Tuesday, April 16, 2013

10 X 10 Challange

The stress has subsided a bit finally.  I'll let you guys in on a big decision I made last week as soon as the smoke clears. I'm still being all superstitious about it lol. Spring is a time for change!!

But during times of stress all things clutter, mess, and disorder encroach on what free space is left in my mind.  Unfortunately my old PJ ways still have my dresser and pantry looking like a fully stocked store shelf.  Even worse, I have enough clothes to fill two dressers and 1.5 good sized closets.  I just keep wearing them - more and more clothes - and laundry day sneaks back to 3 weeks instead of one.  Then clothes don't get put away. Then I have a dresser full of products and a chair, bed and hamper full of clothes in various states of having been worn.  Blegh!  Chaos!

I'd long been eying ideas regarding living small, such as tiny houses, wardrobe stripping, multifunctional furniture and housewares. This stems less from trying to be tidy then from my desire to be less of a mindless consumer.  But this past week I really wished I'd already implemented some of those ideas so I wouldn't have to look at clutter when I already have a cluttered mind. 

So I'm going to do something about it!

One of the challenges I saw that was most promising was the 333 challenge.  You have to knock your wardrobe down to 33 items you swap out 3 times a year.  It's not so much based on donating or throwing things away as it is about clearing your actual living space to something sustainable and manageable. 

Now... I don't think I could possibly get down to 33 things (and not even including shoes and accessories for me). nope. no way! lol. So I tried to wrap my privileged mind around a number that was feasible for me, and not likely to cause even more stress.  I got to 100.  10 of  10 things.

My list looks like:

10 jeans
10 pants
10 skirts
10 dresses
10 tanks
10 Ts
10 blouses
etc...

I am also going to go down to 10 hair products. 

1 shampoo/cleanser
1 oil - castor! 
2 gels
2 leave ins
2 conditioners
2 special products (I'm thinking a style putty and maybe a light shiny oil or a setting lotion)

These 10X10 items are the ones that will be allowed to live in my space with me.  In my closets, drawers, cabinets and on my dresser. The rest have to go into storage.  I can swap things out, but not add things or have things co-exist. 

I think what makes this sound fun and feasible is that rather than cull out the duds I have to cherry pick my favorites.  Then I take everything that didn't get picked and pack it up. and put the goodies back.

So far I bought the bins to store the clothes I won't be wearing.  They are purple :-) And going in the basement. womp womp lol.

I'm taking the week to do this after work and I'll keep you guys posted!

Does anyone want to join me? Spring cleaning?

3 comments:

  1. This is an awesome idea! Wish I had that kind of will power. lol

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  2. @NikG my challenge is to post my "before pictures" for all to see... Shall I or shant I? lol

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  3. Great idea..I'm in! I just trimmed down my shoes.Shoes are down to 30. Hair products are down to:
    1 Clarifying shampoo
    1 Cowash
    1 Deep Conditioner
    1 Oil (Olive)
    1 Styler
    1 Heat protectant

    I will have to work on my clothing next.
    :)

    ReplyDelete

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