Common wardrobe to festive frolics

The Vivienne Files recently did a travel wardrobe post for somewhere "snowy and brisk", using classic but casual navy and grey clothes, and jazzed up with burgundy for the holidays. 

While my main mode of travel is tiny packing (mainly lightweight clothing that can be squeezed into a backpack), it would be fun to imagine a wider set of options, say for a road trip. Or if checking a bigger bag was an option (and somebody else paid for it). A purse that doesn't have to be flat-packed? A nice hat? Count me in.

So let's start with the VF "common wardrobe." (You can see the original version at that link.) Here are the closest things I could find from my own closet (mostly thrifted):

Navy crewneck pullover, grey vest (not a sweater vest because I don't have one, but this is close), navy boucle blazer/cardigan

Three long-sleeved t-shirts

I might swap one of the solid-colour t-shirts for a striped one, or pack a striped sweater instead of the solid navy one.

Three shirts. I do have a striped shirt much like the one in the VF photograph, but I'm swapping in a vintage flannel check shirt.

Three pairs of pants. The grey pants here are a bit lightweight and loungey. In real life, if I didn't have a more solid pair of grey ones, I might take another pair of navy pants.

So those are the common-dozen clothes. The next thing in the VF story is a travel outfit. I was able to come pretty close with a top, sweater, hat and scarf.

Here's the bottom half of the travel outfit: jeans, boots, tote bag, gloves.

And a coat; not my heaviest all-blizzard one. I thought this jacket would be a bit dressier, if the heroine is not planning on playing in the snow (or digging out of a snowstorm).

Following the additions and options in the VF story, we have a dark red cardigan (looks brighter in the photo, but it should be more of a ruby colour); a boiled-wool vest (subbing for the quilted version in the story); the flannel shirt; a scarf; and (below) the navy cords and a pair of burgundy lace-up shoes. I don't think it would have probably occurred to me to put all these things together in real life, but I will give it a shot if the opportunity comes up.

Another suggested outfit: the grey pants and vest, jean shirt, boots, and a blue and white scarf.

The VF heroine has a burgundy corduroy shirt dress, which isn't like anything I own. However, I do have an eggplant fleece dress with a high neck.

The dress can be worn under this vintage handmade paisley shirt-jacket. The purse doesn't look very good in the photo (the colour seems to be off), but it's better in real life. I photographed this outfit with navy low-heeled pumps, but I'm also not delighted with that, so I might go for a pair of boots instead (photo below that).

The dress can also be worn with the vest (channelling one of the VF suggestions).

If I had unlimited packing space, I'd add in these things: a grey hoodie; a burgundy pleated skirt (which can be a dressy outfit with the cardigan, see photo below that); a winter-white mockneck pullover; and a pair of navy knit pants (to go with all those other navy things). Also, an extra scarf.

Here's the scarf, shown on a sweater that I would also consider chucking into this ever-expanding suitcase.

I would probably pack this navy scarf, and a dressier hat.

The VF story has only earrings for jewelry, but I'm including these Sophisticated Lynx bracelets from Canadian maker Fierce Lynx.

Locally-made porcelain earrings.

A couple of thrifted necklaces.   

                                        

And a festive-looking brooch.

Happy Holidays!

Last updated November 28, 2024

You Just Need a System (frugality and things)

Of course I keep birthday candles in the spice drawer. Doesn't everybody?

Many, many years ago, I read some advice on personal Bible reading, that I now know (because you can search out those long-lost things) was written by Peter Kreeft. One of his statements was "Forget commentaries." At least that's the way I remembered it; but it turns out what he said was, "At first, forget commentaries." As in, maybe for the time being you should just focus on the experience; but somewhere along the road, you will find a use for one. Keep that in mind for a minute.

More recently, I was listening to a podcast called Elevating Motherhood, where the guest was Kendra Adachi, author of the Lazy Genius books. Kendra said: "We don't need other people's systems; we need principles that can help us to build our own systems that work for us."

I don't think either person was saying that there is no need ever for cookbooks, guidebooks, menu plans, instruction manuals, or Bible commentaries. Or, shall I be bold enough to say it, teaching curriculum, study guides, and booklists that you haven't compiled yourself.

There has been talk from time to time about interfering with the liberty of teachers to choose their own books, but one might as well contend for everyman's liberty to make his own boots! It is one of those questions of the division of labour which belong to our civilisation; and if the question of liberty be raised at all, why should we not go further and let the children choose their books? But we know very well that the liberty we worship is an elusive goddess and that we do not find it convenient to do all those things we are at liberty to do. (Charlotte Mason, Philosophy of Education, p. 272)

So what does all that have to do with living within our financial means?

Think of the old story of someone who has just had their kitchen re-organized by a relative--and now they can't find anything. In the words of another popular declutterer, Dana K. White, that "helper" has violated the principle that you don't put things where you should look for them, you put them where you would look for them. If you would instinctively look for kitchen scissors in the knives and forks drawer, that is a system that works for you, and nobody should insist that scissors belong with the foil and plastic wrap.

In other words, a lot of our everyday decisions evolve organically. If we're basing those choices on a few basic principles and on the particular circumstances of our lives at this time, then we're probably good, no matter where we put the scissors. (We hang ours on a fridge magnet.) At certain times, we might decide that we need a little extra help nailing those principles down, or figuring out the details, and that's where the commentaries (and podcasts) come in.

When we combine experience with solid principles, we can stand up to people who want to re-organize our kitchen, our shopping, or our homeschooling. Maybe they're well-meaning, maybe they're trying to sell us something, but, either way, we're already doing fine thank you have a good day. A few years ago we were living in an apartment building next door to a discount store. We didn't have a lot of room for food storage; plus, the freezer compartment didn't work very well; things got freezer-burned after only a short time. So, we did a lot of quick trips to the store, buying just what we needed. It wasn't a method we would have officially recommended, but it kept enough food in our fridge. Now we live in a townhouse (with a better freezer), but we're still close to a couple of food stores, so we've continued to make frequent but smaller trips, looking for whatever's on sale. As a household of two, we don't buy pounds and pounds of meat at a time, but we do look for in-store discounts that  let us score a meal's worth of pork chops for (sometimes) just a couple of dollars, combining them with things we already have in the cupboard (like the cranberry sauce we never did eat at Thanksgiving). As another example, we often make enough of a main dish to have leftovers for lunch; and if we don't have any leftovers around, maybe we heat up some canned soup. But if some friendly person came along and tried to move us into some other system, say weekly food delivery, or buying very large packages, or making lunches on Sunday for every day of the coming week, we might wonder if our way of doing things was wrong. Not pretty enough, not environmental enough, not frugal enough.

It's the same thing that makes people buy fancy household organizers, or labelled spice racks, or beautiful bookmarks. In Peter Kreeft's terms, maybe an expensive multi-volume Bible commentary. We want to do things better, more efficiently, more frugally; we may spend a lot of money attempting to do so. Now, sometimes that impulse to learn more, or try new ideas, is money well spent. Maybe we find a good book about car maintenance, or we download information that will help us save on baggage fees by travelling lighter. Other times it's just time and money wasted, and we probably sort of knew that all along, as we somewhat guiltily stick the package of chili powder in the cupboard instead of decanting it into its little jar.

We can learn from other people's systems. In fact, we should! But in the end, we are going to slip the scissors (or the birthday candles) back to wherever we will remember to look for them. We will also probably grab whatever piece of paper's handy for a bookmark.

Because it's enough.