My laziness is costing me a lot of money. Well, laziness and my sense of security. See it goes like this--When I was a kid, I never seemed to be able to find a clean pair of underwear or socks. My mother wasn't exactly regular in the laundry department and if you only have 7 or 8 pairs of socks and underwear, you can't go too long between loads or you're SOL. I remember stealing underwear from my big sister's drawer and wearing dirty socks because I had none in my drawers. As an adult, security has meant having LOTS of socks and underwear. I, myself, have about 20 prs. of underwear and about 40 prs. of socks. I like it that way.

So I am making sure my daughter never has to worry about socks and underwear. As I folded her clothes tonight, I counted that she has something like 30 prs. of underwear and 50 prs. of socks. I'm not kidding. That's a freaking LOT of socks, baby. Almost hard to believe. And that's after I got rid of 10 prs. that were too small or had dirty soles.

But there's more at work than just wanting sock-and-underwear security for myself and Joey. I'm lazy. I like being able to procrastinate on the laundry if I so choose. I like it a lot. So guess what? I buy Joey a lot of clothes. Sometimes I don't realize how many clothes she has because there's always a basket of dirty laundry in her closet but when it's all washed and put away, it fairly bursts out of her closet. She has 10 prs. of new pants and about 6 prs. of old pants from last spring that still fit her. She has a dozen turtlenecks. She has 20 long sleeved shirts (about half from this year, half from last year or maybe it's 60%-40%). That doesn't count her 7 sweatshirts, 4 sweaters and 2 polarfleeces. She has about 25 short-sleeved T-shirts. You see where this is heading? I can go easily for 3 weeks without doing any laundry whatsoever. And if I swing it carefully, I can stretch it out to 4 weeks. Witness this--today was the first time I've washed Joey's clothes since before school started on September 8th (except for soccer clothes--those get laundered weekly).

I don't even want to try to figure out how much all that cost me. Stop--don't tell me. I want to bury my head in the sand.

Of course, it's not just laziness that fuels my daughter's wardrobe excesses. It's part of my basic nature. I *love* clothes. I have a huge wardrobe myownself. I have a habit of finding something I like and buying multiple copies of it in different colors--like the V-neck T-shirts I bought this spring--I bought 4 of them in different colors and then bought 2 more in the scoop-neck version. My capri pants? I have 3 pair that are the same except for color. I just like having a lot of clothes. A lot. My wardrobe is disgustingly overflowing. At last count, I had 15 turtlenecks. I've decided that this year I will get rid of the ill-fitting ones that have shrunk a bit over the years or whose tags bother me or for any reason aren't perfect. Of course, that will make room for me to get a couple new ones. ;-)

I'm almost embarrassed when I look at Joey's closet, though. Thing is, I've been doing this overkill thing since before she was born. As a baby, she had many clothes that she only wore a few times before she outgrew them. And every season, I tell myself that I won't overdo it. I won't buy too much. And I make myself a list of what I need to buy her and try to keep it to that. But you know what? I suck at limits. I really do. I always start out reasonably, going to Target first, but then I end up checking things out at Nordstrom where I have to drop a few bucks (or maybe more than a few) then I go to Old Navy because I just happen to be in the neighborhood, then The Gap, then The Children's Place, Meier & Frank--it's ridiculous.

I'm so easily seduced by vivid colors and trendy styles. I think part of it is that it's *WAY* more fun to shop for tall, thin, darling Joey than it is to shop for me. Everything looks fabulous on her so I want to buy it. And I do. And she loves it. What girl wouldn't?

But there's more to it than that. I was a child who grew up on handmedowns from my sister that were 5 or 6 years out of style because she was so much bigger and older than me. I also got a big box of handmedowns once or twice a year from my sister's friend who was very small for her age. My sister was embarrassed as hell to have her friend's mom bring over old clothes for her little sister but I *loved* getting those boxes. It was like Christmas. Once in awhile I'd get something new--like the kewl orange hooded winter coat I got from my aunt for Christmas. But I didn't grow up with much in my drawers or in my closet. And what was there was already well worn. We just didn't have any money when I was a kid. Now that I'm in a position to afford almost anything I need and most of what I want (except I'm still feeling too guilty to plunk down $179 on that lime green leather jacket ::sigh::), I indulge that child in me who never got anything new.

One benefit, though, of Joey's large wardrobe is that all her clothes are gently worn because she doesn't wear the same shirt over and over and over. I have several little girls to whome I give her outgrown clothes and most of these clothes are in almost pristine condition. I launder almost all clothes inside out to keep them from pilling or getting rough or looking bad, I line dry a lot of the more delicate things and she is very gentle on her clothes so her handmedowns are very nice. I like being able to share them with my older sister's "Little Sister" and with my friends' daughters. I guess it assuages my consumer guilt somewhat to give these clothes away, especially the ones I give to kids who are growing up like I did.

Still, it would probably be a good thing to rein in my clothes spending just a bit. I mean, does Joey *really* need 50 prs. of socks? Perhaps I can learn to make do with only thirty.

--L