{"id":7955,"date":"2021-11-23T12:29:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T17:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/?p=7955"},"modified":"2021-11-23T12:29:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T17:29:48","slug":"365246-a-lesson-from-wash-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/365246-a-lesson-from-wash-day\/","title":{"rendered":"365+#246: A Lesson from Wash Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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8 extra socks<\/p><\/div>\n

I do clothes washing about once a week. Recently when I was folding my all-purpose black socks, I noticed that some needed mending. Even after that, I had more than I could ever wear from one wash day to the next (even adding on a couple extra grace days for delayed washing). Thus, I came up with the magic number of 10 and am calling it Susan\u2019s Law of 10<\/em><\/p>\n

After all there are 10 Commandments, I have 10 fingers and toes. There are 10 years in a decade, 10 decades in a century, 10 Hail Mary\u2019s in a rosary decade, and the number 10 is the first Arabic number to have 2 digits. So much for justification \ud83d\ude42<\/strong> .
\nBasically, it was a nice round number to get me from one wash day to the next. So, I started pruning my wardrobe down to 10 items for the 10 basic categories below.<\/p>\n

Step 1:<\/strong> The first step was easy \u2013 try clothes on to see if they still fit. This eliminated one suit skirt that definitely didn\u2019t fit and another that was too snug for comfort.<\/p>\n

Step 2:<\/strong> Note the quality of the item. Did it have holes, stains, or need repairs that I couldn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n

Step 3:<\/strong> The next step was noting which items I seldom or never wear (probably because they weren\u2019t my favorites). Others were practically duplicates so I didn\u2019t need them. (I did decide to keep my wedding dress even though I haven\u2019t worn it in 50 years plus one formal gown in case I would ever be invited to a fancy event.)<\/p>\n

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Ex: kept 10, gave away 2<\/p><\/div>\n

10 categories I used for pruning my clothes to 10 or under<\/strong>
\n10 professional outfits (suits, dresses, etc.)
\n10 slacks (including dressy pants and jeans)
\n10 long sleeved winter knit tops
\n10 sweaters (pullover style to go over winter tops on cold days)
\n10 short sleeved summer knit tops (solid colored)
\n10 short sleeved summer knit tops (with words or pictures)
\n10 pairs of black socks (plus underwear and pj\u2019s.)
\n9 scarves to give variety to my outfits
\n7 pairs of shoes (3 are dressy shoes I hardly ever wear, but maybe if that invite to a fancy event ever happens, I\u2019ll be ready.)
\n5 pairs of shorts<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I had to make some hard choices for some of my professional outfits. Eventually I figured that even after Covid-19 wanes and we pay attention to more than the waist up view on Zoom screens, I probably won\u2019t be doing public speaking and attending professional meetings as much as I did in my 60\u2019s. There were also some easy decisions like shirts from movements that I no longer participated in<\/p>\n

Obvious spiritual reflections that this pruning exercise prompts:<\/strong><\/p>\n