neadods: (Default)
neadods ([personal profile] neadods) wrote2007-09-08 03:23 pm
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On T-Shirts

We all have too many T-shirts. Yes, you too. Admitting the problem is the first step in the solution.

So since clearing out little-opened drawers was so useful last weekend, this week's task was going through the T-shirts. Goal: To halve the amount that I own, or at least put them into more useful circulation.

In my case, there were two bulging drawers, one for t-shirts that I can wear anywhere, and one for fannish T-shirts. I was very successful in halving the "regular" shirt count, and I practically emptied the fannish drawer, although that was in part by reclassifing many of the contents. It emptied half... I mean they're being... look, I got rid of more than seven things, okay? It counts.

Da Rules:

1) Do I remember owning this shirt? If I pulled it out and went "I didn't remember owning this!" then out it went. If it's been buried that long, then I won't remember it enough to regret losing it.

2) Does it still fit well enough to be seen in public? (Remember last week's rant about getting rid of "I'll diet back into that" clothing.) No second chances - into the box.

3) Do I already have a lot of stuff with that theme? Short of Media*West, there's nowhere I go that I need more than two t-shirts with the same theme. For instance, three Shakespeare Festival shirts were at least one too many. Ditto shirts for old fandoms; even at Media*West I like a little variety.

4) Do I have *anywhere* wear it? ("To bed" and "Painting the house" counts) If not - out it goes.

End result: The fandom drawer is 2/3 empty. The "regular" drawer is only slightly less full, but that's because things like the mystery shirts were reclassified - there's no reason I can't wear the ReviewingtheEvidence.com polo to work, or the one with "It was a dark and stormy night" on it. They're not rude, crude, political, or offensive in any way.

Sleepwear is overflowing; in about a month or two I'll know which ones I'm pulling out all the time and which ones I'm avoiding and can purge accordingly. (And why *did* I have *three* of the Shaolin Hockey shirts in the first place?)

The Team Wench one, which bears the logo I designed, is far too tight. It has been set aside to be turned into a sofa pillow (an excellent second life for T-shirts and sweatshirts. You're not able to admire them inside the drawer, now are you?)

Based on the success of getting rid of books and briefcases at Media*West this year, I have started a box for next year. It takes fans to appreciate some of those - like the too-tight one that says "Hester Prynne deserved an A+!"

x-posted to [livejournal.com profile] homekeeping

[identity profile] starcat-jewel.livejournal.com 2007-09-08 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)
My still-fit-but-I-don't-wear-them T-shirts have been getting recycled into "workout wear" shirts. If they get washed enough to wear out, I won't miss them.

[identity profile] neadods.livejournal.com 2007-09-08 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
That's what I was doing with mine, but those are being shoved to "paint the house" status, since the ones I do love and might be a bit tight are okay for workout wear since I'm at least using them!

[identity profile] melusinehr.livejournal.com 2007-09-08 08:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I *just* finished doing a drawer-and-closet cull, netting three full garbage bags of donable stuff and one of ...not. There's still a few drawers I need to go through, but I was good and ruthless. Go me!

[identity profile] neadods.livejournal.com 2007-09-08 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Go you indeed! Well done!

[identity profile] melusinehr.livejournal.com 2007-09-08 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I've been meaning to do it for weeks, I just needed a kick in the pants. I.e., buying new sleepwear that wasn't going to fit in the drawer unless I did something about it, and your helpful reminders. :)

[identity profile] puppetmaker40.livejournal.com 2007-09-08 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
You are a better woman than I on this matter. I can't tell you how many t-shirts we have around here from conventions and the like. We got rid of some but others have hung around.

[identity profile] neadods.livejournal.com 2007-09-08 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't even gone into the set of art shirts that I can't bear to toss or give away. I'm probably going to make a quilt of them.

Overall - and I still haven't tackled the morass that is the library - I think I've gotten rid of a sixth or fifth of my stuff. That's encouraging!

[identity profile] shawan-7.livejournal.com 2007-09-09 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
Just wait until you get over the Bento craze and start pitching bentos.

