Dress With Less: Project 333

 

We recently watched the movie Minimalism on Netflix which is basically how we are so very prompted and pushed by society and media to buy things we don't need and how wasteful it truly is. I learned about something called Project 333 during that movie and I decided to challenge myself to partake in this project.

 

 

 

Project 333 is a minimalist type movement where you choose 33 items from your closet and live on them for 3 months.
Your 33 items include everyday clothing, accessories, shoes and jackets.
Your 33 items do NOT include underwear, lounge/sleepwear, workout wear or sentimental jewelry.

 

As I was listing all my items I found it at first, really easy to pick out items that would work wonderfully for 3 months. So many choices..."this will be a piece of cake!" Then I realized I was just listing clothing items. No shoes, jackets or accessories. Yikes.

 

I apparently could not figure out how to do math so I immediately wondered over to Pinterest for inspiration and to see how many of each items is suggested for this type of capsule wardrobe. That is the semi-official term for it I guess. I found this image which I used to pull pieces for my capsule. I did edit it a bit because I do not ever use a purse unless it's date night, I don't own a knit hat nor do I need one unless it's winter and I decided I would only have 4 scarves instead of 6.

 

 

 

My items are as listed:

2 flannel shirts
1 black t-shirt

1 white t-shirt

2 coral t-shirts

2 tank tops (some lists say this can or cannot be counted since they are sometimes worn almost everyday)

1 3/4 sleeve shirt

3 long sleeve shirts

1 chambray shirt

4 cardigans

3 pairs of jeans

1 pair of black skinnies

1 pair of leggings

2 jackets

4 scarves in multiple colors

1 pair of brown boots

1 pair of brown booties

1 pair of flats

1 pair of tennis shoes

1 pair of flip flops

 

 

Disclaimers:

I do have one necklace I wear on occasion that I am not counting. And by on occasion I mean once a month if that. I am also planning on purchasing some sort of dress for Easter and I am not counting that in my 33 items because I will probably only wear it once or twice in 3 months and none of the clothes in my capsule are Easter appropriate. Also not included are my glasses. Which I wear everyday.

 

A lot of the capsule wardrobes I would see online were mostly black, white and grey with a couple pops of color. I decided I wanted more color in mine because honestly, wearing black, white and grey everyday would be depressing for me.

 

Also, work out clothes are excluded from the capsule so long as you are actually working out in them. When I work out I usually do not shower right away (hello...I have a kid!) and so I stay in my workout clothes most of the day. Further more the guidelines also state that you cannot shop for any new items to add to your capsule. However if an item becomes so worn you cannot wear it anymore you can replace it. It is suggested you only pick items that you feel good in or that make you happy so you are not tempted to buy something just because "I feel fat and horrible in this".

 

What a lot of people do is challenge themselves to create a new outfit everyday for the first month and post it on social media to sort of keep themselves accountable. I doubt I will do that because again...I have a kid and I ain't got time for that. Then again, maybe I will. You never know.

 

I love this challenge because we have a small house with small bedrooms which have small closets. Half of my clothes are in Audra's closet because they wouldn't fit in mine. How often do I actually go to her closet to find something to wear? Hardly ever. After picking out my pieces, all of my clothes fit in my half of the closet with room to spare! It feels incredibly refreshing!

 

I read somewhere, that in your life you only ever see yourself twice. In a photograph or in a mirror. Every other moment you are not looking at yourself so why do you spend so much time on what you don't see? It's other people who look at you and if you feel confident and happy in your appearance then why care what they think anyway? However that being said I can take forever to pick out an outfit. My husband can attest that it at times has taken me over an hour to get dressed and that is ridiculous. I mean all that time and who the heck is going to know if you pulled your outfit together in 1 hour or 5 minutes? No one. I went to a birthday party a while back and my mom and I were talking about how we couldn't figure out what to wear to it. Back and forth between options and ideas when my smart mother says "All this planning and it's not like anyone is going to look at us let alone care what we are wearing. But WE still care don't we? Why?"

 

So there you have it friends, my challenge to myself to live with less. I am in no way admitting that I am or ever will be a minimalist - I could never live in one of those tiny houses but I wanted to challenge myself to live with a little less and enjoy other things more. I hope that at the end of this 3 month journey I can open up my huge garbage bag of clothes that are now in the basement and find that I don't need so many items. I may or may not continue this throughout the year. Let's just see how the next 3 months go.

 

Because I haven't taken a picture of much else recently