Project 333?

Am I crazy for trying this? I've been reading this blog for a while, and I've been watching her efforts over the last few months. I really wasn't interested at first. It seemed too hard, too many rules, too limiting... But lately, I've been looking at my closet with exasperation. I don't feel like I keep many clothes, but still, I don't seem to have any room in my closet at all. I have been really frustrated over the last year. Spanky is a bit of a collector, and we do have a LOT of stuff. And, living in a tiny metro apartment like we do, it's hard to wrangle it all. It just seems so overwhelming. Especially when you add in all the pet stuff too, and the fact that we're one of those couples that shops together for fun. We do a lot of other stuff too, but NYC is just a shopping mecca. And a lot of times, I get sucked into buying something I don't need or want. I'm trying to be done with that passive consumerism. Also, I am just starting to understand that the reason I shop all the time but still have about the same amount of clothing is that the clothes that I end up buying are not the best quality (and honestly, I'm pretty hard on my clothes, so I think maybe if I had stuff that was better quality to begin with, they might last longer...). I was in H&M the other day, just browsing to kill time before meeting my book group, and ALL that variety and ALL that profusion of cheap clothing labeled "made in Bangladesh" and so forth, just made me freak out. My heart started racing, and I felt kind of sick and unable to focus on anything. There was just SO. MUCH. STUFF. And it was all so cheap! And not even that attractive. And everyone was just pawing through all the crap to find the stuff that actually fit.

So... I think I'm in. I was pretty amazed with what PoMo learned throughout the whole thing, and maybe I'll come away with a deeper appreciation for what I have, and hopefully less of a desire to just passively consume. However, I know myself, and I know that I have to give myself some leeway or I'll just blow the whole thing. So over this long weekend, I made my list, and I put away as much of my other clothing as I could. I don't have enough storage space to take away all the clothing, but I've done as much as I could. I've separated out the clothing I'm considering part of the project, and I'm pretty sure that I won't need to deviate from that. Also, I'm giving myself a few passes, just to make the transition a bit easier. If this works, perhaps at the end of three months, I'll be able to restrict it more, but I think this might be the smallest I could go. My job involves a lot of travel and some pretty dressy occasions, so I do need a bit of variety for work functions. Anyway, here goes:

1. my winter coat (w/black hat and green scarf, cause it's damn cold, so I'm counting all these as one)
2. black tights (I have a bunch of pairs, but did I mention that I'm pretty hard on my clothes? I am just going to deal with the ones I have, but not buy any more until I'm totally out of usable ones.)
3. leggings (x 2)
4. my black suit (black skirt and blazer)
5. purple blazer
6. red blazer
7. ann taylor loft dress with pleats (my conference dress)
8. eddie bauer black sheath dress (my back up conference dress)
9. gray blazer with blue pinstripes
10. black old navy torn jacket
11. black cashmere sweater
12. tan cashmere cardigan (needs to be fixed)
13. club monaco black/gray colorblocked sweater
14. jcrew gray turtleneck merino sweater
15. undershirts (x infinity--like the tights, I wear these a lot)
16. short-sleeved t-shirts (x 5)
17. gap skinny jeans
18. old navy boot cut jeans
19. 3 sleeveless button-down shirts (2 white, one black)
20. suit shirt
21. black and white checked dress pants
22. black wool dress pants
23. black short sleeved button-down
24. checked uniqlo shirt
25. white long-sleeved button down shirts (3)
26. black pencil skirt
27. wool brown 3/4 length skirt
28. black cotton a-line skirt
29. black and gray color blocked skirt
30. white sleeveless shell
31. accessories (I have a few statement necklaces for work, and I can't choose-if I kept wearing the same one, people would think I was lame. at least they're all etsy purchases...)
32. gray purse for every day and black work purse
33. long-sleeved t-shirts (1 black, 1 gray, 1 white)

Regarding shoes, I don't think I am going to include them. I can't do it yet. Eventually, I'll try. Even by going through my closet and separating out the most essential stuff, I found some garments I could get rid of without disturbing the balance, and I'm sure the same is true for the shoes. But I'm not ready!

I'm not sure what else this project entails. I don't want my blog to become all about this project. Maybe I'll do one post a week, just to document what the week was like with the restricted (for me) closet. I can try to document the outfits, but I don't know if that will work. I don't have a huge amount of time, and I forget things like that pretty easily. But I'll try if anyone cares. Really, I just want to see if I can do it. Maybe I'll be able to get rid of a LOT of stuff at the end and not feel it! I really hope so!