within the past 2 years. Most of it was a byproduct of the weight that I’ve lost over that time period. Some of it was out of necessity, due to moving into a smaller space with my soon to be wife at her parents’ house. The rest of it is driven by the intention to live as a minimalist.
It’s upsetting to think of all the time, money, thought, and emotion that went into buying these clothes. From sneaking on my phone at my old job waiting for that new Fitted Hawaii drop, to waking up at 3 in the morning to camp out online on nike.com for a fresh pair of Jordans, to spending thousands of dollars on trying to look fly, I shake my head at the ridiculousness of it all.
Whether by happenstance or conscious decision, most of my clothes are gone and hopefully finding its way to someone who is in need of them. As it stands today, besides the 20 Aloha shirts and 5 pairs of slacks I wear for work, all the clothes I own fit in 1 set of 3 plastic drawers. The best part of not owning or desiring to own so many clothes is the time, money, thought, and emotion I was able to free up to do other things with. Like write this blog instead of shopping online. Or not having to think so much about what to wear. It may seem that it’s such a waste to have given it all away but what I gained in return was worth so much more.