Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Taking Inventory

School resumes here next week. So that means some shopping is in order this week. We've got most of the supplies: pencils by the dozens, reams of paper, stacks of folders. It's the clothes we have left to deal with.

Let me remind you, I don't. like. to. shop. I grew up attending parochial school with its attendant uniforms. Oh the bliss! No early morning clothing crisis there. No long shopping trips. No, new clothes for school to me always meant simply a new pair of shoes.

We'll shop for shoes this week. And of course, that is something this shoe-loving mom can handle. It's all the rest that makes my stomach cramp.

In an effort to, shall we say, streamline the process, I took an inventory of my children's wardrobes today. LMH has seventeen short-sleeved shirts, five of which are brown (and three of which are brown and pink, to be precise). This might sound like an obscene number of shirts. That's because it is! Of course Timid Daughter has her own twenty short-sleeved shirts. They must mate like rabbits in the drawers because I don't remember buying that many.

Other items in LMH's wardrobe?
2 skorts
7 shorts
8 skirts
7 dresses
2 pants
3 warmup pants
1 capris
4 tank tops
5 long-sleeved shirts

And this child comes to me nearly every week to complain that she has nothing to wear!

I share all of this because I am perplexed. My children have plenty of clothes, but nothing to "wear". Their closets are full, but they can't find anything "to match". Do I shop and just add to it? Or do I challenge them to make it work? Am I alone in this wardrobe challenge?

6 musings:

Llama Momma said...

I have nothing to say except I am profoundly grateful that I have three boys.

hellolittlepeepers said...

I always a little more excited when my clothes were all clean at the same time and organized somehow so I could see the possibilities and then add a few fun things to them. I also always thought I had nothing to wear and tons of clothes. I just usually forgot about the fun stuff and would get tired of wearing the same t-shirts all the time.

hellolittlepeepers said...

I always WAS a little more excited...

Lara said...

LM - yup, you're lucky right now. Wanna swap?

Emily - I think my girls are hoping we're going out to add a fun thing, like you say (they're out of luck this time). Okay, now here's an admission: the clothes weren't all clean and organized for this inventory. I actually dug through the laundry to count up what they had - only one basket worth to comb though.

Tammy L. Hensel said...

Having raised two boys, my frustration was the opposite - getting them to understand that clothes wear out and must be replaced! LOL I don't think I ever really got the message through. My youngest son, now 22, wore two crocs of differing colors all summer long. He had worn out the sole of one pair and lost a shoe from the other pair when it washed down a storm drain during a rain storm. Since the remaining shoe from each pair was for the opposite foot, he just decided to wear them - one blue and one green.
When he came home for a visit I dropped him off at the mall with these instructions - BUY A PAIR CROCS! Which he did. :D
--
Dedicated Writer - Tammy L. Hensel
http://dedicatedwriter.blogspot.com/
Dedicating all I do and say to Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:17

L.L. Barkat said...

I can relate. Closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. I think it's just boredom sometimes, or a lack of vision. I guess I'd probably challenge them; that's a lot of clothes. :)