What happens in the first hour of your morning can dictate your mood, and outlook on the rest of the day. For example, imagine yourself living the following two scenarios.
Morning #1
- Wake up and hit the snooze button. (several times)
- Find coffee.
- Quick shower due to too many snooze button pushes.
- Find something to wear
- Open closet. see plenty of options. Find nothing to wear.
- Try on several outfits to see what looks best and still feel unsatisfied.
Morning #2
- Set alarm 10 minutes early and wake up.
- Start your day intentionally with a meaningful morning routine.
- Shower.
- Open your closet and smile at your minimalist wardrobe.
- Get dressed without any complicated decision-making.
Which sounds more enjoyable and less stressful? I’ve lived both mornings and it’s obvious that morning #2 creates the best possibility for an awesome day.
We invest so much thought into our outward appearance matching how we want everyone to think about us, (or even how we want to feel about ourselves) that we go crazy looking for the right outfit. After years of binge shopping, two for one sales, and being slaves to the pages of a magazine, our closets are overflowing with an attempt to look like we have it all figured out.
Instead of dealing with the stress in your life, start eliminating it beginning with your wardrobe. Select from a few pieces of clothing that fit your body and your lifestyle.
When you dress with 33 items or less you completely eliminate stress caused by …
- shopping
- trends
- fat clothes and skinny clothes
- comparison
- spending
If dressing with less sounds too extreme and scares you, try it anyway. You don’t have to get rid of everything to experience the benefits. You can simply box up all but 33 and decide what is best for your morning, day and life with a simple minimalist fashion experiment.
Aloha from Hawai‘i (and previously SLC)! I just stumbled on your great blog via Life Edited. I’d like to share a recent experiment I undertook as a possible ease-into-P333 move. I think I’ll try it myself and I’ll let you know. Mahalo for your elegant blog.
STEP 1, RUTHLESS EDITING: Four months ago, I took every piece of clothing I had out of my closet. Then I put back one half. The other half went into boxes**.
STEP 2, MORATORIUM: During the following four months, I was not allowed to buy a single piece of clothing for any reason. I could, however, look at clothing in stores or online to carefully plan my end-of-experiment prize. This actually grew old pretty fast.
STEP 3, FINALE: After four months, I donated the boxes and bought myself one single, beautiful, and yes-expensive-classic elegant white linen shirt that I will keep and wear with great pleasure for many years to come.
BOTTOM LINE: I have a modest closet full of my favorite clothes, all of which fit and look good on me. I weaned myself from mindless comfort shopping. I saved a LOT of money and feel a whole lot better about the image I present.
**SAFETY VALVE: I was allowed to reclaim anything from a box, provided I knew specifically what it was (I couldn’t just browse). I only took out one thing and that was only to use it to make a pattern from, then I returned it to the box.
A few years ago I got in the habit of picking out my clothes (and makeup) the night before. That made such a huge difference in my mornings. When I discovered Project 333, it made my nightly routine even easier. Thanks so much for this website.
I can second every single thing you have said. I too have lived both mornings and my family would like to say thank you for making me into a much nicer person first thing in the morning!
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I love this idea and really want to do this (really in all aspects of my life), however I am stuck with where to start. I follow you on Pinterest and have read your web-site however I struggle with actually being able to go to my closet or a store to get the items that can truly make a wardrobe. At times I have no ideas what items to match with others from fabrics to paterns. I am concerned I am going to end up with an all neutral not very versitle wardrobe if I try this on my own. Is there a web-site that you can build outfits from or a store you’d reccomend? I know one of the pins on pinterest was a wardrobe from Banana Republic however when you click on it you cann’t find it on their site. I am the kind that would need one of those types of wardrobes that I would print out the paper and hang it in my closet. Help!!!
I am in the same boat as Jen and to make matters worse I am a greying Soft Autumn and the only way for me to make this work is to see pictures of one already done.
okay so actually in Canada I’d have to have 66 items – the intense Canadian winter makes it necessary for 2 wardrobes – one for our intensely hot and humid summers and one for our intensely cold and bitter winters…
I agree. 33 pieces seems completely non-feasible if you live anywhere but a very temperate climate. I could never have 33 pieces that covered Western New York’s hot and humid summers AND it’s snow-buried winters.
The project is 33 items for 3 months. You can read more about it here if you are interested: http://theproject333.com/getting-started/
My morning routine is getting up at 5, packing my lunch/breakfast, packing my swim and school bag, then going to swim practice.