I now have enough shirts that ironing them takes longer than one Now Show. Bah. But on the good side, I now have enough shirts! And pretty much enough everything, though one more pair of smartish trousers wouldn't hurt. My mad spending spree is probably coming to an end (just in time for my bras to need replacing).

Decluttering update: 5 shirts in, 1 small bookcase out. (running totals - Out: 223, In: 120, Net: 103, day 100)
I've started a new charity clothes bag, and gathered together unwanted clothes hangers for freecycling. My flickr uploading means I can delete photos off my camera card which means there's enough room to take some photos of freecycle stuff, but actually I should probably wait to offer that until we get back from Wales and concentrate instead on clearing enough space to take holiday snaps.

Inspired by my urge to declutter this year, I took a long hard look at my wardrobe recently. I've been vaguely aware of dissatisfaction for a while but failed to do anything about it.

First, I wrote a list of all the clothes I think I need, in a different room so I couldn't be distracted. For example: 2 pairs of jeans, 4-6 casual tshirts, 2-3 pairs of smart-casual trousers and so on.

Then I went into my room and started going through everything to see where it fitted on my list. The idea was to throw out anything surplus, anything I didn't like, and anything that didn't fit me or fit on the list. Unfortunately I ended up realising that almost all my outerwear fell into the throwing-out pile. I have spent at least the last year mostly wearing things I don't really like. This is crazy and I'm glad I've finally woken up to it.

Finally, I ended up with a "get rid" pile, a "keep until you find a better replacement" pile and a very very few items in a "keep" pile. I am slowly getting in replacements, holding myself firmly to "do I like it?" and "does it fit on the list of required clothes?". In the meantime it's a good thing we do laundry several times a week.

I think I may have exhausted the possibilities of La Redoute and would welcome recommendations for other places to find smart-casual clothes in size 22-24. Preferably home-delivery as actually visiting shops involves logistics and childcare.

I seem to be voluntarily ironing things for the first time ... ever? Last time I regularly wore clothes-that-need-ironing was at school, so not exactly voluntary. I was pleased to discover I can still do it competently: I literally cannot remember when I last ironed anything - before Charles was born certainly, but probably years before that.