I don’t even know where to begin. This month hasn’t been going like I had planned.
I mean, in my mind this month was going to be pretty easy. Pick my 7 items, wear those 7 items, demonstrate that I can survive with fewer clothes in my closet. La. De. Da.
Lemme just say… this has been the most difficult self-reduction month ever! Reducing yourself to 7 articles of clothing is impossible. Well not impossible, because people do it daily all over the world, but really really tricky. The worst aspect of it is when I have to change clothes because of the task I’m doing. I have been doing a lot of work in the community garden these past few weeks. Garden = dirt = dirty clothes. Every time I go I wear my blue running shorts, gray t-shirt, and black tennis shoes. Once back from the garden all of those things need to be washed, so I have to put on my other ‘outfit’ while the garden clothes are being washed: skinny jeans, white shirt, flip flops. It’s a crazy cycle, and happens about 5 times a week on my days off {I work in the garden in the morning, then back home for the rest of the day}. The other 2 days are work days and I wear my scrubs. All this to say, I am doing laundry a lot. Usually by hand, which is tedious.
I have definitely gone out of the house wearing damp clothing on more than one occasion in the past 2 weeks.
Here are a few of the issues I have encountered with this limited clothing supply:
On Tuesday as I was rushing out of the door for work I found my black tennis shoes caked in dirt and mud from the veggie garden. If I were the ‘plan ahead, responsible type’ {which I am not} then I would have washed them immediately after working in the garden on Monday morning so they’d be ready for work on Tuesday morning.Obviously I didn’t do that, so I decided to wear a different clean pair of shoes to work. After all, I’m representing a company and would like to keep my job.
On Wednesday I discovered that my blue running shorts were missing. Tuesday it was blazing hot here in Chesapeake, Virginia. I would probably have been carted to the ER for heat stroke if I had worn my only other ‘bottom half’ clothing: jeans. I searched everywhere and even now as I type this {a week later}, I still haven’t found them! It is driving me bonkers! How can shorts just disappear?!
On Saturday Charlotte came down with a stomach virus. The ‘try to get home quickly but she still threw up in the car twice’ kind of tummy bug. It was absolutely awful hearing her say ‘all done’ to throwing up and crying for ‘bread’ even though I couldn’t give her any. I really had no choice but to break my 7 clothing rules the moment vomit became involved. Together, Charlotte and I probably went through 10 different shirt changes Saturday night. That wasn’t really the worst part, though. The worst part was taking her carseat cover off, washing it, then wrestling with the seat to get the clean cover back on. I’ve never been more relieved to have a washer and dryer in my home. I can’t imagine trying to cart those yucky linens to a laundromat.
Other than those bloopers I’ve been able to stick with the parameters of my little experiment so far {it is now day 12}. I am definitely learning to be thankful that I DO have access to more than 7 things to wear, though. And I am so looking forward to wearing clothing item #7 to a wedding this weekend. Bring on THE DRESS!!
Life Changes
Month 3: clothing {update 2}
To sum up this month so far: slightly interesting, a smidge difficult, and mostly very annoyingly inconvenient. I’ve been getting tons of great questions, so just to clarify my goals and guidelines for this project:
I chose 7 pieces of clothing from my wardrobe. Those 7 pieces are the only 7 I can choose from when I wear clothing this month {which will be most of the time, rest assured}. I doesn’t actually matter how many I have on at one time {I could wear all 7 at once, but that would be uncomfortable and silly}. These 7 pieces will last me the whole month. I can’t trade out pieces {as in “oh I’m tired of wearing this gray shirt, I will trade it in for a pink one, because that’s essentially what all of us do every day – we trade out clothing at the end of the day, and trade in new clothing each morning. Some of us do several trades in a day}. This restriction on clothing means: no jewelry, no accessories, no random shirt changes in the middle of the day ‘just because’, and pretty much no looking fabulous. It also means I have to plan ahead.
The purpose of the entire ‘7’ project {imitated from Jen Hatmaker’s initial experiment} is to help me realize that I am capable of ‘doing without’; I can and will survive if I have less. Fewer possessions, spending less, fewer clothes, less time spent with technology, less waste, more time focused on appropriate priorities, less gluttony. I have already tackled possessions and spending. This month is clothing.
