Project 333 update: April

(Check out the basics of Project 333 here)

I counted my clothes and I think I’m right around 33 items! (It depends whether I count sweatpants and yoga capris – I wear them enough I feel like I should count them). And I’ve been writing down what I wear in the margins of my day planner since the beginning of April. It will be interesting to see what I wear the most. I seem to have plenty of variety in what I wear so far.

A lot of the time I still feel like I have nothing I want to wear, but there are a lot of reasons for that which have nothing to do with the clothing itself. It’s not like I’m wanting to pull things out of my non-P333 storage to wear – I just don’t want to wear anything I have! It has more to do with being uncomfortable about my appearance, or being uncomfortable about the thing I’m dressing for, or hating the cold/wet weather, or sometimes maybe boredom.

I went through some clothing that I was on the fence about and chose to donate a few more things – the aqua striped top that I almost took to NZ (which didn’t pass the “would you pay $2 for it?” test – it simply wasn’t flattering or good quality), a lovely skirt that someone gave me that I just didn’t love, and the olive blousey tunic that never quite felt right. I’m trying to finish off the pretty blue skirt I refashioned out of 2 dresses – adding an elastic waist. But I will probably donate it when I’m done. (I wouldn’t donate it unfinished, because it would be trashed).

I decided to keep the olive utility vest for now. I’ve worn it twice since I made that decision. I don’t like the way it pulls on the back of my neck (I have issues with collars), but I do like that it has lots of functional pockets. It’s on probation, so if it bothers me more than it benefits me, it can go.

I got 4 bags of donations out of the house (including a bag full of bags!)

I laundered my North Face fleece jacket and put it away for the season (and wondered whether there’s any way to get white pug hair off black fleece, because laundering/tumble drying doesn’t make any difference at all).

I dragged the giant suitcase with all the winter coats back down into the basement, but I ran out of energy before I put it back in its spot. Which means I have to do that sometime in the future. Ugh. It was really heavy! It kind of horrifies me how heavy it was.

I successfully returned a top that shrunk in the wash to Target – I liked it, but it was too tight after only one (cold water) wash. I was worried they might refuse the return, but they didn’t make a big deal about it. Thank you, Target! I also took a couple of striped tshirts back to Nordstrom. They weren’t bad. They just weren’t great. I don’t like to return a lot of things, but I’m glad to have that option when it’s necessary.

I took some old running shoes to Niketown for recycling, and tossed a nasty old pair of flip flops – the back porch is tidier now! I have an old pair of slip ons for running out into the yard, and a pair of rain boots for gardening. At some point I will have to take a hard look at my front door everyday shoes too.

At a certain point I suspect this project will become less interesting to read/write about, because it’s so simple and straightforward. It’s a tricky thing, writing about minimalism or frugality – there’s only so much you can say about not buying things, about wearing a small wardrobe, about not needing the latest and greatest thing. The purpose of these things is to make room for other, more important, aspects of one’s life, so eventually all this stuff should drop away. Some people get a bit too caught up in the process of minimizing and perfecting everything, turning that into a new obsession.

Thanks for stopping by!

I’ll be back soon with a post about fixing things.

Jo:)

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