good investment

I’m going to tell you a secret about women…

every day or at least many days of the week, we are wearing one of three (maybe four) things that circulate through our laundry every. single. week.

we have favorite “camis”… a black one, a white one, a grey one, and maybe a nude one (although I take issue with this color being named nude, because there aren’t very many people who are actually this color when nude – but that’s another blog post).  They might be some variation of a cami – like a tank top with a thicker strap, or a basic tee for layering, or a wife beater (speaking of names I take issue with) but it’s all the same idea.

we wear them for many reasons, and they serve many purposes:

• they help with blouses not being see-through
• they look good under sweaters
• sometimes they help with things needing to be sucked in or lifted up
• maybe we need an extra layer for warmth
• maybe we need a bottom layer that is light for a hot day when we want to remove the other layers (this one doesn’t apply to me, but I hear it’s true)
• they go under a suit, dress, shirt, etc…
• sometimes we wear them even if they don’t serve a purpose because it doesn’t feel right to not wear one.

we work in them, play in them, work out in them, and sleep in them…  and sometimes when we think nobody will notice and it’s a weekend, and we’re too lazy to do laundry, and they’re not too stretched out – we wear them for all of those things.

here’s the thing.  they cost like $6.00 - $10.00.  I’m sure there are some you can buy somewhere for like $50… but they do the same thing as the $6.00 ones, so if you’re spending $50, you should send me some of that money you don’t need.  so they’re crazy cheap, and they’re made out of fabric as thick as tissue.  so despite the fact that they cost less than lunch, we only have three of them and we wear the same three every day for centuries.

and when we’re digging through our closet or dresser for the black one for the third time each week only to discover that it’s in the laundry (because we put it on when it came out of the dryer) it never occurs to us that perhaps we should spring for a second $6.00 black cami.

i examined my camis this weekend, and decided this was nonsense.  the grey one has a paint spot (because we also wear them for home renovation), and a tiny hole in one seam.  the white one has a couple holes, and one broken strap which was eaten by the dryer, and this week the black one came out with one eaten strap too.

today I’m breaking the cycle.  I ordered 7 new camis in four different colors and fits, and I can’t imagine how great life will be now with all of these possibilities.