Reading this article from Zen Habits was my daily dose of keep on keepin’ on.

We are currently in a clothing crisis of epic proportions. Before we became the cheapest people on the face of the planet and before we decided that we were going to pay off every single cent of debt before we die and before we decided that using any kind of credit card was Satan’s probe in our backside we would occasionally shop for new clothes.

Once a year, usually right after Christmas we would use some of Clay’s bonus to resupply his work wardrobe which came straight from Men’s Wearhouse. We would walk out with dress shirts, ties, maybe a new pair of shoes and pants that are hemmed to order. We always went to that store because they have shirts in size Freakishly Tall and Thin as a String which just happens to be the size Clay wears.

We haven’t bought Clay new work clothes since we moved to Kansas 18 months ago. He is hurting. Not because he desperately wants new clothes to wear, but because he destroys his clothes. Holes in the sleeves, rips in the pants, missing belt loops, stains that can’t be treated, he’s worse than the kids. He’s also lost all of his collar stays, you know, the little plastic arrows that slip in the back of the collar points to keep the collar from winging out like the flying nun? Yeah, those things. And apparently the dry cleaners don’t have any extra collar stays, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE THE PEOPLE THAT TAKE THEM OUT OF THE SHIRTS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!! Not that it makes me angry or anything that a business would remove something from your clothing, but not have the decency to put it BACK!!!

All this to say…..new clothes are NOT IN THE BUDGET!

I know, I know, Damn Ramsey would say that clothing should be in the budget every month and blah, blah, blah. But, but, butt butt-hole!

My daughter, the child that wears the same dad-gum pair of jeans everyday until I fall on the floor and scream and wretch and beg her to please wear something else, for the love of all that’s clean and fresh, WEAR A DIFFERENT PAIR OF JEANS, she has come to me and begged for some new clothes. I don’t remember her ever asking for new clothes, but she has no shorts that fit and she’s actually desperate for some new clothing.

My little boys have torn the knees out of most of their jeans and the other jeans are waaaaay to short, because did you know that children like to grow eight inches the month their parents decide to spend any extra cash they have on farm animals? It’s true. Try it sometime. Go buy four pigs, two beehives, 37 chickens, two turkeys and a freakin’ turken and see if your children don’t sprout right out of all their clothes.

And, really, do I need to mention my bra debacle again?

Okay. So, what am I going to do about this clothing problem?

Ummmm, well? I did buy some clothes for the kids at a thrift store and I’m challenging myself to attempt to dress at least my two littles from garage sale finds this summer, it’s pretty hard to find clothes that fit my daughter, even in a store, so I doubt I’ll be able to dress her solely from used clothing. And Clay, well, we’ve talked about him dressing more like an engineer and less like an architect. Which means wearing khakis and short sleeved dress shirts or polos. Which would help preserve his dressy clothes for when he meets with clients and we would spend a lot less money on the casual clothes.

And I think I’ll make new bras out of chicken feathers and bailing twine.

Remember when I said I wouldn’t buy any new clothes until my birthday in April, the month, not me? Yeah, well I think I’ll have to push that back and resupply the rest of my family first.

I tell ya, bumps in the road like this are a pain in the arse, but the challenge is what keeps me going.