My capsule wardrobe - Project 333

I'm finally taking the plunge. What you see above ( plus a black and a white tank top) is what I will be wearing for the next 3 months. 

Much more than many people around the world have and much less than I used to have.

You might be wondering why I do this. It's easy for me to answer. 

It's because I want to simplify my life.

 I still want to be well dressed and stylish but I want fewer  and better coordinated options.

 Plus I want less and better organised stuff in my closet.

What do I hope to achieve? The time I would normally spend around considering what to wear/shop I plan to invest in.....what? 

That's my goal. 

To be able to have a better idea of how I want to invest my free time by limiting the distruction from my clothes and the craving.

Let's take a look at my pieces

Black long sleevless dress Pink Woman    Stripped long sleevless dress Stradivarius 

Black A line dress Ioanna Kourbela

Upon looking, I should  have skipped buying the long black one!

Black lace waistcoat thrifted    Black loose cardigan/white strip    Short lace dress   both Pink Woman 

 My long dresses are very body conscious and I need sometimes a cover. Some other times I need to add an interesting layer.

I also have a black tank top which is not listed here and that's all. It can get so warm in Crete during summer so sleeveless tops are a must.
 All basic colors to act as a canvas for my accessories ( I will dedicate my next post to those).

I chose carefully my two bottom pieces. 

The black culotte is one of those pieces that I don't mind wearing everyday. 

It moves with me and makes me feel special. You will have the chance to see it when I will take outfit photos.

The long skirt is a vintage piece sewn from my godmother back in the 70s.

 

I'm getting pretty organised here and believe me I scare myself. Wishes for a great weekend!

How I got my life sorted and dressed accordingly. My closet my life style guru. Part Two

                                                                                                           

                                                      

Have you ever noticed that life goes in circles and patterns repeat themselves?

The younger I was the less aware I was of that.

In my mid life years, noticing patterns has been a great tool for understanding the way my life unfolds.

On my 46th birthday, I  stood once more ( you can read all about first time, here)in front of my closet with a strong suspicion that the clothes hanging there didn't dress the person I was becoming.

This time, I paid close attention to my suspicions, thus, made time to sit down, pen, paper and a glass of wine ( I had made myself), to get to know who I was becoming.

 
                             

For the last 10 years I had been raising my 3 beautiful children ( with the help of my husband Dimitris), primary school, after school activities and all, housework ( thank you Flylady).

I also worked in a public primary school as a full time English language teacher. And the last 4 years I also worked in our family RentalCar business.

On top of that , in the middle of those 10 years,crisis hit Greece hard and it's not easy to watch your country being abused and the society around you collapse. My family was also hugely affected by this crisis.

For 10 years, I had been working hard, had good time and I felt totally blessed. But I was getting tired and felt empty more often than not.

 Fortunately , like I said already, I could spot my deep disatisfaction early on this time. And it was by looking at my closet that it hit me big again.

I had to slow down and simplify my life this time. I had to set my priorities right , move on and build me  a new stage in life and a new wardrobe to go with it.

                                      

I knew I had to search the web again to find information /inspiration.

It seems I asked all the right questions because I got all the right answers in the form of KonMarie method of tidying and the Desire Map concept by Danielle Laporte  .

                                                             

Yes, you guessed right. I got rid of lots of stuff (you can read all about it here).

 The time for extreme experiments with my style was over. I spent quite a lot of time and energy and money to create everyday outfits. I had outgrown the process.

My urge now was to write more about what's going on in my life and take up all kinds of challenges . 

I'm currently working on a dress project I will reveal when it's ready, planning to take Project 333 for the next 3 months and document and lots more. Ideas keep flowing.

Danielle Laport and the desire map taught me a valuable lesson that I was so ready for.

I don't need permission from anyone to do the things that make me feel good. Actually how I want to feel everyday is the map to how I will plan my life.

I came to the conclusion that I want to feel simple, light and clear about things.

I want to feel creative, inspired, passionate and accountable.

And finally, I want to feel fit, healthy, balanced and beautiful. 

Now that I sort of know my direction I plan to have the next 10 years full of all kinds of activities I trully want and  I will commit to make them happen.

                                
                                                          

The thrifting, colorful ever changing and expanding closet is not for me anymore. 

I'm transitioning to less color (going back to black pieces), simple lines and less pieces carefully selected.

I exercise a lot more doing yoga, pilates and zumba. In autumn I will visit a nutritionist to help me with a healthy diet and to lose the few extra kilos.

I'm taking the right steps for quiting my teaching career but it will take me  a couple of years ( insurance, pension plan).

I'm still helping on the family business but in a more focused, less stressful way.

I 'm there for my children ,all in their teens now, but not constantly interfering with their lives.

And last but not least I work more seriously on my blog ( like  I said ideas keep flowing) and I love how my creative outlet is evolving.

Although I don't dare to present myself as someone who has the right to give advice, I very well know the process I went through and I can only give a few tips that worked for me in the hopes I will inspire you.

