5 black tees 2 pants & 1 long jeans later

If you known me 3 years ago, during my KICKSTART.MY days, I would wear my Tees that I design on my own.

Quirky stuff like below:

Radical? Controversial? Rude?

Well, one thing for sure, it helped a lot in getting attention from others, eliciting a smile or laugh, and usually starting a conversation.

Disclaimer, and a true story: For the “Life’s a d!ck. If it doesn’t work, ask for a helping hand”, I saw a girl friend looking at it and smiled. But she almost choked when I asked if she wants to give me a hand job. Luckily we are good friends. 😃

Anyway, that posed a problem, because everyday before I head out, I need to choose which “message” to wear.

Plus, I read somewhere that successful business icons - Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, heck even Simon Cowell - seem to wear the same thing every darn day.

Image source

So I figured why not donate all my tees (although I haven’t seen anyone wearing my designs though), cut down my wardrobe by over 80%, and keep only:

1. 5 plain black tees - I picked Uniqlo’s Cotton Tees (RM19.90) and then later upgraded to Suprima Cotton Tees (RM39.90, RM29.90 during sales, usually twice a year). I wear them everywhere, even to bed. 😃
   
   Image source
2. 2 knee-length shorts - Interestingly, also from Uniqlo.
   
   Image source
3. 1 long jeans - Dark blue denim, sadly, also from Uniqlo.
   
   Image source
4. X number of boxer briefs - TMI, tragically, also from Uniqlo.

On the side, I have:

1. 1 blazer - in case I need to suit up beyond the tee and jeans combo, although even for one of the highlights of 2017, speaking on a TEDx platform, i just went with tee, shorts and socks
2. 1 work shirt - in case I need to meet MNC clients (bankers!)
3. 2 gym shorts - coz sadly, my knee-length shorts are not practical. These gym shorts also double as my travel shorts
4. 1 hoodie jacket - usually used when travelling, or when I’m working at co-working spaces that try to put me into a cryostasis state
5. 1 swimming trunks - definitely not for diving
6. 1 walking shoes - Sketchers are so comfy
7. 1 travel shoes - Keen is the all rounder here - hiking, walking, running, trekking, and can just throw into the washing machine too. Durable as sh!t.
8. 1 flip-flop - mainly for emergencies
9. 2 gym/sport shoes
10. A couple of pairs of socks (sport socks are crucial for better grip)

Interestingly someone asked if my girlfriend, Debbie, minded that I wore the same thing every day. Frankly, she couldn’t care less. Although we both felt the question was odd because by no means am I a Ken doll.

So how is it like living a year of “uniform” cloths?

Totally loving it. For once I spent a lot lesser of cloths. I only buy replacement tees twice a year. Shorts and pants last really long, but I do make it a point to change them once a year. The best part about having my entire wardrobe from Uniqlo? They can be found almost anywhere in the world!

It also made me conscious of my buying behaviour. I own a lot lesser, other than a few third-party Transformers figures for me to fidget around, I hardly have any material items around the house. All my belongings can be packed in one 27 litre backpack, and a 20 litre laptop bag, totalling around 10kg. Am trying to shave off another 3kg so I can comply to AirAsia’ carry on, but that’s quite pushing it.

Here’s a thought: why not try cutting down your wardrobe this weekend? It doesn’t have to be as drastic as my 80%. 50% will do the trick. You’d probably realise you only wear 50% (or less) of the cloths you have anyway.

I can’t promise much, but one thing's for sure, you will feel a weird sense of peace, of letting go, of lightness maybe. And by then, maybe you want to donate out the other 30%.

---

Wait, why's Mav posting on Steemit nowadays?

Well, unlike other blogging and social media platform, Steemit is the only platform that allows me to earn cryptocurrency when I engage with it. Yup, one Steem is about USD1, and you, too, can earn Steem Dollars every time you:

• Create content (articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, photos)
• Upvote (like) other people contents
• Comment on other people's posts
• Have discussions, share opinions etc!

Yup, basically it's the very same thing you're doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all along!

The only difference? For once you can earn a nice income on the side!

Sign up for a free Steemit account, and you can thank me by coming back and upvoting this article. And guess what, you will earn Steem too for doing that! #awesome