Becky Day 10: Stupid Cat. Stupid Battery.

I went to take a lovely pic of myself today to find my camera battery dead. Having charged it not long ago, this made me pissed. So I charged it just enough to take one picture before it died. Catso was uncooperative:

Ergo, I was not ready for the picture. Then my camera died. So I had to go plug the battery in AGAIN for one minute. Thankfully, Catso stayed on the chair where I put him long enough for me to get my shot.

I LOVE this sweater, it's relatively new and I'm glad I used it in the challenge...I've gotten a bit of mileage out of it already! Also, as we are getting to the end of August, it's starting to get cooler. Not cold, mind you, but capri weather is dwindling.

So far, the challenge hasn't felt too...challenging. I'm liking it. I want fewer clothes. I have enough choice to be pulled together. Relative success, although we'll see how the next 20 days go.

Items worn:
Black capris
Blue t shirt
Black and grey sweater
Black slip on Mary Janes

Also, hiking clothes this afternoon:
Grey capris
New Balance sneakers
pink workout shirt.

Becky Day 9: Old Man Sweater

I felt the need to post my outfit twice, because over the course of a day, my sweater is an on-off kind of thing. I like this sweater, in that it is comfy and easy to wear and makes me think of a grandpa, which I find fun. I also recognize it to be relatively unflattering, although it does elongate my shape a bit. Let's be honest...the original outfit wasn't that flattering, either, but at least the shoes are fun!

(As you can also see, Pascal aka Catso decided to make an appearance for picture 2. "I like your sweater Mom. Hey, what's on the floor here? I could eat that.")

Another interesting phenomenon...despite the fact that I prop my camera on my bookshelf and stand ENTIRELY STILL for my pictures, they still manage to be kinda grainy. Weird. Stupid camera. Stupid not enough light in the morning.

This is noncohesive, and I am tired.

Items worn:
Blue striped work pants
purple t-shirt
purple cardigan
brown wedge shoes

Day 9: Hipsters

Today I am dressed like a hipster. It's so ironic.

Okay, not really. I just really like making fun of hipsters. I'm not sure why I feel so hipster in this outfit. I think it's the cardigan.

Today I wore: yellow cardigan over blue t-shirt (it says "Talk Nerdy to Me", totally hipster), blue denim shorts, and blue flats (not pictured).

On a side note, I've been thinking about keeping track of how often I wear each article of clothing, but I feel like it might be too late (and I might be too busy) to start this now.

Becky Day 8: Another Work Week

This is one of my favorite shirts:

It has a super obnoxious print. But I liked it so much when I bought it that I bought two, the other in a pinkish pattern instead of a blue. Once winter arrives, they look supercute under a sweater. Right now, they just look supercute on top of a t-shirt. The shirt is just so cute and autumnal and western-ly. Only the blue shirt made the Dress is More wardrobe, though -- I thought it would be ridiculously obvious if I had two of the shirts in my limited wardrobe.

Items worn:
Blue chinos
Brown t-shirt
Floral button up
Brown socks
Boat shoes (seriously, why did I hesitate to put these in?)

Day 8: I'm not sick of it yet

Today I wore my light blue denim shorts, metallic sandals, blue shirt with white tank top underneath, and my yellow cardigan.

Surprisingly, I'm not tired of this yet. Maybe because I don't put a lot of thought into my wardrobe to begin with. What I am sick of is my hair. All I've been thinking about these past couple days is how much I want to cut it. I do want it shorter, but I think the main reason I want to cut it is because I can't. I've been growing my hair out for the past year so I can donate it. I figure this is probably the longest I'm ever going to let it get again, so I mine as well donate my hair one last time. I can't cut it now because if I cut off the minimum 8 inches, it would be too short to do anything useful with during marching season. I also kinda want to dye it a ridiculous color, like purple. However, that also isn't allowed during marching season. So I will have to wait. I find it interesting that while not being allowed to cut my hair makes me want to do it more, not being allowed to wear more clothes isn't as big of a deal.