Look at the contents of your closet carefully. If you feel really dissatisfied with what you own chances are you are soo ready for a change.

Take a break for a couple of hours and sit down to write how you want to feel everyday . Write it all down silly,little stuff whatever comes to your head. Then try to make a few categories or pick a few that stand out to you.

You have a very rough but great starting point to start mapping your future.

Do what it takes to keep on feeling the way you want, everyday. ( Purge, simplify,create, exercise, communicate with loved ones usually works)

I know I did and it worked .Don't just want in the back of your head. Work to create the things you want.

As Danielle puts it "You need to go after what

you want in a way that feels good!!!                    

Please share with me how you want to feel everyday?

Does your closet represent this?   

On Marie Condo and my 47 birthday

                                              Οn 6th of April I turned 47 years old.

           What does this number mean for me and my life? Thoughts started popping up in my head.

 Obviously, turning 47 means a whole lot of different things to a whole lot of different people all over the globe. But what does it really mean for me? Here is some of my most prominent thoughts in case you are interested.

47 means to me that I don't need to wait until 50 to get panicked for getting old and have lived more than half of my life already.

47 means that I have had a full life experience until now and hopefully a whole lot full life experience to go.

47 means to me that if I want to be in good shape from now on, I have to work out for it because it will not just happen.

47 means to me that fewer well invested  clothes choices is the road to go style wise.

47 means to me a more relaxed approach to life. No real rush to arrive somewhere. I'm already here, now and that's enough most of the days.

47 means to me a huge need to go minimal. I don't know what this might mean for others. For me it's that I only want to be surrounded by people, projects/commitments and objects that I absolutely love and feel happy and they cannot be numerous.

47 means to me that I also need to go more simple in my everyday schedule and the time I spend to tidy up the house. To do this, it is absolutely necessary to reduce the stuff we have. I don't want to spend the rest of the rest of my life to tidy up and organise stuff constantly.

47 means to me that I should do all the things I enjoy like crochet,sewing, blogging etc and that I should dedicate time to the things I like and not be available to anyone in the house anytime. Moms (and not only) out there know what I mean!

                         47 feel like a milestone and I plan to live whatever comes next fully!

                   To prove how I did simplify our house, I'd love to post some photos of our bedroom .

 The nice thing is that after I decluttered and found a place for everything the Marie Condo way, sort of, everything is still tidy a week later. This is a huge relief for me and something I didn't expext or beleive it would happen. I strongly suggest you should give it a try.

 It works.

        One wall of the room holds my accessories bookcase, the reading armchair, and bed.

What you see here is all my bags and accessorie and winter shoes exept my black boots which are stored away for next winter.
 I plan to let go of some more accessories that don't feel right but I'm not in a hurry.

           Empty surfaces can be so liberating  and not at all ugly.
I don't mean totally empty but with very few loved things like this orthodox painting, a gift from my mum.

As for my clothes, I only kept the ones I really liked.

To be honest I kept a bag in the attic with some clothes I couldn't decide on the spot. But the greatest majority I gave away with no regrets.

 They had served their purpose in my life( helped to experiment to find my style, kept me warm/fresh etc) and they had to go.

 The simple act of saying thank you to them for their service so far like Marie Condo proposes, was totally liberating and helped me take good decisions.

That's basically all I own right now and winter/summer stuff all mixed up and I plan to rotate for about a couple of months.

Then, I will donate some more that I will probably outgrow. From left to right are my jackets, then some thick cardigans, my leather skirt and my dresses .

Under the clothes that I feel more comfortable hanging, there are a few simple boxes.
No fancy storage.

The white one is filled with bottoms, skirts or pants. The pink one next right is filled with all my shirts. To the left all my summer light skirts.

On top of it, in the red box are all my scarves.

On the bottom shelf I placed in a big box all my cardigans and sweaters.

 There is one more box that I keep some clothes I want to give one last chance but I'm pretty sure I want out.
But don't feel like saying thank you ,yet.

Although I was highly inspired by Marie Condo's method I didn't go all the way with all the stuff we own in the house. I still have to go through the memorabilia and the photos.

And I will have a big edit by June after the finish of school year.

I also found very inspiring the way she folds her clothes, in a way that shows respect and helps you see at once so all possible combinations are there to choose.

That's when I realise I have to much to choose from... but that's a topic on its own.

Of course, I don't plan to stop blogging my outfits as I have tons of fun doing this.

 See how happy I am carrying my minimal shopping trolley?

 Maybe one more visit to the greengrocer's during the week as I have already planned my menu around what I already have in the pantry and deep freeze.

                                          Feel free to comment any part of my long  post.

All parts are irrelevant between each other and I've been all over the place but somehow they fit inside my head as a new begining to something I'm not sure about.

                                   Have a great, creative and full of nice activities week and why not check what other beautiful ladies are up to over at Patti's Visible Monday!!!