This year I’ve been making a huge effort to downsize my possessions and own less stuff. I’ve been a lot more mindful with my spending and I’ve sold, donated, gifted and thrown away probably about a third of the items in my home. I feel very proud of my progress and I’m keen to continue. But the one area that I struggle to cull is my wardrobe.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made huge strides in curbing my clothing consumption. I have stopped stressing out about trends or owning the latest new item. I have stopped buying fast fashion and pumped the brakes on buying things just because they’re cheap. I’ve thrown away a lot of things that I don’t feel comfortable in or that are worn out. But I’d like to downsize my wardrobe just a little bit more.
As I’ve been listening to podcasts, watching movies and reading books on minimalism, the idea of a 30 x 30 wardrobe challenge has popped up time and time again. I’ve shrugged off the idea because I didn’t think I could do it and because the concept brought with it a wave of stress and trepidation. I love getting dressed in the morning. Clothing is a way that I express myself and I enjoy putting together new outfits. It’s one of the reasons I began blogging! But the more I rolled the idea of doing the challenge in my mind, the more I felt like I wanted to give it a crack.
So, I’m going to begin the 30 x 30 Wardrobe Challenge on Monday 30th October (that’s tomorrow!). Here are the rules:
- Choose 30 items from your wardrobe. You can only wear these items for 30 days.
- The items include outerwear and shoes.
- Underwear, hosiery, nightwear and loungewear are not included in the 30 items.
- Accessories such as jewellery, scarves and hats are not included in the 30 items (some participants do include such items. I’m excluding them this time to make it a little bit easier for myself. If I do this challenge again in the future, I might knuckle down on this).
- If the weather becomes unseasonably cold, I can add a jacket to my outfit for warmth only.
And that’s it. 30 items only for 30 days. Simple, right?
On the eve of my challenge I’ve gone through my wardrobe and selected the 30 items I will wear for the next month. It was really quite difficult because I had to take into account workwear as well as weekend gear. Also, I’ll be attending Sexpo during this time so I will have to find a convention-appropriate outfit in here somewhere.
- Black and white star- print blouse
2. Black dress trousers
3. Dark wash jeans
4. Light wash jeans
5. Black and white pleated skirt
6. Yellow vintage wrap skirt
7 Striped button-down blouse
8 Blush button-down blouse
9 White button-down blouse
10 Black and white wiggle dress
11 Vintage black collared dress
12 Pink maxi dress
13 Lace long-sleeved blouse
14 Black floral butterfly-wing blouse
15 Cranberry red blouse
16 Hogwarts Quidditch tee shirt
17 Black drop-waist dress.
18 Vintage mod flats
19 Black flatforms
20 Mint green pumps
21 Black sandals with floral detail
22 Red jelly sandals
23 Tan strappy sandals
24 Silver ballet flats
25 Leopard print loafers
26 Black pencil skirt
27 Denim shorts
28 Empire Records Lucas tee shirt
29 Vintage floral shirt waist dress
30 Pink polka dot dress.
These are the 30 items I’ve chosen. I tried to pick a good mixture of basic items and more fun pieces. I also chose a lot of dresses, because I feel like they take a lot of the stress out of having to choose a top and bottoms that match.
I’ll be blogging about my progress and my daily outfits will be up on my Instagram page. Make sure you’re subscribed to follow along. Wish me luck!
Nessbow 