ONE SHIRT AT A TIME

ONE SHIRT AT A TIME by Joseph Tom Riach

The clothes in my wardrobe (often on the floor) fall into three categories :

My very few ‘Good Clothes’ are new-ish and saved for wear only on special occasions – dining with the Queen and such like. In time they are demoted to –

My ‘Every Day Clothes’, which may lack the sheen of new but are smart, respectable and comfortable. Only after some considerable time (years mostly) are they relegated to –

My ‘Scruffy Clothes’. These I wear for lounging around the house, messing in the yard, hiking and climbing in the mountains, doing exercises and training sessions. (I am it seems something of an oddity nowadays in that I hike, jog or cycle to feel good for me rather than to show off expensive designer apparel for others)!

Only when a scruffy piece of clothing becomes reduced to a series of inter-connected holes do I discard it. At this point I demote a garment from my every day clothes to replace the scruffy item deceased and I remove an item from my good clothes to replace that one. This leaves a vacancy in my good clothes department which I may replace (note the word ‘may’) with a new purchase … but only on offer of course!

This clothes management system which I employ is testament to my Scottish and Presbyterian upbringing. Each imbued great thriftiness … but my family were not very well off anyway. Clothes were replaced only on the inter-connected holes basis described and I went through many winters with newspaper stuffed into shoes with completely worn-through soles.

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But the benefit of all that is that I learned to spend, and throughout adulthood have spent, only a fraction of the money on clothes which many people do. Yet I am perfectly able to be well dressed and maintain a smart appearance. I even shower, shave and comb my hair when I don’t have to!

My system is also eco-friendly (no waste), charitable (not supporting far east sweat shops) and it’s sensible. For anyone unfamiliar with the word ‘sensible’, it’s what existed prior to ‘woke’. The demise of the first coinciding with, nay being created by, the rise of the second … but I diverge …

The money I save by not being a clothes mad shopaholic, I invest in business opportunities and ways of making money rather than ‘blowing’ it. So with my thrift I become better off and, some would say, thus better able to afford to buy more ‘stuff’, more clothes even! But no, I’m very attached to my proven and effective clothes management system.

After all, as was told me in my youth by a highly successful entrepreneur – “Regardless of wealth … you can only wear one shirt at a time!” Think about it.

I am Tom Riach. I live and write in the sunny south of Portugal. I hope you enjoyed this sample of my work. Find all my current titles (novels and ‘personal achievement’) at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other leading book stores. Click the image below.

“From every book written by Tom Riach you will gain unique insights to success, you will laugh, you will reflect upon your own character, and sometimes you will just sit in awe of his mastery of life, business and the simply written word.” – Randy Ireland, SFI Team Leader, Sulphur Springs, Arkansas

© Joseph T. Riach 1998-present. All rights reserved.