Caroline Day 7: Laundry

Today is Sunday, so it's pretty casual. Today is also laundry day, so these are my left over clothes. Kinda. I had to add some new clothes because when I originally made the list, I failed to take into account that I would need to wear clothes while washing clothes. So here are my additions:

54. blue dress (from yesterday)
55. another bra
56. another t-shirt

Today, I wore the "new" t-shirt. It's was on top of the pile of discarded t-shirts, so that's why I chose it. It's the shirts the basses (sousaphone/tuba section, whatever you want to call us) got last year. Obviously, tuba players are on the top of the musical evolutionary chain.

While putting away my clean clothes, I made sure that only those things on my list were put back in my top drawer. I had some stuff in there from last Saturday and Sunday, but I think I got it all sorted out. I noticed that I had very little laundry this week. Maybe this is because I'm used to doing 2-3 loads every other week from last semester. Having only 60 items (plus towels, etc) means that all my laundry easily fits into the washer and dryer. Only $2.25 to do laundry? How nice!

Possibly if it ever decides to cool down, I might try to go 2 weeks without laundry. I think if I didn't have marching, it wouldn't be a problem. College has taught me that just because you used/wore something, does not necessarily make it dirty. And I think that's an important part of this challenge: re-using and re-wearing. Obviously, if I do start sweating in my clothes, I will not wear them again, but I have no problem re-wearing a shirt that I wore for a day around campus. Just trying to do my part to save the environment.

Becky Day 7: What Up, Irene?

Last night, we had some lovely atmospheric phenomena bringing up a kick-ass sunset:

Today, we are riding out a hurricane (well, tropical storm).

...and looking classically casual while doing it.

Ali asked me yesterday whether I see this becoming a long-term thing. The pared down wardrobe, that is. We're only a week in, so my attitudes may change over time, but here are my thoughts so far. I love having a cleared out closet. I literally feel lighter when I step into the closet in the morning. I love having less decision in the morning. I like the idea of having fewer "things" in general (and clothes are a good, easy place to start). I know that once the month is over, I'm going to add back in a good chunk of my larger wardrobe, but there are a few more things I plan to purge, like some old skirts I never wear. I won't continue with just 75 articles of clothing over the long-term, but I am finding myself being more fastidious about the idea of buying new clothes. Last week I went into work at my retail job, and my boss told me that there was a special for associates on a cardigan I had been admiring the week before -- we got 75% off. But when I thought about the cardigans I already have in my closet, I realized that although the new cardigan would be cute and lovely, I don't need it. And it would spend more time taking up space in my closet than being worn. So until I purge some old sweaters I don't wear, no use adding new ones into the mix.

Now, that's not to say that I won't ever buy new clothing. I will. But it makes me stop to think and consider the idea of need vs. want. It also makes me look forward to Christmas this year, when I hope I'll still have the willpower to say to people (especially my mother), "No, I don't need any new clothes." Because I don't.

One of things that's been tricky, however, is the fact that, as I've mentioned before, I've recently lost some weight. This means that I packed up a lot of old clothes (pants, especially) that are currently just too big to wear. I hesitate to get rid of them, however, because winter is fast approaching. Let's just be honest...this is Vermont. And winter in Vermont is truly hibernation season. So I don't want to get caught with a few extra pounds of winter weight and no clothes to wear. Hence, I'm keeping some of the old clothes that don't currently fit, because I want to see how my new weight will fluctuate over a longer period of time. I think that's just sensible. Having the clothes packed away, however, is still better than having them hanging in my closet, so it's nonetheless a win.

I'm going to continue to monitor my feelings over the challenge, and I'll keep you guys updated on this very questions. As of right now, the short answer is: my wardrobe will be pared down and more of it will be packed away at a given time, but I have no plans to be a true clothing minimalist.

Becky Day 6

 Today, we went hiking in the morning (outfit on left), and then out to church and dinner for Andy's birthday! Well, dinner was for Andy's birthday. Church was for Jesus. We also mentally and physically prepared for the "hurricane" that is going to hit Vermont. Wait, that sounds absurd? Yeah it does.

Today, I also did laundry, a daunting task. I wanted to wear as little of importance as possible while doing laundry so as to have the biggest possible clean wardrobe when done. Especially underwear. And shirts. It was kind of a crazy dance/game to make that happen, but I made it work out in the end through necessity.

