Send Her Packing

I suppose this should come as no surprise, given that most women have more clothes than they'll ever need, but the majority of women take too many clothes with them on holiday. Hey, you don't have to take my word for it. The facts are there in a recent study which found the average woman over-packs her holiday suitcase with 26 items she'll never wear.

What is it with women and clothes? In our house my wife and I share a walk-in closet. Yet, I only get to use one-quarter of the space. And that doesn't include another bedroom closet packed with her "winter" clothes.

And shoes. Mrs Dufus must be a distant cousin of Imelda Marcos. There are shoes in the bedroom closet, shoes in the front hall closet, shoes at the front door, shoes at the back door, shoes in the basement, shoes in the garage. I swear she must have a pair of shoes for every day of the year. Okay, okay, I'm exaggerating...a pair for every week of the year. Recently she told me she desperately needed a pair of navy blue shoes. Then one day she came home bursting at the seams with joy because she'd found a pair. The next day she came home from work only to tell me, guess what? "Well, you know those navy blue shoes?" "Yes, dear." "I, um, found three more pairs at the office."

At our front door

Dufus (1 pair running shoes)

Grandson (1 pair forgotten flip-flips)

Mrs D (5 pairs of shoes)

So getting back to this study. It found that a woman typically needs 34 separate items for a week-long vacation. However, she packs 60 "just in case." The average man, the study found, took two pair of shorts and a couple of T-shirts.

Now I've got to say that's me. Absolutely...to a "T" (pun intended). I've always travelled light.

But hey, I'll encourage Mrs D to pack all the clothes and shoes she thinks she needs for our holiday. Because given our luck, the airline will likely lose the suitcase...freeing up more of the closet for me.