How full is your closet?

So I realize it has been a few days since I had some free time to write. I hate that, because I find that I really enjoy it. I have an unquenchable need to ‘use all my words’.

I am at home today. The temptation to work 5 days/week is overwhelming. Lately, my work desk has WAY too many files on it that require my attention. I guess I should consider it job security, but because I have a personal life that requires a lot of energy and time, I find myself resenting that my presence in the office is required more than I originally signed on for. I know, I need to stop complaining and be glad I have a job.

I am at home today. I’m trying to decide what tasks I should engage in to occupy my day. It is 10:30 a.m. and all I have done so far is sort thru my closet and drawers and do a little purging. I find that I do this a lot. I took a step back and started to analyze that. Why is it that my closet seems to be so full? Could it be...retail therapy?? Humbly I think I need to admit this addiction. My name is Kim, and I can sometimes be a shop-a-holic.

There I said it. Although you may notice that I made the statement with a little wiggle room. ‘Sometimes’. I feel the need for wiggle room because I honestly go in phases. Last year, I went almost all year without any real shopping excursions, on-line shopping, Ebay purchases, etc. I really steered clear of the retail arena. I even fared the Christmas shopping season without any excessive purchasing. Lately, however, I have found the craving for retail therapy becoming stronger. The need to have my closet and drawers filled with clothing items can be all consuming. Of course it is rather difficult to satiate this yearning for all things fashion when you have a tight budget.

I think the need to have a full closet stems from childhood. That’s right, I am going to blame my parents. However, I do find it telling that each of my siblings also have abundant wardrobes. At one time, one sibling had an entire spare bedroom that was set up as their closet. It was a thing of true beauty.

We all have wardrobe-gone-pitiful stories from our childhood. My older brother likes to refer to a ‘pleather’ coat he wore all thru high school as his ‘Planet of the Apes’ jacket. I’m sorry THAT makes me laugh–especially when I visualize him wearing the coat, long shaggy comb-over styled hair carrying his guitar. Yup, it truly personified cool.

My sister and I were dressed alike for most of our pre-adolescent years. This meant that not only did I get to wear the outfits once as one-half of the Doublemint girls, BUT I got to wear the outfit twice when she grew out of hers and passed it down to me. School shopping generally consisted of purchase of a pair of tennis shoes and 2 pairs of jeans and a new coat every other year. I was lucky in the fact that I have a September birthday. That usually added some extra necessities that came from extended family. Even with that, during jr. high and high school, I always felt very inferior in my wardrobe variety. I think that is why today I tend to sometimes go a little overboard in my acquisition of clothing items. For example, a quick inventory this morning turned up 6 white cardigan sweaters (each a little different from the other one). It is ok though...I keep everything color coordinated so I can differentiate and find things quickly. Now if only the items were in a smaller size then I could be really satisfied with that wardrobe.

Yup, I really can’t be blamed. It is my parents’ fault. Just kidding....kind of.