Items worn today:
Grey running pants
white socks
New Balance tennis shoes
black tank
pink workout shirt

Blue walking shorts
Green polo
flip flops

Caroline Day 6: Getting Creative-Hippie Style

I've been feeling an urge to embrace my in hippie for the last couple days. I was wishing for a cute peasant skirt type thing. I was kind of sad that I didn't have one. So I decided to wear a dress instead. I was unhappy with how the dress looked with a cami underneath (I usually wear my purple tank top, but the tank top didn't make the list). Then I decided to I pulled the dress down and realized it worked quite well as a skirt. I realize this is not the first time a dress has been turned into a skirt, but it's the first time I've worn something in a way it was not intended to be worn. As a dress, I felt like it was a little shorter than I would like, but luckily it is a tube top dress, so I can easily pull it down around my waist and tuck in the stretchy part. I liked wearing the pink cami with the now-skirt. However, I do not feel comfortable enough to walk around wearing a cami as a shirt (I feel like 6th grade girls are the only ones skinny enough to effectively pull off the cami as a shirt look). So I decided to put my yellow top on over the cami (which I've done before). I usually don't like to wear two loose fitting things (in this case, a skirt and the yellow top), but I think it looks pretty good.

Also, note the first use of accessories: awesome hippie-esque beaded bracelets. I took a shower this morning (I'm usually a night shower person) and let my hair air dry so it's nice and curly and sufficiently hippie. I realize clothes do not make the hippie, but this minimalist challenge and finding new ways to wear clothes makes me a hippie in my eyes.

You Are What You Wear: A Meditation

So these mysterious internships I have referred to are for my master's program in counseling. I'm finishing up this year, which means I have to so 1500 hours of counseling both in a mental health setting and in a school setting (a high school, in my case). I've spent a lot of time this week at the counseling center where I work, and I'm been thinking a lot about clothing and the role it plays for a counselor.

I watch a lot of "What Not to Wear" and I love it. I think that Stacey and Clinton, while high end, are very practical and reasonable in that they want people to look and feel their best, and I think it's just honest that what you wear says something about yourself as a person. I totally buy it, because it happens to be true.

As I've been working this week, and contemplating the fact that I'm creating a safe space for people to talk and emote, it's occurred to me that as a counselor, I'm in a sensitive position in terms of what I wear. I don't dress outlandishly by any means, but if I wore things that were flashy or loud or bright, then I would be filling up that space with myself and my clothes rather than leaving room for my clients to be and fill that space. This doesn't mean that clothes can't be neat or cool, or that there can't be parts of my individuality shining through, but it does mean that perhaps it's ok for clothing to NOT be the focus of my mornings. Because putting on something that looks nice and professional but relatively neutral is probably the best gesture I can make for the people I'm working it.

[sidebar]Also, the blue shirt I wore today was super soothing. Even for myself. I like it better for counseling than the red shirt I wore Monday. [/sidebar]

So even though I'm, like Caroline, starting to dread the repetition of this month (and contemplating when I'm going to do laundry to always have the widest selection of clothing), I think there's value to letting yourself come out through, you know, your actions and words rather than through the visual image you portray. That's what I'm going to focus on, at least in my work, this month as I continue on this little journey.

Caroline Days 3-5

Hey blog! I managed to fix the cord that connects my camera to my computer! Yay! The picture on the left is what I wore for day three. The picture on the right is what I'm wearing today (day 5). Today is pretty casual because it's finally Friday. I've survived the first week of this challenge and my first week of school.

Something I realized yesterday, is that the 5 "cute" shirts I like to wear class is an excellent number to have for one week, I am going to be wearing these for another 25 days. I'm afraid it's going to get monotonous. I realize I can pair of the clothes with different colored camis and cardigans and shoes, but it's still the same shirt. I'm worried that people are going to realize the lack of diversity in my wardrobe. I know that what people think doesn't really matter, but I hate the idea of people judging me silently in their heads. However, I realize that if I didn't have this challenge, I'd probably be mostly wearing these 5 shirts anyways. Maybe I'll wear t-shirts a couple days to mix things up.

