Clothes

When I find an item of clothing that works well, I buy 12 of them, because I’m only going to want to wear that one thing and I will want to have enough of it so that I don’t have to do laundry super frequently.

This philosophy, I am learning, makes no sense when applied to a baby. Edith keeps outgrowing her onesies. So I buy her 12 more onesies. But two weeks later, she has outgrown all of those. So I buy 12 more. It keeps somehow not sinking in that she is going to continue to grow in extremely rapid cycles, and that I do not need to stockpile clothes for her.

Or stockpile anything else for her, either! I find a bottle that she likes, so I buy ten of those bottles. But a week later, she is ready for a different kind of bottle. Soon, she won’t need bottles at all.

The thing behind all this is, I don’t like to shop. I always want to get all of my shopping done with all at once with the idea that maybe I will never have to do it ever again. I also feel deeply comforted by the idea of having just enough of something that I often use. I remember my Dad explaining to me one time that he was really excited because he had counted up all of his shirts and realized that, factoring in wear and tear, he had exactly enough shirts to last precisely up until the year he was most likely to die. He felt very satisfied by this. I take after him in this respect.

Those days are behind me, though! I had a child, and she’s going to need stuff forever! I am going to be shopping repeatedly for the rest of my life, and I just have to accept that.