{Project 333 - Roundup}

I've (very nearly) made it to the end of Project 333 - Living with Less. Basically, I restricted my wardrobe to 33 items for 3 months. You can read about my decluttering efforts here and here is the list of 33 items that were in my capsule wardrobe.

I did have to swap out a couple of items... my grey flower mini handbag broke and I'm yet to fix it, my Salsa bootcut jeans appear to have shrunk in the wash and are now on the short side, one of the buttons ripped off my grey cardigan (& I'm yet to fix it... you'll spot a theme here!) and my grey Baujken dress is now a bit short and tight for me :-/

Instead, I added in a new dress from M&S which I wore to work today and I added in a white shirt from M&S which I also wore for work purposes. I also bought a fab new jumper from Sainsbury's (50% off in the their sale!) which replaced my cardigan.

Approx £11 in the Sainsbury's sale. I love it!

My new M&S dress is very similar to this one... but mine is black and cream stripes and was in the sale for £29. I wore it with black tights and my Russell & Bromley shoe boots today.

Given the weather yesterday, I wore my tan coloured gladiator style sandals from Sainsbury's and bared my legs!! Definitely need to get some fake tan on the go for my 'great whites' (my sister's eloquent description... thanks Ali!).

So there you have it... it can be done!

Am I going to keep it up I hear you ask? Well, no is my short answer. 

I am going to continue to work with a capsule wardrobe, but I'm not going to be as restrictive on the number of items. For example, I have a wedding at the end of this month for which I will be wearing a cocktail style dress. I'll be wearing it just the once, so to have to allocate space on a list for it along with the accessories to match seems to be a bit unfair. 

I also have a number of pieces of beautiful jewellery which have been boxed up for the past 3 months because of Project 333. There are a lot of sentimental pieces that I wouldn't dream of selling, so it makes sense to enjoy them and wear them. 

However, what I have realised is that there are a number of items of my clothing that I will eBay or charity shop because I haven't been wearing them for various different reasons... Now is the time for me to revisit my bag of clothes that I packed away and make some decisions on what I will keep and what can go. As the weather is improving, I also need to pack away the winter jumpers and bring out my summer t-shirts. Fingers crossed for some more sun!!

I want to quickly share with you a new purchase which I bought from M&S... it's a gorgeous maxi dress and is not my usual style at all. But I spotted it in the shop whilst in the queue for the fitting room, and I just had to try it on! I got some lovely comments from passers by, so much so that I had to buy it! At £79 I felt it was a really good deal. I think I could dress it up with heels and a clutch for a summer party, or wear it with flip flops and a casual beach bag for during the day. What do you think, yay or nay?

Per Una Speziale Striped & Colour Block Maxi Dress

{Project 333 - Living With Less}

So I mentioned before that I have been making space in my wardrobe and I said I was keen to participate in Project 333, whereby you live with 33 items for 3 months. I thought it would be difficult to narrow my clothing down to 33 items, but I've actually found it ok - turns out I don't have as many clothes as I thought! It's the accessories, jewellery in particular, that I've found difficult along with my shoe collection!

Items I've not included in the list:

• Watch
• Links of London bracelet
• Alexis Dove Wild Rose ring
• Prescription glasses (I'm getting my new pair of Tom Ford glasses this weekend from SpecsDirect2U - excited!!)
• Underwear
• Pyjamas
• Loungewear
• Workout clothes

Here's my list of 33 things:

1. North Face parka, black
2. Ted Baker trench coat, beige
3. Urban Outfitters tuxedo style jacket, black
4. Grey zebra print scarf
5. Fossil handbag
6. Grey flower mini handbag, from my neighbour's shop Velvet Moon
7. Black patent boots from Next
8. Black patent court shoes from M&S
9. Russell & Bromley black shoe boots
10. Hunter wellington boots
11. Dune trainers
12. Sequin jumper from Mango, black
13. Gem jumper from Warehouse, grey
14. Karen Millen pencil skirt, black
15. Mint Velvet bandage skirt, black
16. French Connection dress, black patterned
17. Salsa bootcut jeans
18. Next skinny jeans, denim
19. Next skinny jeans, purple
20. Oasis shirt, orange
21. Oasis shirt, cream
22. Mint Velvet grey cardigan
23. Wolf t-shirt
24. Mint Velvet black cardigan
25. Mint Velvet nude/black lace vest
26. Pink blouse with lace detail on the back from Primark
27. Sequin dress from French Connection
28. Plum wool dress from Baujken
29. Animal print silk dress from Warehouse
30. Gold lion belt from Warehouse
31. Grey studded jumper from Tesco
32. Black shirt from Tesco
33. Grey dress from Baujken

I just need to pack away the rest of my wardrobe, for now anyway, and I will attempt to manage with just these items for the next 3 months - so that's until mid-May. Eek! If the weather improves, then I might need to revisit my list!

{Declutter: Making Space in my Wardrobe}

I'm hoping to move house soon... time for a fresh start! So I'm very busy getting the house ready for going on the market.

{image source}

First up is decluttering. This will benefit me hugely when it comes to the new house as I'm not going to have the space that I currently do - I need to downsize you see. I'm currently living in a gigantic five bedroom house and I'm on my own half the time, so what do I need five bedrooms for? It will be more practical and cost-effective for me to be in a 3 bedroom house where I have a room for each of us.

I've been having a read of some decluttering blogs and sites for inspiration and look what I found:

Project 333

Courtney over at Project 333 started the concept of living with 33 items for 3 months. I have been trying to work with a capsule wardrobe, but didn't restrict myself to the number of items. I'm now thinking I might try this out for the next three months and see how I go!

Here are the basics:

• When:
 Every three months (It’s never too late to start so join in anytime!)

• What:
 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewellery, outerwear and shoes.

• What not:
These items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewellery that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear,  and workout clothing 

• How:
 Choose your 33 items, box up the remainder of your fashion statement, seal it with tape and put it out of site.

• What else: 
Consider that you are creating a wardrobe that you can live, work and play in for three months. Remember that this is not a project in suffering. If your clothes don’t fit or are in poor condition, replace them.

As part of this I'm going to make some space in my wardrobe...

How to Make Space from Be More With Less

Start making piles of clothes and be ruthless...

Pile 1 - I love these items. They fit me well and I wear them frequently: KEEP

Pile 2 - I want to keep this but I don't know why

Pile 3 - These items don't fit me or my style: DONATE

Pile 4 - These items aren't in good condition: BIN

Here's what you do next:

Take Pile 4 to the tip

Box up Pile 3, stick it in the back of your car and take to the charity shop before you have the chance to re-think

Put items from Pile 1 back into your wardrobe

Box up the items from Pile 2 and put it in the back of your wardrobe for 30 days

If you didn't miss the box after 30 days, do not open it - instead donate it to charity

An uber organised wardrobe!! {image source}

Eek!!! Can it be done??

The chest of drawers in my bedroom has three drawers... the top drawer is for underwear, tights and nightwear. The middle is for clothes I wear frequently and the bottom is for clothes that I don't wear but I can't bear to part with.

I really should just bite the bullet though and donate the clothes from the bottom drawer that I don't wear to charity.

What I have done is put some of my clothes into plastic Ikea boxes in my basement that are now labelled 'Fancy Dress' and it contains a variety of different items (belts, shoes, handbags, dresses etc) that I think the kids might like to dress up with when they're a little bit older. I do wish my mum had kept more of her clothing, so I'm keeping a few bits and pieces for this purpose.

So here's the challenge... can I narrow my wardrobe down to 33 items for the next 3 months???