… and I’m okay with that.
Different seasons of your life require different amounts, and types, of clothing.
My husband used to have a fluid wardrobe for life and work. He was a touring musician and the casual shirts, t-shirts and jeans that he wore on stage were usually the same things he wore as he drove from gig to gig or went out for brunch with his family. But since making a career switch ten months ago he’s expanded his wardrobe to include formal work clothing.
Things have changed for me too. I’m no longer in an office setting. My clothing requirements have also changed. Most days I’m in my “uniform” of dark jeans, a t-shirt and cardigan.
As you can see from my documentation above and below, we’re not splitting the closet space 50/50.
This is partly due to his work wardrobe requirements and partly due to his more conventional take on clothing. He hangs onto stuff even if he doesn’t wear it much. In the last two years he has let go of a bit of it but there’s still a stack of t-shirts from music festivals or even from his new job, that rarely, if ever, get worn. His hoodie collection has blossomed much to the laundresses chagrin (those thick sweatshirts fill up the washer and take two days to line dry).
Someone else might feel a touch self-conscious at this gender role reversal. But not me.
I love that I’m never the one asking, what should I wear?
Note: about 20% of our clothes were in the laundry hampers at the time of this photo. Also not shown are our workout clothes and under things.
Mine too! It has nothing to do with gender – just how much of a priority I make of keeping clutter and decisions to a minimum. Glad to see I’m not the only one!
Just seen this and was excited – me and my DH are the same! I even posted a similar picture when I applied Project 333 to my wardrobe! 🙂 I actually think it’s great, never occurred to me to be bothered! 😉 Like you say, I live in jeans, a tshirt and jumper in winter. My DH on the other hand, wears a clean shirt each day and trousers and then at weekends a variety of clothes. 🙂
My husband has a walk-in closet, half my dresser, and another whole dresser in the closet.
I do my best to get him to purge, but some of it, he can’t get rid of for practical reasons. They do “business casual” every day at work, but he needs a suit when appearing in court or meeting clients, and then there’s the tuxedo for benefits, and workout clothes, and weekend clothes, and the Friday-nice-jeans-with-classy-shirt….it costs a LOT to keep up with the work wardrobe! I am often very glad that my job can be done on my couch in yoga pants.
As a stay at home mom I would totally agree with this, but as I begin to work outside the home in a “real” job, I am starting to collect additional work clothes, so it is beginning to even out for us. Although he will always have more t-shirts than me!
Our closet is pretty similar to yours. My husband doesn’t declutter his side until I force him to. I’m okay with this role reversal most of the time, except on days when I feel like I have nothing to wear. Then I snarl at him for having more pants than me.
I was just noticing this same thing in our closet and have similar issues. I’ve decided that as long as it all fits neatly, I won’t harp on him about clearing out his half:)
haha, this is our closet too 🙂 My husband does construction so he needs to have separate work close for that so he has lots more than me in the closet. It was kind of weird for me for a while after really cutting back all the wardrobes. It seemed un-feminine for me to have so much less than him. Sharing a little apartment closet I am sure glad now that I don’t. Like you said, never have to worry about what to wear… especially on laundry day 🙂
I’m getting prepared to move in with my boy friend and his clothing collection has got to be at least five times larger then mine. Hoping to be a good influence in getting him to par down a bit. Thanks for this post and all the others!
It is true, that if you need separate work clothes and ‘ordinary’clothes, you bound to have more. Since my husband needs to wear either a suit or smart trousers and shirt&tie to work, he has more clothes than I do. But it doesn’t matter, as you rightly said, the most important thing is that the clothes we have are the clothes we wear (or the one or two that we absolutely love even if we don’t wear it as often). 🙂
Haha, here too 🙂 We share 50/50 but my side holds DD’s clothing as well. (She has two shelves of which one is for diapers and pajamas and I have three. All half empty I might add ) DH doesn’t have a huge amount either, but his side is messy and he has those chunky hooded sweatshirts. Also he has way, way too many dress shirts, considering the fact that he wears one when he absolutely has to, which is like to a wedding. At one point he was trying to wear them more but he is just too much into comfort, as am I. When we move I will make him go through them at the latest. I did get him to donate three when I asked about them, I knew he didn’t want then but just didn’t get around to de-cluttering them.
What a funny post. Now that I look in my closet…it seems my hubby may have the same amount if not more clothes than me. HAHA…what a diva. Thanks for sharing…
Amy
crazyclutterlady.blogspot.com
We’re the same! My husband’s side of the closet is much fuller than mine. Of course, as a stay at home mama, I don’t need but a few outfits to wear out. With a newborn & 22-month-old, I’m at that stage where I’m wearing worn out jeans & yoga pants with t-shirts at home!
We’re moving soon, and I’m trying to convince my husband that we should take only the clothing that fits inside our one, large suitcase. I think I can managed, but he–like your husband–hangs on to old t-shirts, and he has seriously hoodie love, too! Man thing?
I’m in the same boat! The Hubs has far more clothing than I do…and that’s without his work uniforms! Glad to see I’m not the only one out there 🙂
My boyfriend has always had WAY more clothes than me, even before I decluttered. Yet I wear more variety I think. He also changes clothes like crazy, which is part of the reason it’s every man for herself when it comes to laundry!
Our closet at our current rental is larger than the bedroom for our oldest son at 2 of the last 3 rentals we’ve lived in. My husband has way more clothing than I do, but still combined we only fill about a fifth of the space in our closet. We are thinking about turning it into an office and using the third bedroom as a bedroom for the littles ones who currently sleep in our bedroom.
Same here. My half of the closet is quite bare; DH’s is jammed. I keep expecting the rods to collapse.
I like looking at empty space and have no problem getting rid of anything. DH is the exact opposite.
And he is retired!!
I made a real effort last year to streamline my wardrobe, and have a sort of capsule wardrobe now of things that all go together. I have jeans, two pairs of leggings, a denim skirt and a jersey dress, with a small selection of tops that go with all of these. I spent a bit more than I have in the past (though still not much, just not ultra cheap!) so that I could buy things that fitted well and would last longer. Also cleared out my shoes as I do a lot of walking and get a lot of foot pain now, so no more heels or uncomfortable shoes!
Sounds like we’re making the same decisions! I am happy to spend more on my clothing now, I have fewer items but they’re higher quality! And thoe same goes for shoes, uncomfortable shoes are not welcome in my closet!
I’m really motivated to streamline my closet any good links, articles, posts you recommend for getting started?
That’s a lean looking closet! I’m envious. I have about 150 folded band t-shirts in mine…