Also, I'm thinking about adding another t-shirt and a dress to the mix. This would bring me up to 55 items, I believe. I have a band picnic tomorrow. Unlike other sections, I cannot wear cute tops that do not cover my shoulder during rehearsal. One of the downfalls of playing a REAL instrument....just kidding. So I figured this would be one of the few times I can dress up while band kids are around. I don't want them to think I always dress like a slob. I really don't know why I'm so concerned about what other people think of my wardrobe.

The t-shirt I'm thinking of adding is for more practical reasons. I don't like to dress up on the weekends and if I wear a t-shirt Monday through Friday for band, I am left with no t-shirts for the weekend.

Phew. This is a long post. I hope everyone else is having a nice Friday (or whatever day it is when you're reading this).

Becky Day 5

Feeling pretty casual today.

It IS Friday, after all. Had a minor change of outfit this morning: planning to wear my black capris, but then decided I might need those tomorrow for church instead, so I went with the khakis. It's kind of too bad, because I totally could have gotten away with flip flops with the capris!

Items worn:
Khakis
Blue t-shirt
Brown socks
Boat shoes (see, I knew they'd be useful!)

Also, gym clothes this afternoon, and loungy pants for when I come home and make whoopie pies for the hubby's bday! :)

Becky Day 4

Guess who found the redeye repair function in Picasa? No more demon eyes for you folks!

Today is all about being comfy. Yoga skirt, purple tank, black cardigan, black slip on Mary Janes. And hair out of my face, gosh darn it.

Off to work. New shortcut to take this morning...here's hoping I don't get lost. At least if I do, I look cute.

Caroline Day 3

Insert picture of me here.

Wait, why is there no picture? Becky isn't the only one to confess things today. As you all know, I live in a dorm room. Dorm rooms are kinda small and I tend to let things get messy throughout the week. So after I added my picture from yesterday, I put the camera cord that connects to the computer on the ground. Unfortunately, that ground turned out to be the ground under my (obnoxiously rocking) desk chair. The usb plug got kinda bent. Now I can't upload photos. Oops.

So I will describe what I wore today. I wore dark denim shorts, white cami, and brown floral peasant top. For band, I switched into the light denim shorts I wore yesterday and a blue t-shirt. On a random side note, it is ridiculously hot here. It was in the 90s today, and there is no air conditioning in my dorm. I am not okay with this.

Becky Day 3: A Confession

Today, when I was at the gym, I used a piece of non-itemized clothing: flip flops for the shower. They're not the same as my itemized flip flops, which have fabric straps, which I thought would be gross in a gym shower. I was going to let it slide, but then I accidentally wore them around campus a bit, too.

Mea culpa. First failure of the challenge. :(

Becky Day 3

I considered wearing jeans today, since I'm at the high school all day and it's still inservice (Internship #2), but decided to stay snazzy to make a good impression. Casually snazzy, anyway.

Items worn:
Jean skirt
black t-shirt
polka dot cardigan
brown wedges

I'm also planning on going to the gym between internship and seminars tonight, so I'll be utilizing gym clothes for sure.

So far, so good, although I had a bit of panic this morning trying to match a top and bottom. Now that I have fewer choices, which is good, I worry about looking interesting enough (you know, since all the t-shirt I chose were solid and versatile). Once I adapt, I think it'll be fine, and picking out clothes the night before will help, too...which I didn't do today.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Caroline Days 1&2


So I didn't actually take any pictures from yesterday. My bad. Don't worry, you'll be seeing those clothes again. During the day yesterday, I wore my white/pink/orange top with the white tank top underneath and my short denim shorts. I also wore my metallic sandals. I thought I looked pretty cute for the first day of classes. Before band, I switched into a pink t-shirt and put on my tennis shoes.

Today, I'm wearing my blue top with a pink cami underneath (not really visible in this picuture). I usually wear the white tank top underneath this shirt, but I decide to mix it up today. I'm also wearing my white cardigan, light blue denim shorts, and metallic sandals again. To top it all off, I have the awesome tie purse Becky made.

My feet are starting to hurt from the sandals because I did a lot of running around today. I think I will change into my blue flats for the rest of the afternoon. Once again for band, I'll change into a t-shirt and tennis shoes.

So far, this challenge is pretty easy. Then again, it is only day two. It's kind of nice not having to worry about what to wear the next day. Fewer choices=faster decisions.

