A few weeks ago, a friend, in a fit of New Year life-improvement and decluttering, exclaimed, “I just need to accept it! I wear black, navy, and grey. Maybe white. That’s it! I NEED TO STOP BUYING AUBERGINE. I DO NOT WEAR AUBERGINE.”

Is this what it means to be in your mid-3o’s? You finally accept that you wear 4 colors and no longer have that well-meaning voice in your head going, “Maybe get the t-shirt in yellow? You always buy navy! Live a little!”

You know why you don’t already own a yellow t-shirt? You’ve had 15 years to buy yourself a yellow t-shirt. You don’t already own a yellow t-shirt because you don’t actually want a yellow t-shirt.

(Well, not YOU you. General you. Maybe your color is yellow. Then buy the yellow! See how simple that is? Buy the colors you actually wear.)

I’ve written here about daily uniforms and my clothes diet, as ways of simplifying getting dressed in the morning. Sticking to your color palette is an even easier solution.

Buying the colors you actually wear means that you don’t end up with the orange tank top in the bottom of your drawer that you never wear except maybe as a pop of color on a warm June day at a picnic at Lafayette Park.

Buying the colors you actually wear means saving money, since you’ll just get the t-shirt/sweater/pair of socks in one color (the color you actually wear) instead of two colors (the color you actually wear plus a wildcard because you worry about your limited clothing color palette.) Buying it only in a color you don’t wear means basically not buying it at all, since you won’t wear it (see above.)

You also save money because you’re buying clothes you’ll actually wear. If you actually wear all the clothes you own, and love them, you’ll want/need less clothes.

Plus, getting dressed is easier with a limited palette, since everything color coordinates with everything else.

Other friends in your 30’s, are you slowly figuring this out too? Why does it take us so long?