How Many Tee-Shirts should one own?

For those that shop for clothes, one tends to gravitate to certain items. I tend to look for shoes, purses, coats/jackets, zippered sweatshirts or hoodies and tee-shirts (long and short sleeve). In fact I have a number of drawers (more than one bureau) devoted to tee-shirts (aka tees). There are sleeve-less, short and long sleeved tees for the casual days, dress-up tees for work, tees for exercising, tees for walking the dog, tees that are old but can't be parted with yet and tees for doing major jobs around the house and yard. This last category is most interesting considering I haven't done renovations or house painting in years. So the question to ponder is how many tees should one own?

One of my favorite stores was having its annual summer sale yesterday and it was a must attend event. I got there just after the start of the sale along with 60 other people. The temptation to buy was too much. Who needed to try on things when you know your size so well. It did not help me that the sample sizes they bring in fit me perfectly. After cruising the racks and seeing that the window of selection was closing with all of the women snapping up the tee-shirts, jackets and hoodies, I started to pick out what I wanted but didn't really need. After justifying to myself why I needed these clothes I got into line. The speed of the line was slow - one cash operating but it gave me time to look at the racks while passing them in line and do some swapping with what was still on the racks and what I had in my arms. My arms were starting to get tired from holding the clothes but a good deal and a bargain can never be underestimated. After a 35 minute wait in line and knowing I saved $$, I walked out of the store proud of my great buys.

The next challenge I faced is a rule that I have instituted - what is new that goes into a drawer must equal an old/tired piece of clothing that goes out. Now came the hard choices. I carefully looked at all my tees and made some hard decisions. The most interesting ones were those tees that I have been saving for the "major renos and painting jobs". Some of these tees were purchased on trips, some hadn't been worn for five plus years, some were from my old running days, and some were there because it was easier to stash them there instead of throwing them out. I had a chuckle looking at the tees from some of the trips I had taken. I thought to myself, "what was I thinking when I bought this; did I purchase this as a memento of the trip - likely so"... It felt liberating to put two arm loads of tees into a large garbage bag. These tees were not going to the community boxes. If they are not good enough for me to wear, why would someone else wear them.

I have realized that my obsession with tees is bad when I can colour code my tees and stack them in piles in the drawers bases on whites, blacks, greens and other colours. I also have to ponder when does a tee bought to wear for work be used for casual? Why do we save our good clothes for work and not wear them on other outings? I haven't yet come to terms with how many tees I should own but realize we all have our weaknesses. Until next time......