Experimenting with Less

For the last few months I’ve been talking about doing the Uncluttered Course through Becoming Minimalist, and I have to say- the course has been much more than just, “get rid of your stuff.” I have been learning so much about who I am and what my life goals are as well. It has really helped me to solidify some thoughts and ideas that were rolling around in my brain and put words on paper. I have been having an invaluable experience with the course and would recommend it to anyone who is ready to really ask yourself if you are getting all you want out of life, and if not is your “stuff” holding you back?

“Are you getting all you want out of life, and if not is your “stuff” holding you back?”

Each week of the course there are different homework assignments, and Joshua Becker specifically mentioned that this week’s assignment would be more fun in community. He was talking about the Facebook Group created for those taking the course, but I thought it could be fun to throw it out to the five things community and see what happens. I’m happy to say there has been some good response and I’m really looking forward to not having to go forward in this journey alone!

Earlier in the course we had to go through our wardrobes, so I have already done the big clear out once. Here is my closet before starting Project 333. 

Today I took some time to be intentional with what I would need over the next 30 days. I encourage you to check out Project 333‘s website for the complete list of rules and more thorough information, but I’ll list some of them here.

• What: 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes.
• What not: these items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear,  and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout)
• How: Choose your 33 items, box up the remainder of your fashion statement, seal it with tape and put it out of sight.

Living in Ohio, where just today it was blizzarding on and off all day, can pose a bit of a challenge when it comes to wardrobe, but I gave it a good shot today. I want you to know that I am not doing this religiously, in that I have items in the laundry and some shoes in the front closet, but this is a great starting point for me, and as items find their way  back from the laundry pile I will put them away accordingly. This is supposed to be fun and an experiment in living with less, not another thing to stress you out. As I have found over the last few months that owning less is proving to be such a key in bringing more peace into my home. Less things means less to clean up which is a big deal when you have five tornadoes living under your roof!

This is supposed to be fun and an experiment in living with less, not another thing to stress you out.

As you can tell from my before photo I am a fan of flannel, stripes, and dresses. The first thing I removed from my closet were the fancy dresses that are pretty impractical for this challenge. I did save one nicer dress since Easter will fall during this 30 day challenge.

I picked out a few tops that were pretty classic- I’m a big fan of black, grey, and navy. I chose two pairs of jeans, ones with holes and one without. A girl’s got to have her leggings, so I went with two pairs. I chose one fun printed pair and of course one pair of black.  It was hard for me to choose which sweaters to include, but as St. Patrick’s Day is Saturday I felt like I should save something green to wear. I certainly don’t want to be getting pinched all day. 😉 If you live in Cleveland, you know that St. Patrick’s Day is a big deal and using one of my 33 items on something green is pretty important. Who knows, maybe having that one as one of my few options will cause me to enjoy wearing it more again, and if not the decision to let it go at the end might be easier.

After going through and choosing my 33 items the truth is, what was left was what I find myself drawn to and wearing the most anyway. I’ll just be real honest here and say that fashion isn’t my forte so I realize that this project is going to be more difficult for some than for others. I get that, and there is grace all over it! I think the main point is realizing that we have so much, and is it possible to live with less. I think this experiment, even if not done to the letter of the law, is going to profit anyone who participates greatly.

…there is grace all over it!

How many of us keep clothes hoping to fit back into them? We let them taunt us on a daily basis telling us things like, “one day you’ll lose the weight,” “if only you were skinnier,” “remember when I used to fit?” It’s time to take their voice away. Why do we keep things in our life that are bringing us down? Are we the same person we were when those items fit? If you’re a mom reading this and have pre-baby clothes that taunt you, please I beg you, let them go! You are not even the same person you were when you used to wear those items and not only are they taunting you, even if they did fit, what are the chances that they are even still in style? I know if asked point blank, many of you would say that having your children is more important that having a tiny figure, but you let these clothes speak a different message.

Let’s talk shoes next… yes, they are part of the challenge and thankfully a pair of shoes counts as one item instead of two! I’m not counting my tennis shoes because I really only wear those for working out… usually. I chose my green cowboy boots, which are making me rethink my green sweater… no, I’m sticking with my choices! My black booties go with just about everything, and my brown boots to finish it out. Seeing as it’s still winter here I’m glad we’re doing 30 days and not 3 months as I would definitely want to switch out boots for flats and sandals.  Again, I have shoes floating around the house, but I made a good effort here in being intentional with my choices.

After deciding what got to stay out, I placed everything else in the bottom drawer of my dresser, not to be touched until April 14th. If you think you might be more tempted, then I’d go with placing the rest of your clothes out of sight. Although if this is your first round with minimalism regarding clothing then you may be overwhelmed at the idea of removing everything else in favor of your 33 items. If this is the case then baby steps are better then not moving forward at all. Also keep in mind that this is not necessarily the time to get rid of everything that is not part of Project 333, but as you are deciding on your items and you know there are things you haven’t worn for years, then by all means get out a box and label it Salvation Army.

In Closing

If you have decided that this is something for you then please join us over at five things Facebook. I’m planning to do weekly check-ins to see how everyone is doing with this and encourage you on your journey of less. You can do it, and I look forward to cheering you on along the way!

Continue on with Experimenting with Less Part 2 and Experimenting with Less Part 3