Mule

The other night I cleaned out my closet. This is something I should probably do once a year or more, but tend to do only at critical mass. When the there are so many clothes it is hard to find something or fit something new in. Don't get me wrong I don't buy a lot of clothing. I also tend to wear the same things until they wear our. Therefore a lot of the items can last for a long time. This whole activity was triggered by my wife leaving. Though obliviously it took a while to happen as she has been gone for 2 months. Before she left I made her make a bag for goodwill because she also tends to keep things forever. This bag has been sitting in the corner for two months because I only wanted to make one trip to the goodwill and wanted to thin out my old stuff to.

So the other night I finally did it. I took every thing out of the closet and made piles. Winter work clothes, summer work clothes, winter casual, summer casual, suits, pants that kinda fit if I loss 10 more pounds, shirts I like but haven't worn in 5-10-15 years, and other similar categories. Yes I have clothes I haven't worn since the beginning of high school. This year I did better than in previous years. I only kept 3-4 items that thought I probably wouldn't wear again but still liked. I used to keep 3-4 times that amount. Not there is a ton of room in my closet and goodwill has 4 (3 of my clothes and 1 of RG's) more bags of clothes to sell.

So during this process I was thinking of the term "Clothes Horse". This is a saying used to describe someone that likes to buy, own, and wear a lot of different clothing. Then I thought about how my closet was probably just as full as someone who would be considered a clothes horse, but for entirely different reasons. Instead it is because I never through anything away, even though I know I will probably never put that article of clothing on again it feels like waste to get rid of it before it is stain ridden and full of holes from wear. So I though maybe I am a "Clothes Mule" someone who just keeps packing up on old clothes. Someone who won't get rid of something until it is literally unwearable.

Then later that night I realized I was another kind of mule.... No not the kind that come from Columbia smuggling in a certain product from the coca leaf. No the kind that has to pack an entire extra bag for his up coming trip to Russia. A bag full of electronics and household items. Including movies, coffee, odor eaters, pain killers, chocolate, and lint rollers. Almost 40 lbs worth of this stuff. Of course if it makes the wife happy then I am happy to do it. Though I never thought I would be worried about fitting more chocolates into a suitcase.