Thirty-Two Including Shoes
Thirty-Two. Three-Two. What is it you ask. It is the amount of items in my ward-robe which make up the core of my casual style. It wasn't always so however and getting it to that level took a few hours of conscious decision making and a few hard choices.
I made the decision to pare down my ward-robe as part of a minimalist approach to living about three months ago. I was going to simplify my life and I decided to start with my surroundings. My inspiration for this came from a travel-bag forum where people where speaking about packing for a long trip using only their carry-on luggage.
It got me thinking. If someone can live out of a bag for three months do I really need all of the things that I surround myself with to be happy. Also, there has never been evidence in my life that more stuff leads to more happiness. One only needs to take a look at my yarn stash versus my finished projects list to figure out that having more does not always make you more productive or inspired.
In looking at my wardrobe I could see that I bought clothing not out of need but out of the simple ability to afford them. I liked a certain style of shirt and it was cheap so I got many; or here is this nice pants, I should get one. However, when faced with having to make a choice of what I would actual wear, it quickly became obvious that I had bought far more than I would need in the foreseeable future.
I can say that using this wardrobe for the last quarter has been a success. I hardly remember the other clothes that I had and beyond needing to wash frequently, I don't feel any adverse affects to the reduction of options.
The positive results have been noticeable:
1)Less hassle to get dressed since the options are limited.
2)I keep better track of my clothing. Less to fold as well so it is neater.
3)It makes considering future purchases easier since I know I will buy quality I have to plan ahead. No impulse buys.
4)I am getting confident with the idea of personal style. Shopping used to be a nightmare for me, but now that I have an idea of what I want, I look forward to finding the piece that fits me best.
Unfortunately I dropped the ball after this and the bag of clothes I separated out to donate is still in my other room. And speaking of the other room, it is a cluttered and messy. I have a lot more to do and as I am working with a small space, I have finally realized that I simply have too much stuff for my square-footage. Pity I didn't realize this before I bought all of these things.
Revisiting this challenge however, has reminded me how liberating it can be to live a life of less. I will do some sort of organizing on my upcoming free days and use this blog post to keep me accountable.
And speaking of shoes. Here is what I plan to replace my current staple ballet flat with:
I made the decision to pare down my ward-robe as part of a minimalist approach to living about three months ago. I was going to simplify my life and I decided to start with my surroundings. My inspiration for this came from a travel-bag forum where people where speaking about packing for a long trip using only their carry-on luggage.
It got me thinking. If someone can live out of a bag for three months do I really need all of the things that I surround myself with to be happy. Also, there has never been evidence in my life that more stuff leads to more happiness. One only needs to take a look at my yarn stash versus my finished projects list to figure out that having more does not always make you more productive or inspired.
In looking at my wardrobe I could see that I bought clothing not out of need but out of the simple ability to afford them. I liked a certain style of shirt and it was cheap so I got many; or here is this nice pants, I should get one. However, when faced with having to make a choice of what I would actual wear, it quickly became obvious that I had bought far more than I would need in the foreseeable future.
I can say that using this wardrobe for the last quarter has been a success. I hardly remember the other clothes that I had and beyond needing to wash frequently, I don't feel any adverse affects to the reduction of options.
The positive results have been noticeable:
1)Less hassle to get dressed since the options are limited.
2)I keep better track of my clothing. Less to fold as well so it is neater.
3)It makes considering future purchases easier since I know I will buy quality I have to plan ahead. No impulse buys.
4)I am getting confident with the idea of personal style. Shopping used to be a nightmare for me, but now that I have an idea of what I want, I look forward to finding the piece that fits me best.
Unfortunately I dropped the ball after this and the bag of clothes I separated out to donate is still in my other room. And speaking of the other room, it is a cluttered and messy. I have a lot more to do and as I am working with a small space, I have finally realized that I simply have too much stuff for my square-footage. Pity I didn't realize this before I bought all of these things.
Revisiting this challenge however, has reminded me how liberating it can be to live a life of less. I will do some sort of organizing on my upcoming free days and use this blog post to keep me accountable.
And speaking of shoes. Here is what I plan to replace my current staple ballet flat with:
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| J-Crew Quorra Ballet Flats |
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