Becky Day 2

The somewhat dim morning lighting in my den makes for slightly grainy photos. Forgive me. I'll work on that when I have a free moment...so this weekend. :)

Day 2 of internship, and challenge. Went a tad more casual today, and it is also really cold in our apartment. We live in a basement, so I'm usually feeling chilly getting ready, but then I'll walk outside and it's 80. C'est la vie. After the fog burns off today, I think it'll warm up, but in the meantime, it's another cardigan day.

Items worn:
Blue chinos
Green polo
Tan socks
Brown Born shoes
Brown cardigan
Blue floral scarf

Day 2 success!

Becky Day 1

Looking quite snazzy for the first day of internship, if I do say so myself. Well, except for my demon eyes. But whatcha gonna do?

Items worn:
Grey work pants
Red t-shirt
Grey and black cardigan
Grey socks
Black Mary Janes

Other clothes used:
I also utilized workout clothes for the gym, including my running shoes. Once home, I put on my black PJ pants to lounge around after work. And slippers. Oh, sweet slipppers. Happy day!

Caroline's Inventory

Hey blog! Sorry I haven't been posting as often as Becky. Things have been busy with moving back to campus and band camp. But now band camp is over, real band is about to start, and my first day of classes is over with. I'm glad to be out of the transition phase and am getting settled into a routine.

These are the clothes I've chosen so far (more on that in a minute):

Pants:

1. skinny jeans
2. jean capris
3-5. denim shorts (3 pairs)
6. exercise shorts that I'll probably not exercise in
7. soft terry cloth shorts
8. brown/black reversible belt

Shirts:

9-13. t-shirts (5)
14-18. Slightly fancier shirts that I can wear every day or pair with a skirt for church












Various other things:
19-21. camis (3: 1 white, 1 blue, 1 pink)
22. grey leggings
23. white tank top
24-25. shirt and sofi shorts for sleeping

Fancier Things:

26. white cardigan
27. yellow cardigan
28. black skirt
29. grey dress pants


Shoes:

30. fancy-ish sandals
31. black flats
32. funky flats
33. sneakers

The necessities:
34-41. underwear (8 pairs)
42-48. socks (7 pairs)
49-51. bras (3 pair)

Sweatshirts (that I forgot to take a picture of):
52. blue sweatshirt
53. black hoodie



And they all fit in one drawer (except for the shoes, 4 things hanging in the closet, and the two sweatshirts).

I really wanted to limit myself to 60 items, which I've accomplished so far. I was nervous choosing 60 items right away so I've given myself some room to work with. I have 7 items that I can add later in the challenge (I'm thinking about a dress or two, possibly another t-shirt).

I'm lucky that unlike Becky, I do not have a legit job. I'm pretty casual for everything, except church.

Things I did not include (but maybe I should include some?) are things for marching band (white shirt, black shorts, black socks, black shoes, uniform, hank suit for Friday pep rallies). I figure these are all part of my uniform, and I'll only be wearing them for that purpose. I won't be wearing the white t-shirt or shorts any other time during the week.

I'm also not including my purse. I'm not a person who has a bunch of purses. Right now, I'm using a really awesome purse that Becky made. I don't plan on using any other purses.


Some commentary:

I was surprised by how easy it was to limit my clothing. I think this is because I've already gone on a couple simplifying binges this summer. It's also very comforting to know that I will be allowed to go back to my old wardrobe in 30 days.

I am a little nervous about laundry. This might be where an extra t-shirt or something comes in. I'm still in college, so a load of wash and drying costs $2.25, which isn't a lot. However, I'm used to doing two loads of laundry every week. I maybe wear a lot of clothes. During marching season, I typically wear about two outfits a day. I'll wear a nicer shirt for classes and then change into a t-shirt for band. Playing the sousaphone makes wearing a shirt that covers my shoulders necessary. It's kinda painful otherwise.

As far as I know, I don't have anything I have to dress up for (besides church). I work on campus, so I don't have to dress up for that. I don't have any interviews or dances coming up. Unlike other girls my age, I don't get dressed up to go out on Friday and Saturday nights.

Okay, this post is getting really long so I'm going to end it here for now. See you all later!

