I have looked at my unnamed teddy bear (I never got around to christening him) a great deal more than usual this week; I suspect as a reaction to watching Brideshead Revisited (the movie) last weekend and seeing Sebastian Flyte with his bear Aloysius. Yes, I know it’s been out for an age but I am only just getting around to catching up with a raft of films I missed when they were first released.
Now on to something completed different but trust me there is a tenuous connection. It may be a sign of incipient insanity but from late 2009 I have kept a clothes spreadsheet, diligently entering the cost and details of everything I bought since then and daily updating the spread sheet on the basis of what I am wearing that day (clothes purchased pre the end of 2009 are not included as it would have been impossible to remember when I purchased them and their exact cost) to arrive at a cost per wear figure. It’s not time-consuming, it takes about 15 seconds to enter each new purchase and a similar amount of time daily to update the sheet. It ‘s extremely satisfying to see the cost per were reduce the more I wear something but also very sobering when I look at the per wear cost of items worn infrequently. I think that the only sane conclusion from studying the spreadsheet is that I have too many clothes; I have in mind as a project for next year to buy less and to properly sift through my closet and remove the bulk of rarely/never worn items.
Now back to the nameless teddy and the tenuous connection. I bought his blue-striped shirt in Camden Passage in Islington when I lived in London, if I were to work out the cost of the shirt per sq cm it could well be the most expensive separate I ever bought. However unnamed teddy has worn it every day (except for sporadic-shirt-washing-days) since 1990, so on a cost per wear basis it’s almost certainly my best buy. Sadly nothing on my clothes spreadsheet comes anywhere close.
Is there anyone else out there who keeps a cost per wear spreadsheet?
i would love to but even the word spreadsheet strikes terror into my heart, what a brilliant idea.
Thanks for the comment Tabitha. I actually enjoy updating it even though I have no special affinity with spreadsheets.
Just one comment B on your beloved Teddy. Either you were a size zero in 1990 ot Teddy is bigger than he looks! C. Really enjoying your blog. Keep them coming. C xx.
Hi C,
I am laughing out loud, there is no way I could squeeze into that shirt now or even on the day I was born! Teddy is tiny. I found the shirt in a shop that sold vintage toys and had a small selection of teeny tiny clothes for dolls and teddies. I think in future I need to check what I have written before I push the publish button to make sure it makes sense.
Really nice to see you yesterday. Bx