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brin-bellway:

sinesalvatorem:

My objection is: But where does it END? I’m already wearing my ex’s DC winter coat basically at all times. I can’t just keep getting more clothes to put on top of other clothes; that’ll get way too expensive and too bulky to deal with.

There are already some clothes I just can’t get around to unpacking, because too much ugh, because too many clothes. Ideally, I would like to have a small number of clothing items that are really cool, and just wash my whole wardrobe each week. Owning clothes that I won’t wear until a whole ‘nother season is /insane/. How am I supposed to /transport/ that? (If the answer is “live in the same place for a whole year” I’m screwed.)

Plus all clothing necessarily impedes the things I want to be outside for in the first place, and more clothing makes it worse. It blocks sunlight from reaching my skin, impedes motion to make dancing more taxing, and – by making the heat-trapping potential of my body inconsistent – it makes me sweat.

Maximum physical comfort would be being completely naked while the ambient temperature is comfortable on my skin. Any alternative where I make up for below-ideal temperatures by putting on layers of clothing can never compare, due to the inherent drawbacks of clothing and the fact that they scale with moar clothe.

So while getting warmer clothes as the weather gets worse may somewhat slow down the quality of life decline, it wouldn’t prevent it from happening. Given that clothes are also expensive and bulky and often sensory evil, I’m not sure how much it’s worth to go getting extra clothes I only wear for part of the year. (Plus I have at least one heavy part-of-the-year coat if needed – which has by itself been a nightmare to transport for the past three years.)

Thank you for the suggestion, though. I just don’t think it’s quite enough to deal with my particular seasonal issues. But if clothing-ownership constraints relax (ie: I can ever expect to stay in one place long enough to make owning bulky items not be prohibitively expensive), I may try this as part of a broad harm-reduction approach.

*

I once saw a list of tips for homeless people that suggested buying a set of winter clothes from a thrift store when the cold sets in, then dumping it back on the thrift store when it warms up, so that you’ve effectively “rented” the clothes for the winter.

It was aimed at people living on the street, therefore limited to what they can carry but *not* routinely having to ship their belongings long distances, so it might not be useful to you. (And there are the cost issues, of course.) But there *do* exist situations in which thrift-store clothes “rentals” are the least-bad option, so I thought I’d mention it in case (now or in the future) you end up in such a situation.

(My favourite level of clothing (controlling for weather) is turtleneck + hoodie + sweatpants, and I’ve lived in the same house for over a decade and would not be surprised if I continue living here (or otherwise retain access to its long-term storage) for decades more, so I can’t offer any advice based on actually knowing these feels. But at least I can pass along advice I’ve heard from others.)

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