I realize this month’s challenge is a tad confusing and I’m sure most of your thoughts include some ‘what the …..’ phrasing. It’s ok, I know it’s odd, but if I’ve learned anything over the past few years it’s this: if you hinge your salvation and life’s purpose on Jesus’ life, death, and un-death, then your aim should be to imitate what Jesus did here on earth. And if you are truly trying to be ‘like’ Jesus and imitate his perfect ways, that means your life and actions shouldn’t really fall in line with the lives and actions of other people on earth. I’m sure He was called ‘odd’ because he didn’t just fall in line with the cultural norms of the times in which he lived. He was different. So I’m okay with being different too. Sometimes different means saying no to the excess that we have come to know and love in our country.
So far I have worn 5 of my pieces at least once every day. I’ve been working in the community garden a lot, which is dirty and stinky work – I usually wear my tennis shoes, running shorts, and gray shirt. For any other ‘non-dirty’ activity, I wear my skinny jeans, white sleeveless shirt, and flip-flops. The other 2 clothing ‘items’ I have are my scrubs and a formal dress {that I need to wear to 2 weddings later this month}. I don’t feel the pressure to wash the gardening outfit often, since it’s just going to be icky again. The jeans and white shirt have proven harder to keep clean because a) I wear them every single day, b) if I take them off and wash them, I have to wear the sweaty gardening clothes until the nicer clothes are ready. I don’t want to wash them, but I need to wash them… it’s a predicament. I just need to get into a good routine -hold on to your nickers, I’m about to channel the Wilder family and wash some clothing by hand.
On a lighter note, today was my birthday and we spent it surrounded by friends {but you may as well just call them family}: it started with Church, then tending the garden with friends, then a cookout with an even larger circle of friends. It was a beautiful day and my heart feels so full right now. You’ll probably see some pics from those adventures later this week {though not from me; I brought my phone and my dslr camera. my phone died and my dslr had no SD card in it….. so exactly zero pictures will be from me}.
Here’s a photo of what I wore to church this morning {before changing into ‘get dirty’ clothes for gardening, before changing back into this outfit for the cookout}.
Our picnic lunch at the community garden.
And an obligatory Charlie Grace photo: playing on the playground at church
Month 3: Clothing {update 1}
I unknowingly broke a rule on day 1. I wore earrings. I was sidetracked in the morning by the all-important decision of which pair of scrubs would carry me through the entire month of May. I chose the black ones {in case you were wondering}, because my blue ones weren’t clean…. my life is so intriguing, I truly do live on the edge.
Yesterday (day 2) I wore my running shorts and gray shirt with tennis shoes while I worked in the community garden with a friend. It was soggy and sweaty. When I came home I was able to change into my skinny jeans, white shirt, and flip flops which I also wore out to dinner for my mother-in-law’s birthday in the evening. I toughed it out through dinner, and again this morning when I was outside at 6:30am setting up for a yard sale with my neighbor. It was pretty chilly and, had my mother seen me, I’m sure she would have insisted that I put a coat on. She wasn’t there to tell me about my poor choice in clothing, but I have received several comments from other ‘mamas’ regarding my lack of coat options amongst my 7 items. I was seriously contemplating tossing the ‘formal dress’ out of spot #6 to make space for a sweater or jacket of some sort. I should have planned for that a little better, knowing my tendency to be in a constant state of near hypothermia. However, I feel strongly that the purpose of this project is to a) identify those areas in which we live in excess, b) attempt to pare down in those areas, and c) learn that it is possible to survive with less. If I give in at the slightest notion of discomfort then it’s apparent I haven’t learned those lessons very well. So I will work on handling a little chilly weather.
Today I helped my neighbor with a yard sale and worked a little bit in the garden {dressed in my gray t-shirt, running shorts, and now extremely muddy tennis shoes}. After that we came home and I put on my jeans and white shirt, no surprise there, and headed over to my in-laws. Charlotte spent the afternoon with her Lola and Grandpa while Chris and I went to test drive some cars. We are searching for a little more cargo and carseat space and Chris’ truck is just not giving us the flexibility be are needing.
My birthday is tomorrow. no big. I actually forgot it was my birthday until I walked into work on thursday and my coworkers had decorated my office. they are awesome like that. My sweet sister-in-law gave my my gift tonight – the most beautiful scarf and gold-mint bracelet.
