An experiment with a Project 333 Minimalist Fashion Challenge

Let it be known I hate laundry.  I hate washing the clothes, hanging it out to dry, bringing it back in and I despise having to put it away.

Which is why as a Professional Organiser, I love any system that makes my life simpler.  Laundry for a family of 5, including 3 daughters who like to regularly change outfits is never going to go away, so it is important to think smart about ways to speed up the washing process.

Which is why I am going to experiment with a minimalist wardrobe for myself and my daughters.  The jury is still out as to whether my husband will participate (I’ll leave that to him to decide), but his portion of the washing is minimal compared to the female component of our household so I don’t see that it will impact my little experiment.

To begin my journey to a minimalist wardrobe, I am going to join Courtney Carver in her Project 333 minimalist fashion challenge.

The Project 333 minimalist fashion challenge encourages you to dress with 33 items or less for 3 months.

Yep, 33 items of clothing for 3 months!!  Yikes!!  Am I really doing this? It’s wardrobe decluttering to the max.  The prospect even scares this little professional declutter and organiser, which is why I’m trialling it over the Summer months.  I figure I wear fewer clothes during Summer anyway.

But as scary as it seems, I can see big, big pluses for my family of 5.  So yes, I am doing this!

Firstly, I see less washing, less folding, fewer clothes for my daughters to pull out of their wardrobe for me to pick up, refold and put away.  Even if everything is in the wash at the one time that is a maximum of 165 items for 5 people.  Right now, I have 77 items hanging on my clothesline and that is just one load kid’s outfits!!  It’s really simplifying the laundry process by breaking down the laundry into a simple and manageable quantities.

Aside from reducing the workload, I can see more big benefits for my family.  We would have more time to spend together doing family stuff or just sitting around doing nothing but enjoying each other’s company.   Plus, I can only imagine how much money we could save (especially from me on spur of the moment clothing purchases!).

For me personally, I see less overwhelm in deciding what to wear each day.  If my budget allows I’m going to talk to a stylist to help build a capsule wardrobe and make sure that every one of my 33 items works for my body shape.  So, I’m hoping that although I have fewer options to choose in my wardrobe, everything within my wardrobe will work together and my outfits are going to look more pulled together.  That’ got to be good for my self-esteem, right?

I figure, if it all goes pear-shaped, its only for 3 months!

If you would like to join me for the Project 333 minimalist fashion challenge, please let me know and we can take the baby steps towards this big change together.  You can read more about Project 333 here and details about how to get started.

You can read all about the results of my Project 333 experiment and how we achieved all of the above and more.  It totally blew my mind!