Do Clothes Make the Sailor?

Passage Revelation:  Clothes do not make the sailor, but makes the woman a clothes horse.
Lessons Learned:  Limited space on a boat requires careful selection of clothes at all time during cruising. 

I've come to the inevitable conclusion, that I have too many clothes to fit the limited space available onboard our sailboat.  I tried to figure out how I can put as many clothes in a small drawer, hanging closet or anyplace else I could find.  I've even put outfits together in a plastic storage bags and found that didn't work either.  Then I separated the shirts, shorts, pants, etc. into the different storage bags.  It is a difficult situation but I'm now thinking about what I actually need for the tropics.  But what happens if I need to return home or have a special occasion.  My hanging closet is filled with 5 shoe hangers which have shoes, purses, and my underwear.  The shoe hanger idea was brilliant, but it has allowed me to keep way more shoes than I need.

Not sure if  I'm fooling myself or if I just don't want to rid myself of the last evidence of civilization of the life as I  knew it in Houston.  One of my boater friends said, "You don't look like a boat person."  How does a boat person look?  We don't have a home base anymore and I tell everyone that my home is where the boat is.  Where ever that may be at any moment of time.  It has my bed, my kitchen, my shower and ,yes, all of my clothes.

I was so proud of myself when I finally got rid of a garbage bag of clothes and donated them to the Navy Relief Society.  Then I walked into a West Marine who had women clothes 75 percent off.  Did I say they were Columbia?  I couldn't resist and proceeded to replace the bag of clothes I had just donated .  Now I had to re-address where I was going to put the new clothes and now what could I give up.

Again and again I have talked to women who are cruising.  Periodically they place their clothes across their stateroom bed and go into an elimination process.  How do you choose?  I can't get rid of my favorite tee shirts.  

One of my cruising buddies, Gina, selects clothes using her favorite color purple.  This way all her clothes can be mixed and matched.  She asked what my favorite color, but I like wearing clothes of all colors.  Then she advised me to categorize my clothes by selecting 4 pairs of jeans, 4 tee shirts, 4 shorts, 4 sailing shorts, etc.  I knew when it came to bathing suits, I could not only have 4.  Also my friend Dew said I needed jackets to wear with my jeans and it would dress up my wardrobe.  Thus, I have kept three jackets.

I am at a loss.  I can't give away my Harvest Moon shirts, NASA/USA shirts or my OLLU shirts.  The memories are too precious and definitely clothes tell stories.  How could I give them to a stranger?
I know one thing, I will not get rid of any of my bathing suits, because I plan on living in them soon.  I guess if I don't get rid of any clothes I could give them to the islanders.  This actually seems like a perfect solution in the spirit of Christmas.