Four days on
I've been trying to simplify my life for a few years now, from an environmental and mental health angle. One small change I found made a surprisingly significant difference is wearing an outfit for four days at a time.
Why four days? The original news article that inspired me, had a woman wear the same dress for 1 whole year! That was too much for me. My work has casual Fridays, so this sort just covers me switching to jeans on Friday. At least that was my reasoning when I started. Now, I wear everything for four days at a time regardless.
Obvious exceptions for if any item is dirty, clothing is not sufficient for weather or if I have to change an outfit for an event. I'm also not super hard on myself, so if I woke up feeling like a different shirt, I will just switch.
How this helped me? I don't spend any time in the morning thinking about what to wear anymore. Also don't wonder which clothes are clean, and don't accumulate as large a pile of "not clean enough to go back in the drawer" and "not dirty enough to wash" clothes in my bathroom/bedroom. I do laundry noticeably less, as I'm not just dumping my previously mentioned pile into my basket all the time. Clothes I do wash, all fit on my laundry line now, so I just air dry them. Previously, I machine dried anything that didn't fit.
Surprisingly, no one's really noticed me doing this, and definitely no one's said anything. I did tell a few people a few months in, including some coworkers and family I see everyday. They were shocked, lol.
This is also a bit of an anti-consumption thing for me. I currently have more than enough clothes, but thought if I reduced the amount I needed day-to-day, what I already own can last longer and I would be more aware of what I actually need to replace when it comes up.
So, thoughts on this or other things you may have tried to simplify your life?
I've done something vaguely similar, found clothes that I like and bought enough of them to have a week or more worth. Just enough variation (shirts are half dark grey, half dark blue; pants are half khaki and half light grey) that it doesn't look like I wear the exact same thing every day. I do change them every day though - I sweat enough, especially in the summer, that they'd be pretty grungy after several days.
They're poly-cotton blends (take that, Leviticus!) so they don't take forever to run through the dryer, and I can buy them from Bezos-mart because I hate in-person clothes shopping, particularly when I know exactly what I want and don't want to deal with my size being out of stock.
I use to do that too! Funny enough, people seem to be more likely to notice a "Monday" shirt, than me wearing the same shirt for four days.
Thanks for sharing.
It's really amazing to me that you've managed what you have so far, and I think even if you're not sure what you're about to do, that fact that you are where are you allows you so much more freedom to decide.
I would say for me, buying our home is the most "rooting" decision in my life so far, even more than getting married. There are lots of choices that I simply will no longer even entertain because of our house. That's not bad though, I love that our home is ours, and honestly smile at each mortgage payment made, knowing we're a little bit closer to truly owning it. But yeah, my point is, it's definitely a life changing decision, though not necessarily an absolutely finalizing one.
I plan my outfits for the work work over the weekend prior for essentially the same result. (I know what's clean, don't spend time worrying over what to wear, etc.)
I'm all for simplicity (meal plan, minimalist furniture) but I can't imagine that wearing the same clothes for four days straight would go unnoticed at my workplace.
Definitely depends on workplace. Mine's not one to notice, but I know that's not true for everyone.
Man clothes are the one thing I couldn't see myself going minimalist on, it's just so fun to dress up, build nice outfits, etc (also it's a big confidence booster, at least for me. and compliments on what you're wearing give you a warm fuzzy feeling for the rest of the day). I try to pick versatile items to constrain myself somewhat, but I still have a lot of clothes.
I switched a lot of what I do on my computer over to CLI stuff. This may have added complexity initially, but after I got everything scripted together it runs very very smoothly. Sometimes worryingly smoothly, I forget what's actually going on under the hood!
If my dev work didn't require the odd bit of old, proprietary software here and there I'd switch to a minimalist linux distro too. I've played around with some along with twm's and whatnot, I really like the sort of reduced way of computing but I think it's really only feasible if you're using the CLI and a small, unchanging set of graphical applications
I like dressing up sometimes too, but mostly just want to wear my favourite clothes all the time, so I guess this actually matches my preferences a bit more anyways :p
I've been thinking about minimizing and simplifying my set up too, but honestly I barely even turn on my home computer anymore, so it more a matter of maybe getting rid of it all together.
out of curiosity, what kind of scripts do you use?
I read somewhere that the brain has a finite decision making capability per day, and that's why a lot of c-suite folks dress in the same boring clothes every day.
Also, you can put those too dirty for the drawer clothes in the freezer to freshen them up. Doesn't work though, if your wife's not on board :)
Thanks for finding the source. I do really appreciate it it when people provide one.
This is also a pretty casual chat, not a research paper. I don't believe is source is always required. Though it is always appreciated.
The funny thing is, decision fatigue / ego depletion has become one of the prime examples of the replication crisis in social sciences. It sounds intuitively true but seems to not have rigorous evidence behind it.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story/2016/03/ego_depletion_an_influential_theory_in_psychology_may_have_just_been_debunked.html
Ego depletion refers to changes in ability to perform within-domain tasks on the scale of minutes and how undesired and cognitively taxing tasks might affect other tasks. While this is up for debate, domain general depletion and longer-term cognitive tax affecting performance has much stronger literature supporting it.
