33 in 33, the Lent Edition

A friend pointed me to this blog Be More with Less. The most recent point was about creating a Wardrobe Capsule. The idea is to cull down to 33 items for 3 months (the rest go into storage while giving this a go). Courtney Carver’s rules for herself is that the 33 involved “clothing, shoes, outerwear, jewelry and accessories. [She doesn’t] count underwear, sleepwear, or workout/sports clothes.”

I was intrigued. Specifically what Carver learned and shared from previous 3 month stints. I nodded in agreement with how that “one more thing” isn’t going to make everything perfect. How, for her, fewer items to choose from actually translates to less stress and anxiety.

Particularly during Lent (which it is right now), I like to mull over and act on the idea that often the things we gather around us often create distance between ourselves and God. That the more stuff we have, the more we are convinced that just a bit more will make us happy. But it doesn’t. It makes me wonder if perhaps in having less, I can free myself for deeper thoughts, a deeper prayer life, and deeper relationships. 

So I decided to do a variation in this, as there are about 33 non-Sunday days in Lent. So it’s a 33 for 33 thing. I liked her general rules for what doesn’t count. Although given my particular situation as a pastor, I didn’t include in the count any clothing that is designed to hold a clergy collar, as it’s really not practical outside of worship. I also decided to be generous with myself and not worry about including footwear, earrings, or belts (though it’s super rare I ever wear a belt anyway).

I followed the like to her help-get-started posts with making piles. My container piles consisted of:

1) It fits and I like/love it, 

2) It doesn’t quite fit or I like-it-but-not-sure-I-still-should (which is a little different from her 2^nd category), 

3) Doesn’t fit at all and/or isn’t my style so donate, 

4) Beyond repair so toss/turn into rags, etc.

I then added two other categories of my own: 

5) Wrong season (which I suppose is implied with the every-3-month change over, and 

6) Needs mending/hemming. My Rubbermaid multi-gallon totes worked great for this. 

One of the tough parts was trying clothes on and acknowledging how many things didn’t really fit and how many other items really, really didn’t fit. Sidenote: changes in medication are rarely kind when it comes to weight (at least in my experience). So there were things that I set aside for now, as I think it’s reasonable to think that some not-quite-fits may fit again as certain things in my world get balanced out. 

But there were other things – nearly a whole tote’s worth - where I decided they were just too small. Might they fit in the future? There’s a possibility. But I decided it mattered to me to be present now and not clutching at an “ideal” that really isn’t what an ideal is all about. If others would benefit from the clothes, all the better.

It was probably for the best that this happened over the course of two days – a couple hours on Saturday and a couple hours on Sunday. Then the final decisions, mending, and refilling of my closest happened on my day off, Monday.

The good news was that my mend pile didn’t have that many things, but at least a couple of them were things I’d been meaning to do something about for probably a year plus. So I did. We’ll see how well my use of been-in-sewing-kit-forever stitch witchery holds! It felt good to stop saying, “I gotta do something with that… someday” and instead just do it. That was even true of a zipper where the fabric had frayed, I tried to fix it, didn't work, and I had to put them in category 4. It was good to stop dithering and decide.

My initial box of 1s was well over 50 items. As I moved them to the bed, there were a few non-winter season clothes that I moved to container 5. What got to the bed was 49 items:

2 dresses
2 skirts
6 pants/jeans
16 shirts
2 vests
10 sweater jackets
11 scarves





After a few rounds of culling and considering what went with what, I made it down to 33:

1 dress
2 skirts
6 pants/jeans
11 shirts
2 vests
6 sweater jackets
5 scarves

It’s really too many pairs of jeans, but when a pair inevitably ends up in the laundry, I need a spare pair (or two…) I’ll admit, they are comfort clothing in they way coffee is my go-to comfort beverage. It might be an imperfect collection, but it's a start. 

Also, I would not say my closet had been crazy packed, but I am amazed how different my closet now looks How much easier it is to see what I’m working with, particularly accessorizing with. It’s a great feeling.

So though I’m not really started, I do feel a great sense of accomplishment in getting to this point. It’s a feeling that was worth the discomfort of the middle part with the culling of what didn’t fit and how that felt, as well as accepting the reality of the occasion purchase that fits but never quite felt right when worn. And now that those previously ignored truths have been faced, I feel lighter and ready to move forward.