Becky's Inventory

The inventory has been made. The final load of pre-challenge laundry is percolating. All the clothing items have been accounted for. Here we go.

My entire wardrobe for the next month fits on my bed. Well, except for shoes. But this is awesome.

Pants

1./2. Jeans (2 pair)

3. Brown chinos

4. Blue chinos

5. Blue stripe work pants

6. Black work pants

7. Grey work pants

8. Black work capris

9. Green corduroys

10. Blue walking shorts

Shirts

11. White t-shirt

12. Black t-shirt

13. Blue t-shirt

14. Red t-shirt

15. Brown t-shirt

16. Pink polo

17. Green polo

18. Black striped button-up shirt

19. Blue floral button-up shirt

20. Teal button-up peasant shirt

21. Black tank

22. Purple print tank

23. Notre Dame t-shirt/pajama shirt

Loungewear

24. Blue PJ shorts

25. Black long yoga pants

26. Black yoga capris

Sweaters and Outerwear

27. Black and Grey striped cardigan

28. Black cardigan

29. Purple boyfriend cardigan

30. Green polka-dot cardigan

31. Brown ruffle cardigan

32. Purple rain jacket (may be replaced if/when I buy a real rain jacket)

33. Teal fleece

34. Floral jacket

Skirts

35. Black yoga skirt

36. Denim skirt

37. Gold skirt
38. Grey knit skirt

Workout clothes

39./40. Sports bras

41. Black workout shirt

42. Pink workout shirt

43. Grey performance capris

44. Running shorts

45./46. Running socks

Shoes

47. Running shoes

48. Black slip-on Mary Janes

49. Brown Born shoes

50. Black/green flip-flops

51. Brown wedges

52. Converse slip-ons

53. Moccasin slippers

54. New Balance Trail shoes

55. Boat shoes

Underthings

56.-62. Underwear (7)

63.-65. Bras (3)

66.-71. Socks (6)

(You do not need to see pictures of my underwear.)

Accessories

72. Black belt

73. Brown belt

74. Black ribbon/belt

75. Blue scarf

Some commentary:

*I am intrigued at my inability to pare down my shoes more. I wonder whether, in the end, all these pairs will have been worthwhile.

*Overall, I think that I could pare down more. I bet that, if I wanted to, I could do 60 items of clothing like Caroline. But because I'm starting new jobs (well, internships), I chose to go a bit cushier so I don't look like a slob. I have a feeling I'll be itching to reduce more for the next challenge.

*Caroline and I chose not to include jewelry in our totals, although I plan to go minimalist with my jewelry wardrobe as well. I have one pair of silver hoop earrings, and one necklace with two pendants that I plan to use for the month, just for the sake of sticking to the minimalist theme.

*I didn't include headwear in my total, although I run with a baseball cap and have been using another summer hat for sun/eye protection. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm going to keep using these. Cancer protection trumps minimalist challenge. In the same vain, if I were to go biking, I would also wear my helmet.

*I'm totally excited to get started, and I'm looking forward to seeing how I feel as we're actually going through the challenge. I'm feeling really awesome about my pared down closet right now. Remember the ridiculous space that was my clothing storage before? How bout now?

All of my hanging clothes are to the left of the red bag. Woot!

The entirety of my folded clothes. Bureau totally out of the picture for the challenge!

And a single drawer for underwear and socks. Yeah!

...and that is amazing.

Let the challenge begin! I'll check in tomorrow with the first days' outfit!

Goodbye, pink capris

I've cleaned out the closet. Mostly. Since I still have to do a load of laundry before I lay out all of my clothes and show you all the total spread for the challenge, I won't yet show you the closet, either. But, I did put together a small bag of "get rid of" clothes, and a suitcase of "too big for me, but might come in handy at some later time" clothes. I also moved all of my extraneous hanging clothes into the guest room closet, which leaves our closet looking kind of awesomely empty. I kind of like simplifying. A lot.

I've also spent this week wearing things I might miss during the project, like my fuchsia capris, and my boat shoes, which I might actually rearrange my list to include now that I've realized their versatility. But all in all, the list is basically set, and will be totally polished and ready for publication this weekend.

