My 33 For Project 333

Well that weekend went by fast.  I meant to post my 33 sometime on Saturday or Sunday, but then…I didn’t.  Saturday we did errands, grocery shopping and cleaning before heading out to our last Royals game of the season.  Then Sunday was church, family time, and an afternoon wedding.  All good times though.  Sometimes I don’t mind being so busy when it’s all fun stuff like that!

So before I get to my 33, let me explain something.  As of the start of the challenge last Friday, October 1st, I actually had 35 items on my list.  I could not decide what to eliminate on Thursday night, so I decided to start out with the 35 items and then eliminate 2 over the weekend.  I would keep track of what I wore so that I could only eliminate 2 items that I hadn’t worn yet.

As of yesterday I had decided which two items to eliminate.  One long-sleeve t-shirt and one rainbow scarf.  However in the interest of full disclosure, I actually wore the scarf on Friday.  Arg!  I considered keeping it just for the sake of the rules, but then I decided that I’m really not going to wear this scarf much at all for the rest of the three months.  I don’t know what I was thinking putting it on the list in the first place.  So even though I wore it, I’m taking it off.  Nobody’s perfect, right? 🙂

So here is my 33:

1.  Jeans – LOFT
2. Jeans – Levis
3. White short-sleeved t-shirt
4. Pink short-sleeved t-shirt
5. Cream silky short-sleeved blouse
6. White short-sleeved ruffle button down shirt
7. Black turtleneck (thin for layering)
8. Gray skirt suit
9. Black pencil skirt
10. Black dress pants
11. Grey dress pants
12. Grey dress
13. Grey/black dress
14. Black cardigan
15. Blue cardigan
16. Striped boyfriend cardigan
17. Grey sweater
18. Teal cable sweater
19. Pink turtleneck sweater (one of my favorites!!)
20. Cream hoodie
21. Black pumps
22. Red flats
23. Brown flats
24. Black flats
25. Black boots
26. Black & grey long necklace
27. Grey coat
28. White puffy coat
29. Black trench coat
30. Cream scarf/wrap
31. Black gloves
32. Cream purse
33. Sunglasses

And there you have it.  My wardrobe for the next three months.

According to the rules, I don’t have to count underwear, workout clothes or lounge wear.  So I can still wear my comfy pants around the house (as I am right now), I just can’t wear them out of the house.

My choices were very strategic.  I started my list by picking out my favorite items.  Then I choose to keep those items that had the most versatility.  I work in a business casual office 5 days a week.  So I need items that will be suitable for the office as well as for the weekends.  Tops needed to look good with jeans as well as dress pants.  There are very few items on this list that I would not wear to the office.

I also chose items that work well when layering.  My grey dress looks great on its own and also looks very nice with my black turtleneck underneath.  So I can wear the dress by itself now with black pumps while it’s still a little warm out and then wear it with the turtleneck, tights, and boots in December. 

My Closet Now

Remember what my closet looked like a month ago?  Here’s what my closet looks like now:

The red line is my stuff and the blue line is Benzo’s stuff.  A little more equitable this time, you think?

All those shoes and purses up there?  Not on the list.  I haven’t removed them yet because I don’t know where to put them!

Remember my low closet pole?  The one I had to add because I had too many clothes?  It’s empty now except for a few t-shirts not on the list that I still need to take out.  And now I have a space for my laundry basket!

On the right side of the closet, all my sweaters and jeans fit on the top shelf.  The rest of the shelves are Benzo’s things.  (I think someone needs to climb aboard the Project 333 train, don’t you?)

I can tell you already that it is a lot easier and more fun to put clothes away when they are not crammed onto a shelf. 

Where I Cheated Just a Little

Okay so I have cheated a bit in a few places, which I’m going to disclose right now.

1. I counted my suit as one item even though it’s two pieces. 

2. I did not count my under-tanks.  I have a whole bunch of tank tops that I wear underneath almost everything.  I would never, ever wear one of them by itself so I considered them underwear and did not count them.

3. I did not count my right-hand ring, a pair of earrings and a watch.  I am not much of a jewlery person.  I have a few pieces that I wear every single day – my wedding ring, my right-hand ring, a pair of small diamond earrings and a watch.  Occasionally I switch out the earrings.  This jewlery is not really optional to me, I just automatically wear it everyday.  So I decided not to count it.  I will not be switching out my earrings during the 3 months though.  And I did count another necklace as an item since I don’t wear it everyday.

I think this is going to be a really fun challenge and I’m interested to see how it turns out.  Even though I cheated just a little in places, cutting my wardrobe down to these items was very challenging for me.  At what point will I get frustrated and want to cave?  Will I make it to Thanksgiving at least?  We’ll see!