I gave up shopping over Lent. It was difficult but I really, really liked how I stopped focusing on material things. I did buy groceries, and my children needed a few things for our spring break trip, but otherwise I avoided stores. It also saved a ton of money (which my husband loved)!
I heard about the
Project 333 challenge on Facebook and thought I could never do it! Essentially, you buy less, but create a great wardrobe. Last week, I got to thinking about how much better I felt during Lent when I wasn't focused on material things. I get about 25 emails every morning from Nordstrom, Lands End, Old Navy, Charming Charlie, Bath and Body Works, Target, Coach, Kohls, etc. During Lent, I deleted them all. I was never tempted by extra percentages off or additional coupons. I decided I should try Project 333! My goal is to make this round last until Aug 30th!
You can kind of make up your own rules :)
My first rule was that I wasn't buying anything new to supplement this project!!!
Here were my rules:
1) Workout clothes do not count (because they are just worn working out)
2) For me, scarfs do not count (although I separated my winter and summer scarfs)
3) Accessories do not count (I really only wear bracelets and earrings)
4) swimsuits/coverups/pool flip flops do not count
5) Teacher t-shirts do not count (we can wear them on Friday's)
6) I didn't count sweatshirts/coats I have 2 college sweatshirts that I love, 1 professional spring coat and two sporty jackets.
This is what I ended up with
5 pairs of shoes
13 tops
4 skirts
3 capris
2 skorts
1 pants
2 leggings
6 dresses*
Total: 36 items (Dresses are primarily for school)
Disclaimer...we are headed to the mountains for about 10 days this summer, and I left out 4 long sleeve shirts and 2 pairs of jeans that I'll need then. The last couple summers, I've been in the mountains at high elevations, it was about 60 for a high and 35 for a low!!
After one week of getting ready with my new closet, I couldn't be happier! I thought it would be way more difficult. I love what I'm wearing. I think the fact that I have a ton of scarfs helps dress up outfits.
I also downloaded the app
Stylebook. It is fun to use and I love creating outfits with it. For me, I could spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME playing with this app! I find it easier for me to "save images" right from the online stores or from Google Images. However, I did take some pictures myself, and was easily able to "white out" the background.
Here are some outfits I created this week :)
What did I do with all my other clothes?
I donated two very large bags to Goodwill. Those were clothes that I had not worn at all in the past year. Then the rest are down in my guest bedroom closet. Some are more winter/fall and a few things I thought would be perfect for the next round that I do this.
.jpg)