 I have also decided to amend the rules slightly for one exception. I am currently making a sweater for myself, and if I finish it, I am going to wear it. I might be fair and swap out something else, but hell, when you work on something for 8 months, I think it deserves some screen time.

Until the final Dress is More Wardrobe Inventory, I say farewell and happy impending Friday!

A Situation: Getting Dressed for the Bridal Shower

(Warning: While appropriate for all audiences, you will hear about my bras in this post.)

Saturday, I found myself in a situation I hope to avoid while in the midst of the Dress is More Challenge. I was preparing to go to a bridal shower for one of my friends here in Burlington, and I had an outfit in my head. Silk paisley skirt, white t-shirt, brown shoes. Done and done. "I am a master at handling my extensive wardrobe. I don't even need this challenge!"

I got up that morning, showered, and snuck back into our closet to quietly dress while the husband slept in. I was all ready, went to check out the final product in the mirror in the bathroom, and realized to my horror that it was obvious that my tan bra didn't fit anymore (I recently lost some weight when I started running, and as all women who have ever done so know, it goes from the boobs first. Blast!). "No worries," I thought, "I have another!" I snuck back into the bedroom, changed, and walked out to our kitchen. The moving and falling straps convinced me that this one also did not fit anymore. "That's cool, I'm savvy with a needle!" I didn't even bother to check what it looked like, because I knew that altering it would just be a few quick stiches and I'd be good to go. I made a mental note to buy a new bra, and went to find my sewing basket.

Ten minutes later, I re-dressed, pleased with my awesomeness, and went to check the mirror. The subtle shiny stripes on my now fitting-well-enough bra were glaringly obvious under my white shirt. Muttering profanities to myself, I tiptoed back to the closet for a totally new outfit, remembering that both my black and brown t-shirts were dirty. "Maybe I'll wear the black floral skirt with a tank top. But wait, I REALLY want to wear the brown shoes. Maybe I'll wear the jean skirt...no, that's too casual. *expletive!*"

I finally settled on an outfit that, to any average observer, was exactly the same in quality to the first one I had on and did not show the almost hour of effort I put into finding it.

This is why I need this challenge. I think it's going to remind me that of all the things in the world, clothing is really not worth the time that I sometimes put into it -- there are so many other things I have could have been doing with my morning that I enjoy more, like eating my breakfast sitting down and reading my book. Instead, I spend an hour on an outfit that didn't need to take that long. Not anymore, my friends, not anymore.

But HOW do you pick?

75 articles of clothing sounds like a lot. But when you think about 7 days of underwear, several pairs of socks, PJs, shoes, etc, it suddenly is a lot less. I've been agonizing over the spreadsheet I created to organize my Dress is More wardrobe for the past week, and I'm still not 100% finished. It's HARD to narrow my wardrobe of literally hundreds of items down to 75.

I mean, seriously, here is my current clothing situation:

 Of course, the left side is mine. Naturally minimalist husband's are on the right.

 T-shirts and sweaters that won't fit into my bureau. There are also tons of sweaters under my bed that aren't shown here.

 Totally full of clothes.

These are my running clothes and scarves.

I'm facing some specific challenges. One, which I mentioned in my last post, is that I've recently lost some weight. This was a totally unintentional side effect of thinking it would be fun to run a half-marathon and training for said event. Unfortunately most of the "bottoms" of my wardrobe don't fit anymore without some serious belting, and some of my key "tops" are just too big. In some ways, this has been helpful in deciding which articles of clothing I'm including in my project list, but it also eliminates some of my more versatile pieces. For example, all of the 5 new pairs of work pants I bought are automatically in because, you know, they don't fall off my body when I wear them, but I had to do some serious fit sessions to determine whether my jean skirt was going to be appropriate (verdict: it has enough stretch that if I wash it weekly, it will shrink back up enough to be wearable. Also, while a little unorthodox, it is beltable).

Another challenge  is that I live in Vermont, and that means summer is, for all intents and purposes, on the way out. Planning for a potential seasonal change is challenging, but I'm attacking it by planning mostly short-sleeve tops in the project list and including lots of sweaters. This means, however, that a few sweaters need to be altered to fit, and I have tough choices such as the following:

Stripey sweater is definitely in, because it is new and awesome. But black sweater is so versatile (also, as the picture clearly shows, they are good friends...could I separate them?). But do I need black sweater if I have stripey sweater, who is the same color scheme? Yes! Wait, no? If I don't include black sweater, I get another shirt! But I might also regret it if, someday, I need the solid black sweater! AUGH!

