Yesterday two of my objectives collided. I’ve been hyper-focused on my first objective, which is to get rid of stuff and organize what’s left. So I haven’t been thinking much about my other objectives, especially the last one, which is to make better use of free time.
At the start of each summer Bob and I usually make a list of places we’d like to visit and things we’d like to do. And by the end of the summer we’d checked off very little. This year I’d decided not to bother, not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t want to be bound to a checklist. Last month we bought a Wildlife Conservation Society membership, because we love the Bronx Zoo. Yesterday they had a special members’ evening, so instead of choosing my 33 wardrobe items, I went to the zoo with my family. It was great to do something spontaneous, and we had fun. And now I’m rethinking my summer list. Even though the summer’s halfway over, I’m going to suggest that each of us choose two things we really want to do before school starts. I felt a little guilty for not working on my project, but only briefly.
Today I worked later than I’d expected, so I still haven’t finished choosing my 33 items. This process is a lot harder than I’d anticipated. Thirty-three items seems like a lot, but it’s really not. This period will take me through until the middle of October, which I think will be good timing because the weather will start to cool quite a bit by then. So I need work clothes for warm and cool weather, and casual clothes for warm and cool weather. My workplace is casual enough for cropped pants but not casual enough for jeans.
Most of my pants, minus what’s in the laundry.
So I chose seven pairs of pants: one pair of jeans, one pair of cropped jeans, and five pairs of cropped pants. I’m hoping I can wear the cropped pants to work until the middle of October, but if I have to swap earlier I will. I was having a really hard time because I felt like I needed to give away the stuff I’m not going to wear. Reminding myself that I’m not doing anything permanent was helpful. I have two pair of pants I wear hiking and I’m trying to decide if I want to count those as exercise clothes or not. I don’t otherwise wear them.
Pants for the next three months.
I was into scarves way before they were popular, and today for the first time I counted them. My collection consists of 29 scarves in a big range of shapes and sizes. I wear some more than others but I love them all and have had many for almost 20 years. Since it’s warm I decided to chose 4, but I haven’t picked them yet.
First and last time they’ll ever be this neatly folded.
I need to add shorts, work shirts, casual shirts and shoes. My jewelry collection is kind of large so I’m not going to include jewelry this time around, but I might try to pack some of it away anyhow.
I really, really want to come back Friday and say I’m done. As much as I like clothes I’m a bit over this, and want to begin working with my pared-down wardrobe.
Sometimes with things you love but don’t wear, the issue is donating them to strangers. You might ask some friends to go through what you’re not wearing and pick what they’d like. Then you know they are going to a good home. There are also some organizations who collect business clothes to provide to folks at low cost for job interviews, etc.
I know there is a place near me that collects business clothes for women, and it’s something I’ve been meaning to do. Thanks for mentioning it! 🙂
I think if you want the 333 challenge, it’s fine, but if you love all the clothes you have, they all look good on you, and you have space to store them, I’d say you’re done with clothes, and to just keep what you have- you could just move on to the next project. I think challenges like 333 help people to realize how little they need, and it helps them buy fewer clothes later on. Other than that, I don’t see the need to spend time choosing only 33 items out of what you have and love, especially when the weather is about to change. That said, if this challenge is in your heart, go for it- I’m just giving an opinion here but everyone is free to do what they think they should do. Thanks for sharing your journey!
I appreciate your comment! Thanks! I feel like I do have space for the clothes I have, but I also feel like I’d rather that space be used for other things. Also, I feel overwhelmed by the amount of laundry I deal with- so a possible solution is to have fewer clothes. I decided I’m going to give this a try but I am also not going to make myself nuts over it, we’ll see! 🙂
You definitely don’t need to get rid of things right away. I think the spirit of the challenge is to show you that, in general, you can live with a much smaller closet not that, specifically, you only will ever need those 33 pieces of clothing. Even if you did this for a whole year (ie four project 333’s), you could still have 132 pieces if there were no repeats among the projects. I think at the end of 3 months would be a better time to purge but even then, you have to have pieces to get through all four season.
Good point, other than a couple things which don’t fit and are not comfortable, I decided to keep everything for now. I find it’s a lot easier, when I am on the fence, to put something out of sight for a while, and then give it away if I don’t miss or need it.
As previous commenters suggested, I think it may be more productive if you did this challenge at the end of the season. That way, you could make all your decisions at once, and it would be done and over with. You wouldn’t have to take into consideration the transition in seasons. Just my opinion, though! And wow, you DO have a lot of scarves, lol! I love scarves as well, but have only 5, I think? And I am donating one of them, because I just don’t wear it enough to justify keeping it. I love belts as well, but have pared my belts down to 5, and am putting two of those in the donate pile. We finally (after three hard years of trying), have sold our cottage, and are just finishing a bathroom and building a new set of back steps before closing on Aug. 7, and then I will be calling Salvation Army to come pick up another load of stuff, which would be approx. 8 boxes. We’re all in this together! Keep up the good work!!
Congrats on selling your cottage, that is great! I actually don’t think I own any belts, I had a couple I never wore. I did think about changing the challenge dates but I have an issue with not sticking to things, so I really want to stick to what I initially committed to. Also I feel like the weather is so weird in NY that we sometimes get 3 or even 4 seasons within a month anyway. It is entirely possible that I will wear a summer outfit in October, and I have worn my winter coat in April too.
I felt the same way when I started P333 two years ago; now, 33 seems like an abundance of riches. I think it’s just mentally getting to that place, which doesn’t happen overnight — it took me a solid year before I was really comfortable with it. I still learn something from my closet every season I participate. Mostly it’s just nice not to have to worry about what’s in the closet because all of it is awesome. Plus all that empty space in my closet is oddly relaxing.
Because I’ve lost 15kg, I Have 4 outfits that fit me. It really is a relief as there is so little to deal with. I would like some more cloths but will wait until I’m at goal weight (another 4kgs) to do that.