The researcher highlighted in the article, Dr. Inzlicht, has even authored papers on this exact phenomenon. While you are completely correct to point this fact out, many people are unaware of the difference in time between the theory of ego depletion and the more general theory of domain general depletion and it's important to point out that cognitively taxing tasks do decrease one's performance over time. The unanswered question is how long is long enough, not whether our cognitive resources can be depleted or replenished.
Tagging @kant and @catt and @noblepath since they may be interested.
Fascinating.
I was unaware...
This was really interesting, thanks for posting!
Don't disagree in the ideal sense. I personally try to provide sources, but don't always due to being on my phone or just timing. My issue with Reddit was people tossing in one source and thinking it "proves" their point. And it's a pretty good starting point, but hardly substitutes confirming for yourself.
While you're technically correct (to some, the best kind of correct), I'm not engaging in professional debate, here. It's like when I'm at dinner or coffee with friends: I'll provide as much of a reference as I can remember, but I'm not whipping out my phone to figure it out unless it becomes really important to someone and they can't figure it out themselves.
I'm so sorry I will no doubt be a continual disappointment.
If you don't mind me asking, what voice are you reading NoblePath's comments in and how certain are you that this voice matches the voice they may be speaking with online?
My observation of the C-suite wardrobe is that it's more a display of sensible business conservatism and status signaling, than an attempt to avoid unnecessary decision effort. They've got whole collections of expensively tiny variations on the same things, and neckties, cufflinks or scarves by the dozen.
I do find the same in the online space, but less so in real life. I don't really like how minimalism is so incredibly well marketed now and honestly taken up by the privileged. However, in of itself it's a good idea. And generally, ironically since I made this post, I find people who don't talk about it the ones that really do it for themselves.
Market minimalism is really just a call to throw out your old stuff and buy new, "minimal" products. Actual, poverty-driven minimal consumption doesn't photograph well.
The everyday carry trend cultivates buying small, expensive objects to bandage the anxiety about not being prepared for everything; the minimalist trend cultivates buying cleanly designed objects to bandage the anxiety about overconsumption.
Since I have the privilege of buying products that fit my needs, I'd prefer to do it consciously and in a way that doesn't create waste or dysfunction. That means continuing to use what's useful, without trying to match a fashion trend.
Yuppies are doing it? Man, minimalism is over.
I read that somewhere too and definitely feel it's true.
Thanks for the tip! Might dig out a corner to try it. Might have to finish some ice cream first :)
Learning how to build a "business or dirt"-ready wardrobe for short-notice travel has simplified my choices immensely.
I stick with coordinating capsule-wardrobe colors (blue, black, gray), and get a week's wear out of six items plus a few more interesting accessories.
Doing this has meant that I can shop less, for better quality and fit. It's not as minimalist as wearing the same thing every day, but it's certainly less damaging to the environment than throwaway fashion.
This is perfect for travel! The biggest thing I dropped were heels. I still have a few pairs, buy generally try to plan my clothes, especially when I am travelling with one pair or flats.
I suppose it's a little strange that I think of clothing selection in terms of constraining the problem space (a/k/a the Goldilocks method) - what are the requirements, what are the failure modes, what is an optimal result.
So, if I can only take one pair of shoes...pointy toes and high heels - almost never a good solution for a job that might require climbing ladders or walking on gridded flooring. Flats - informal and pretty tiring for standing all day. Clark's slip-on loafers with 5 cm stacked heels - just right.
Definitely depends on your needs. Shoes is honestly something I never really need a choice on. I should also mention, I'm usually already wearing my most sensible pair. I had a pair of Clark's too. It had a slight heel and was really perfect for in office and out.
I sort of stumbled into this a ways back by trying to only buy clothes when I was comfortable with the supply chain, and donating away everything for which I wasn't. Which is really expensive (likewise with food), and I don't make a ton of money! So, my total quantity dropped precipitously. However, I've found the impetus to simplify to be enjoyable, and a lot of the same benefits you've had have popped up for me too. I've also found that taking more care when washing, and air-drying, has also made my clothes last much longer (I used to just go "OK laundry time" and shove everything in the washer/dryer on medium settings).
Quantity really is the underlying issue for me. I have tried to be a more conscientious shopper for knowing where and how my goods are handled to how they will be disposed of at end-of-life. I sort of decided that there is no ethical consumption. Consumption is necessary, but there is always a cost. So, in the end, I just want less all around. I really dislike shopping and now that I've decided to pretty much only buy used, it's basically impossible for me to get anything.
I only wear the same thing multiple days in a row outside of work - I typically lounge around in the same shirt and pair of shorts (or sweat pants) all week. When I'm at work though, I have 7-8 shirts and 5-6 pairs of slacks that I rotate to avoid wearing the same combo more than once a week. Those all get washed/dry cleaned maybe every 2-3 months. It's not like I'm sweating a lot at work plus I wear an undershirt, so I usually end up cleaning them only because the shirts are getting wrinkled or the pants are loose fitting, not because they're noticeably dirty.
That's what my husband does. Though a couple years ago, he started just steaming out his shirts instead of outright washing them, unless they were dirty. And also ironing them to get the nice creases back in.