He likes cooking. She likes eating. She's a Mac. He's a PC. She watches Bachelor. He watches The Walking Dead. He does the dishes. She does the laundry. She was homeschooled. He was not. She's a product of the 80's. So is he. Their style is mid-century modern mixed with IKEA and handcrafted Amish. They love God. They love each other. They love Simon and Betsy. They are blessed.

Project 333: Purging & Planning

I have been pondering a little something called Project 333 for almost 6 months and finally decided to take the plunge for the October-December 2014 cycle. Read more about it if you’re interested but the basics are to choose 33 items (not including workout clothes or sleepwear) to wear for 3 months. Get rid of or box up the rest.

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I have gotten rid of a lot of clothes in the last year but still have a ways to go. I decided to purchase the “dress with less” microcourse by Courtney Carver and am glad I did, it was definitely inspiring and helpful. Throughout the course there are times when you are supposed to answer some questions and write down your thoughts, here is some of what came of that.

Why?

Some other thoughts that got written down:

After being inspired it was time to get to work. My process was to take everything out of my closet, drawers and storage bins and put it in one of 4 piles:

  1. Donate: for stuff I don’t want that isn’t in great condition.

  2. Consignment: we found a consignment store that pays well for our clothes and it is so worth taking stuff there. I would say we make garage sale prices or better on what we consign.

  3. MAYBE: this was a big pile. All stuff that I like, that fits me well, but that I didn’t know 100%-for-sure-it-had-to-be-in-my-capsule-wardrobe.

  4. LOVE: this was a very small pile at first! At the beginning it was just a pair of dark skinny jeans and one short-sleeve neutral top!

When I finished sorting everything into the four piles then I went through my maybe pile and started selecting more items for my capsule wardrobe. Sorting like this made it easy because I was able to make smaller piles of similar things and then pick my favorite. I don’t need eight cream cardigans, I just need one! I don’t need two pairs of black skinny jeans. I don’t need two chambray shirts. :)

Once I had what I thought was close to being my core items I started writing it down to see where I was at. Then over the next two days I tweaked it here and there. I had included a pair of black leggings because that has been such a staple for me in years past, but then I realized I had no tunics to wear with leggings. I had included a fuchsia knit blazer because I felt like my capsule wardrobe “had” to have a blazer but I don’t love that blazer and probably wouldn’t have worn it so it got the boot. I narrowed down my shoes, scarves, and outwear. I boxed up the rest of my maybe pile and even put a few more things in the consignment pile.

Rule breaking is allowed! This “project” is not meant to be a hardship. I chose to not include tank tops because they’re a layering piece for me, and I’m a nursing mom so they’re an important layering piece! I also chose not to include one black and one white t-shirt because I typically also layer those (at least with a scarf). I did pack or purge the rest of my layering t-shirts, and I went through my tank tops and got rid of a few. I debated jewelry and really probably could do without altogether (except for one pair of stud earrings and my “S” for Simon necklace) but I decided to not include jewelry in my 33 and instead heavily purge. I ended up keeping out six necklaces and eight pairs of earrings and will probably narrow it down more in the next couple of weeks.

I set aside a couple of Christmasy tops: some silly embroidered chambray shirts that I got at Goodwill and wear to Christmas parties, and a dressy red cardigan that I only wear once a year either to a Christmas event or out for our anniversary. They won’t count towards my 33. I also designated one storage box for warmer weather items and will dip into there to pack for our anniversary trip to San Antonio in December.

When I had my 33 relatively finalized I pulled out a pair of dark skinny jeans and then started pulling tops/cardigans and scarves to make complete outfits and quickly came up with ten different options using the one pair of pants. It felt good to see how easily I could put together outfits, I didn’t have to weed through fifteen pairs of pants to find the one that I really like, then debate between eight different cream cardigans, and then try on four different scarves!

At some point I might even try on and photograph different outfits, print them out and hang them up as easy references.

Lastly - I am not going to shop like I usually do for the next three months, I typically buy one or more new items of clothing every two weeks. Instead I have a few items on my 33 that I plan to replace because I don’t 100% love them, and I am trying out Stitch Fix and hoping that they will find me some of those replacement items so that I can avoid shopping altogether!

To see the final result of my purging and planning, check out my post Project 333: My Capsule Wardrobe.

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posted October 1, 2014

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