I heard about the 333 wardrobe a while back on the Tranquility du Jour podcast. My initial thought was— “Great thought, not for me. I want choices.”
I’m ready to try it now, though.
To explain why, let me back up for a minute. I used to have a problem with shopping. As in, I did it too much, compulsively, without really thinking about whether or not I needed what I was buying. I had discovered the clearance section at The Gap and Target (website and store) where i could get very cute clothes at deep deep discounts. Then I got a Gap Card, and signed up for their email list, and felt like I needed to take advantage everytime they had a big sale on things like jeans that I wear all the time, or professional clothes for work.
I got to the point where I had 27 pairs of jeans. Plus 15 pairs of dress pants. And I was buying a clearance dress literally every time I walked into Target (I never paid more than $15. They were so cute!)
Here’s the thing, though— it wasn’t “that” kind of problem. I wasn’t racking up debt, the bills were paid in full every month. But my wardrobe had outgrown my section of the closet, and an inordinate amount of our budget was going to clothing. So I decided to go cold turkey. For the month of December, 2012, I made a vow not to buy any more clothes. At all. It was hard, but I stuck to it, and started to realize how reflexive clicking the button in the email, and clicking the buy button on webpages, had become. I actually worried about all the sales I was missing (Last Minute Christmas Gifts! Day After Christmas! Prepare for the New Year!) But, I made it through the month and realized I still hadn’t gotten anywhere near most of the clothes in my closet.
I didn’t continue the actual moratorium, but I also didn’t shop until the spring. Just that breaking of the habit changed my perspective on it.
In the fall of 2013, I did a major clean out of my closet based on the inspiration of an episode of After the Jump and a NYT article about decision fatigue. It was also necessary as the closet in our new house is less than a quarter of the size of our old closet and there was just no place to keep the extra clothes.
It’s been another year, and I feel like I can confidently say that I no longer have a shopping problem. The few times I go into the clothing section of a store I have a clear mission in mind, and have gotten to the point where I don’t buy it if I don’t love it. But I still have more clothes than I need, and more than comfortably fit in our space.
So I’m going to try the 333 Wardrobe.
Here’s the details from the website:
The Basics
- When: Every three months (It’s never too late to start so join in anytime!)
- 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.
- What else: consider that you are creating a wardrobe that you can live, work and play in for three months. Remember that this is not a project in suffering. If your clothes don’t fit or are in poor condition, replace them.
Here’s how I’ve decided to translate it:
My 33 items will include
- tops: all short and long sleeved t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, even layering pieces, except the camisole tank tops I wear underneath most clothes
- bottoms: jeans and skirts, but not tights (I don’t have that many anyway)
- dresses
- “Leisure” clothes. I know the website says it’s not required, but I want to.
Items still to be determined:
- Pajamas: I’m drastically reducing my pajama options anyway, because I found some amazingly comfortable pjs at The Gap (I know, I know) this fall and used coupons to buy five sets for a total of $45. While I’m typing this, I can only think of a few other sets I feel like I need to keep
- Workout clothing: I used to be a Pilates Instructor six days a week, and have a large collection of really nice (thanks for the discount, Lululemon!) workout clothes. Plus, I work out five to seven days a week. So if I wear clean clothes each time I work out, that eats up half my clothing budget. (And these aren’t “required” be included, anyway). However, like the pajamas, I have a bunch of stuff I either don’t wear, or don’t need to be wearing, so I need to do a serious clean out.
What won’t be included:
- Accessoreies: I make jewelry. I’m not limiting my options there. I don’t wear many scarves or anything anyway, and only have a couple of belts.
- Bras & Underwear: Again, mostly because I don’t have that many. I’m including tights and camis in this category.
The plan is to clean out the closet and box up the extra clothes between now and when the kids go back to school the second week in January. I’ll keep you posted.