Simplifying my wardrobe created a dramatic snowball effect for simplifying the rest of my life, but the closet isn’t where my simplicity journey started.

I began to simplify my life with my diet. I simplified what I ate and eliminated things like meat and most dairy from my meals. When that became the new normal, I turned to debt and clutter. Even though I didn’t have a name for it, I started to notice the benefits of minimalism years before I started dressing with less.

In 2010, I started Project 333, and made the commitment to dress with 33 items of clothing for 3 months. I thought it would be an enormous challenge and sacrifice, but when I discovered that dressing with less actually made getting ready easier and made other parts of my life more enjoyable, I wanted to live with even more less.

I found that when I simplified things like relationships, food, work, and exercise one at a time, I had better success than when I tried to do it all at once.

I enjoy the process of focusing on one category of my life at a time and using the momentum I create for the next change. That learning process inspired the concept of A Simple Year, an annual commitment to exploring simplicity, one topic at a time.

If you want to turn your attention to simplifying in a more engaged, consistent way, please join me and some of my friends for a Simple Year.