Of course, they are accessories. Which I have sworn off wearing for the month. dagger! They are so beautiful it is killing me to not wear them. I did put the bracelet on for approximately 30 seconds, you know, to make sure it fit and matches my skin tone. It did, and it does. Only 27 more days until I can show them off {humbly, of course, and in as non-excessive way as possible}.
Are you joining me this month? I’d love to hear the 7 pieces of clothing you have chosen!
Month 3: Clothing
Did you know it is now May? I am just as surprised as you are. This whole ‘time passing by’ thing is getting really old. Enough already. When I said I was going to take a month off of my project in self-reduction I truly believed the next month would be slower in arriving. April just zoomed on by, and here we are: hello May! If you are just tuning in, I have embarked on a personal journey to combat excess in imitation of Jen Hatmaker’s book ‘7: an experimental mutiny against excess’. During the first 3 months I focused on reducing my possessions and spending. This month I will be tackling clothing. You may remember that in Month 1 I purged nearly half the contents of my closets and drawers, counting those as possessions right along with everything else in my house. I got rid of a ridiculous amount of clothing. and guess what? There’s still a lot of clothing floating around in there that I am certain I don’t actually wear. I am not a big spender when it comes to clothing{or anything, really}; one of the earliest lessons I learned from my mom was how to spot steal at a thrift store. That being said, the sheer number of garments in my closet is ridiculous. Frankly, my wardrobe could easily outfit 4 or 5 women comfortably. Can we say excessive?! In order to combat the american mentality of see it – buy it {which is how I got into this predicament in the first place}, I will wear only 7 pieces of clothing this month. I know, I’m sort of shocked at the prospect as well. Let’s figure out the guidelines.
Before I started to carefully select my 7 precious articles of clothing, I took a peek into my drawers and closets to see what I had to work with:
223 pieces of clothing
37 pairs of shoes/sandals/boots
12 pairs of scrubs
I know. I was shocked too. I don’t have any scientific proof, but I’m pretty sure my clothes and shoes have been multiplying in my closet when I close the door. Your’s too? ok, glad I’m not the only one. I was secretly hoping my collection would come up shorter than Jen’s. and it did…. winning! As I was re-reading Jen’s chapter on clothing, she reported that she had 327 pieces of clothing in her closet. My greed and lust over clothing is not as severe as Jen Hatmaker’s or, say, a Kardashian’s…. I’m certain there’s a crown waiting for me in heaven for that accomplishment alone.
Here are the 7 pieces I have chosen:
1) Dark wash skinny jeans {I pretty much wear these every day anyway, no shame}
2) aqua running shorts
3) Grey V-neck short sleeve shirt
4) Flowy white sleeveless shirt
5) Navy blue black scrub set {when I got up today…day 1…. to get dressed for work I realized the blue scrub set I had previously chosen to be the work attire that would carry me through this month was in the wash, so I had to settle for my second choice}
6) A formal dress – TBD – I don’t know which one in my closet I will wear yet, but we have 2 weddings to attend towards the end of the month and I don’t want to wear sneakers and running shorts on my friends’ big days {though the sneakers would give me a distinct advantage for dancing, with the added traction and all…. in light of this discovery, I actually may rethink the formal dress}.
7) Shoes count as one item together but I will only alternate between 2 pairs: brown flip-flops and black sneakers.
Here are a few more details:
- Undergarments don’t count. just…. no.
- No jewelry {not even earrings, I will wear my wedding band… because it’s my experiment. I do what I want}
- No accessories {no scarves, no belts…. no pizzaz}
- No coat, no rain boots
Day 1:
Black scrubs, black tennis shoes. I did wear a headband, but not for pizzaz. It is a necessity to keep my frizz in check while at work. I do it for the kids.
I am really fortunate in that I only work 2 days a week, so wearing 1 pair of scrubs is totally do-able. I doubt anyone will even notice. My patients certainly won’t – I get excited when they simply notice the presence of a person in the room; I’m pretty sure they don’t care what I wear, they just want me to get out of their face!
Will you join me this month? If at the very least, will you count the number of clothing items and shoes in your closet? Just throwing off the blindfold and refusing naiveté of our excessive tendencies is a great first step.
I’m just sayin’.