333 Experiment

I found this awesome website called PROJECT 333.  It challenges you to only wear 33 items in 3 months (including shoes and accessories, not including pajamas, work-out clothes and undies).  Since my last post was about minimalizing/simplifying your wardrobe, I thought this website would be the perfect companion to it.  It also has great advice on how to clean out your closet, what to keep, what to throw, etc.  I'll be tracking my clothes so you know it's possible!

Simplifying your Wardrobe

Okay Ladies, grab your Kleenex, your Valium or a brown paper bag 'cause it's time.  You know it is.  Even if you're not moving into a 1968 motor home.  It's time to clean out that closet.  It was SO time for me and admittedly it only happened because it was forced upon me.  And if I can do it, trust me, you can do it too.

I took a lot of pointers from blogs and articles which I'll link to later but first, take a look at the before:

Yup, that's it (after two bags gone of donations/Ebay).  And you can't see, but there are actually another 6 shelves next to the plastic shoe-hanger thingy.

Now, close your eyes and let me wave my magic wand and TA-DAH!

It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I kept a lot of neutral and black pieces so they could be interchangeable.  And I kept things that I wore a lot, like, once a week (like that blue and white check shirt).


VISUAL GUIDELINES

1) As far as how many pieces to keep, I used this guideline that I found on a blog.

click here to see The Everyday Minimalist's full site: 

2) Here is another site I used:

Click here for the The Beauty File's website.

ARTICLES`
1) The next thing I used was an article from Real Simple online.  It had lots of good suggestions for basic items.  Here are a few items they suggest:

- a black tank

- a crewneck sweater

- a long sleeve white t-shirt

- a long sleeve black t-shirt

- a short sleeve white t-shirt

- a short sleeve black t-shirt

- a neutral colored cardigan

- a white button down

- jeans

- black pants

- wool skirt

- pant suit

2) Okay, one more!  This article has GREAT suggestions on how to actually begin the process on trimming down your wardrobe as well as great suggestions for staple items.  Find it here!

So, I kept 30 items tweaking it a little bit (for example: I don't really wear t-shirts so I substituted shirts that I wear a lot).

The Tools

I picked up some of these handy hangers at Target to organize my 30 items in the most space efficient way possible.

All my pants on ONE hanger! =)

Easy as pie.

More updates and a word from Heidi

I am so excited about moving into the Travco in a few days!  I'll be honest, I never ever thought those words would come out of my mouth in a bazillion years,  but I'm genuinely looking forward to it. Let me share why.

I like to think Chris and I are unique individuals- as opposed having a bad case of arrested development as I sometimes fear it may appear.  I don't mean we're "special" and are like trying to save the plant by living in a motor home or that we're taking a stance against consumerism or anything like that.  We both love learning and love adventure and as cheeeeeesy as it may sound, we refuse to give up on our "dreams." First of all, we've been married for almost five years and Chris has been in school the entire time (minus one semester) and I've been working on my Master's since Fall of 2010.  And I know what you're thinking, "Well, you must be on the home stretch."  But we're not.  We're so not.  Chris is in Medical School (that = a million years in school).  And I'm getting my Master's in Voice (that = a degree in waitressing).  And we LOVE it.  And, as is happens, we both love what one another does.

So, thought behind #1 reason of living in motor home:  Would we rather DO more stuff or HAVE more stuff?  In our case, we can't DO and HAVE (I'm so not bashing having stuff here- if you can DO and HAVE then...DO it and HAVE it).  Our answer was, "Duh, we'd rather DO more stuff."  There are tons of workshops and learning opportunities I've missed out on because we spend every last penny on rent and bills.  Chris would love to have an artistic outlet away from medicine like take guitar lessons or art classes.  But, here we are...sitting in our expensive apartment...watching reruns of The Office every night cause we broke.

Though behind #2 reason of living in motor home:  So, we settled #1.  We'd rather DO stuff.  Now the thought process goes like this: But, I mean we have to live somewhere.  And I mean, c'mon, we're "grown-ups."  Grown-ups don't live in RVs <scoff/eye roll>.  Oh, wait, Natalie (bff) and Mike (bff's husband) live in a renovated bus.  And uh, the Marshalls and the Fossmos live in one."  And my in-laws are living in one as they build their house.  That's kinda what sold me on it.  After I stayed the night in my in-laws RV I knew I could totally do it.  It was kind of like a revelation actually.  Here I was stressing about money every single month and why??  Because normal grown ups live in nice apartments or nice houses.  And then it came, "I don't care about being normal.  I just want to learn and pursue what I feel God has called me to do."  And when I told Chris, I knew he felt that same way.

As for the Travco, she's comin' along nicely.  Still lots to do before we move in.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER

Progress!

New carpet in the cockpit:

Progress report: new ceiling and floor

I should preface this entry with this fact:  Heidi and I are buying the previously pictured 1968 Travco to live in for the next year. Needless to say, being the gearhead that I am, owning a home with an old Dodge V8 bolted under it carries my soul to indescribable heights. Surprisingly, this entire idea was Heidi's, at least this time around; we've talked about it in spurts over the last several months, looked at zillions of pictures of tiny houses, and talked to friends living in similarly sized situations. I've loved the Travco since I first saw them online and was ecstatic to see one in person, and even more ecstatic to be able to own/work on one. 

Our Travco is in pretty great shape mechanically, with a working generator and A/C (thank God), but the interior was begging for some attention. So far, I have replaced the ceiling panels with white hardboard, and today replaced the poorly laid laminate flooring with some engineered hardwood flooring we found at the Habitat for Humanity resale store in Denton. I am extremely happy with the way the floor looks, excepting the original carpet in the driver's area. We are trying to figure out exactly what the carpet reminds us of. Maybe giraffe hide, or dinosaur scales? It's terrible. That'll be tomorrow's project. Anything to avoid the mountain of work waiting in the bathroom.

The Travco

This is about to happen.