This decision is not yet made, but I'm working diligently this week to figure it all out. I also promise to clean out the closet and post new pictures of the reduced wardrobe, which I am super excited about.

In the Beginning: Part 2

Hey blog! Caroline here. I thought I would give my take on this little experiment before it began.

Like Becky said, I've been talking about simplifying my life on my youtube channel (shameless self promotion: www.youtube.com/user/wakefuldreams). Then Becky contacted me about doing this challenge. At first, I was nervous. I like to talk about simplifying, but to actually do it is a little more intimidating. But I liked the idea of doing it with someone else, and it's been something I always wanted to do, so I agreed. I'm also hoping this will help me when I have to pack for Australia this February (I'm study abroad there for a semester and only get to take one suitcase!)

I have been taking a good hard look at the stuff I own this summer. I'm still in college, so I move around a lot and pack my entire life into boxes at least twice a year. This summer, I went through all the boxes in my closet. These boxes were stuff I had packed up before my freshman year of college (my jerk brother took my room, so I had to move all my stuff). I had donated a lot of stuff before college and these boxes were the stuff I wanted to keep, but not take to college. This very important stuff has been sitting in my closet for two years. Turns out, I didn't want to keep most of it. I donated about half of it. I also donated a good deal of clothing. It made me realize just how little I actually need.

How have I accumulated so much clothing over the years? But I hate getting rid of it because good clothing is hard to come by. Also, being a girl, I feel the need to own a lot of clothing. Unlike my younger brother, I cannot wear the same five shirts and 3 pairs of shorts week after week. I feel the need to mix it up every now and then. I also have clothing for lots of different occasions: relaxed, cute yet relaxed, church clothes, work clothes, band concert clothes, work out clothes, pajamas, fancy party clothes. It's ridiculous. Who decided we need to wear different clothes for different occasions? Stupid social norms.

Though I was nervous in the beginning, I'm now getting very excited for this project to start. I have a bit of a hippie streak in me and enjoy not following social norms I don't believe in. At the same time, breaking social norms is really difficult. So I'm glad Becky is doing this challenge with me, even though she's half a country away.

Only one more week until the challenge begins!

In the Beginning

Caroline, my sister-in-law of awesomeness, has been participating in VEDAug (Vlog Every Day in August). As I was perusing her vlogs at the beginning of this month, I ran across one where she talks about simplifying her life, an idea that appeals to be theoretically, but makes me kind of hyperventilate in reality. She talked specifically about material goods, which I have also been thinking about lately, having just moved. 

Moving sucks. It sucks no matter what, but it sucks more when you have boxes and boxes of crap. I use the word crap lovingly because frankly, I DO love my crap. But the process of packing all the crap up into boxes, loading it into a truck with my husband, and transporting to a new place where we then had to sort through it AGAIN as we unpacked led me to more of a love/hate relationship with my crap. 

One particular type of crap I have a lot of is clothes. This is partly because I work retail and have a wicked discount at my place of employment, but it is also because I am a woman. Not to be stereotypical, but I love cute clothes, quirky clothes, thrift clothes, dress clothes...and shoes. Oh Jebus, the shoes.

On the other hand, when I was unpacking said wardrobe after the recent move, I realized I wear only a fraction (like half) of the clothes I own with any regularity. Then I recalled a conversation with one of my work colleagues where we talked about this minimalist clothing challenge in which people choose 30 items of clothing to wear for 30 days. Then I remembered Caroline. Then all the pieces fell into place.

So I messaged Caroline, proposed this project, and we were off.

We chose to work with 75 pieces of clothing. This is partly because we are not minimalists, and partly because we included some categories of clothing  in our count that other similar challenges do not (such as underwear and workout gear). Caroline let me know yesterday that she may actually take it to the next level of limit her clothing further. More power to her. 

We start on 8/22, and go til 9/30. This is the beginning of my year of full time internships, and the beginning of Caroline's fall semester. In the meantime, we are preparing...