[identity profile] neadods.livejournal.com 2007-09-09 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
Why would I start pitching them? I can't outgrow them, they won't shrink in the wash, and if I stop putting food in them, they're perfectly good containers for other purposes. They're one of the things I'm bringing into the house that will never run out of uses.
fyrdrakken: (Donna)

[personal profile] fyrdrakken 2007-09-10 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
One of my personal barometers of where I am on the Ten Stages of Fandom with regard to any fandom is whether I feel the need to have a T-shirt referencing the franchise, or to have multiple shirts. (Any major fandom is at the three-or-more-shirts level -- 'tis a pity I've so far only found two Who shirts I wanted enough to wear in public, the "BAD WOLF" from TWoP and the "Romanadvoratrelundar Fred" that I got in time to wear at D*C.)

And a few years back I had to clear the closet due to a broken hanger-pole and wound up sticking stuff into garbage bags and from there into a large box (had a computer monitor originally been packaged in it?) in the storage shed out back. I think I had to do another clear out a year or two back and stuck a bunch of shirts I couldn't bear to trash but didn't wear any more into it. A few months back Mom decided to go spelunking in my old T-shirts (with my permission) and now she wears quite a few of them. I really should nudge her about the T-shirt quilt thing, since I do have a lot I never get around to wearing but couldn't bring myself to toss entirely. A few sofa pillows wouldn't go amiss, either.
fyrdrakken: (Books)

[personal profile] fyrdrakken 2007-09-10 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
And on rereading the Ten Stages thing, I feel compelled to note that what [livejournal.com profile] madlori referred to about jumping from State Two to Stage Five in the BtVS fandom is something that happened to me at the same time with the same episode, "Helpless." I can remember discussing it on the DS9 list we were both on at the time...

[identity profile] neadods.livejournal.com 2007-09-10 10:58 am (UTC)(link)
*amused snort* I hadn't read The Ten Stages before.

I've got three Who shirts, two from cafepress - the logo of the new show, Tara's version of the Bad Wolf shirt - and one from a pseudo-club thing, a leftover "Member, Innuendo Squad" T. Major fandoms tend to get about 5-6 shirts out of me... I'm very tempted to pick up the one from cafepress that lists the name of every single companion from the show and the BF audios.

Oddly, the only Who shirt that I talked myself out of buying was one of the official ones, with a picture of Tennant.

This does, of course, leave wreckage at the other end of the fandom. I'm keeping one of the Buffys, one of the Beauty and the Beasts, two of the 10th Kingdoms, and everything else has been downgraded to "sleep."

I need to do the quilt thing. I have a lot of BatB shirts that are just works of art - handpainted Ts were quite the thing, this coinciding with the airbrushed art fad.
fyrdrakken: (Tease)

[personal profile] fyrdrakken 2007-09-10 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Where does one find shirts with pictures of Tennant on them? Because I haven't seen any of them that I can recall.

And you could do a whole quilt of just BatB. I could theoretically get Mom to do one of some of my favorite shirts I no longer wear but couldn't make myself throw out, but I'd hate to have something I liked on my bed without having something else on top of it to protect it from muddy paws and spills and whatever, and that kind of defeats the purpose of having a quilt that's meant to be seen and appreciated.

[identity profile] neadods.livejournal.com 2007-09-10 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Forbidden Planet, London. That's where I saw mine. The licensed American Merchants (see my links) maybe?

>And you could do a whole quilt of just BatB

Yes. Yes, I could. :> Since most of the shirts were spilled on when I wore them and they're all washable, I'm not too worried about anything that might happen to the quilt.

No, I lie - the cats like to claw a bit. That would be a problem.
fyrdrakken: (TARDIS)

[personal profile] fyrdrakken 2007-09-19 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, well -- I just checked Alien Entertainment and DW America and wasn't impressed with the T-shirt selection, and I'd already been through Who NA when I first got this comment reply and discovered they have no T-shirts. (But they do have a TARDIS cookie jar with the lights and sound, which is much more useful for me than a USB hub because I wouldn't use the lights and sound feature at work but at home in the kitchen Mom would be deeply amused, and I could stick all my scattered teabags into it.) I should check that Who shop that's actually in the UK from which I got my TARDIS key and pen of Rassilon and David Tennant 2007 calendar.