#project333 goes on vacation

Yesterday, October 1st, was the beginning of my Project 333 with a ninetimestable twist.

I’ve been practicing with the items which were syphoned into my wardrobe and in fact I have only worn about half of them in the last month. This is in part because of wearing dyespattered gear most days, plus the need to span a Scottish summer (trying not to be sarcastic, but it has been wet, wet, wet) and the cooler Autumn ahead.
I haven’t worn any footwear other than Birks and trainers, and my cherry red MJ’s and deep sage Duckfeet have remained in the cupboard. Three of my T shirts, the fleece zipup jacket and my sweater have stayed on the hangers too as has the longish woolly skirt.

My make-up clear out has been a TOTAL success. One perfume, one Benetint and one tinted moisturiser, all of which fits in my purse. And I mean a British purse, small credit card sized zipped thing to carry cards and cash in, not a full blown North American handbag sized “purse”.
I do have one problem, and that is how to get perfume from a larger 100ml atomiser spray bottle into a smaller trip-sized one, because you see, I am going travelling. Yippee! The only logical way I have seen to do this is to spray aforementioned perfume into a funnel which in turn fits into the smaller bottle but it does seem a rather awkward way to do it.

Since I am going travelling, I also need to figure out clothes for that. Realistically, I could just take all of the 33 things and be done with it but I do have less than 33 at the moment, I think it’s 25, so there is room for some wardrobe expansion.

My current list is
2 cotton skirts
1 long woolly winterish skirt
2 pairs linen trousers
6 T shirts
1 “nice” cotton jersey top
1 sweater
1 fleece zip up vest
1 fleece zip up jacket
1 waterproof jacket
Grey Birk sandals
Green Duckfeet
Cherry red MJ’s
Leaf earrings silver
Stud earrings silver
Clapotis hand knit scarf (WIP)

Which is actually 22 items so I definitely have scope for a bit of shopping or sewing.

What would you add to this capsule wardrobe? I’ll be in Washington DC, Boston and Toronto in November. I’m not a cold person and wander about in short sleeves in the winter!

All suggestions welcome.

n

#project333 furniture?

For as long as I can remember this chair has been the repository of all items in transit in the bedroom. Clothes, bags, knitting, hairdryer, books, mail. Sometimes piled up neatly, sometimes pouring over the seat onto the floor. It used to be on the other side of the bedroom but the recent addition of a running machine meant that it had to move. It’s funny how something as simple as moving a chair a couple of metres makes you see it quite differently. Instead of being tucked away next to a chest of drawers and mostly out of sight, out of mind, it’s now the first thing you see when you open the bedroom door, and since I have now got rid of most of the rubbish which was on it, it’s pretty redundant.

But can I do without it?

From being a convenient dumping ground it’s now in a very inconvenient place, right next to my wardrobe doors and next to the bed. And since my drawer space is internal, within the wardrobe, I can’t even get a pair of socks out in the morning without physically moving the chair.

So really, it needs to go.

This means I will need to be ultra ULTRA tidy. There is no point in moving it if I end up putting my phone on the floor at night, or my glasses under the bed.

In the spirit of tidying up, I’ve also reduced the book-stack on the shelf behind the head of the bed to just four items. One work, two novels and a journal.

Who would have thought that Project 333 would see me clearing out on this scale?

Has anyone else found this, I wonder?

 

minimalist make-up

Today was drawer clear out day.

I started looking at all the bottles and samples, trying to work out what to keep, what not to  ”waste”. This is the habit of a lifetime, trying to be thrifty and not throw things out which are useful. Make Do and Mend for the twenty-first century. And then I decided it was time to be ruthless. So I picked out the things which I use and removed the glass bottles for recycling, and then I walked outside and up-ended the drawer into the black wheelie bin.

Very liberating!

This is what I kept.

I’ve been researching moisturisers. Honesty, this is SO not me, usually I use whatever is in the bathroom on my husband’s shelf. However, I figured that if I am going to cut back drastically on all the clutter, I might as well have stuff I like. Many, many years ago Boots produced a semi-herbal moisturiser which was a sort of peachy pink colour and came in a simple brown glass jar. I loved it. And then, sod’s law, it was discontinued. The only thing I can remember about it is that it contained marsh-mallow, so I used that as my starting point and a few clicks later I found that BeneFit make a cream called (I kid you not) Dear John.

Or rather they used to.

It too was discontinued earlier this year. I could get a complex, I really could.

So I googled for lookalike products and found Boots Botanics Skin Calming Cream. With marsh-mallow. In the comments it says that it’s pretty much like the BeneFit one.

Yippee! I bought it. I actually bought it without trying it, I must be nuts. But it’s great. Simple, nice smell, unfussy packaging, no plastics, just a glass jar in a cardboard box. And at £6.12 (about $10) it’s not going to break the bank either.

Next I needed lipstuff. More clickety clicking and I pounced upon BeneFit’s Benetint. Success. Tried it. Like it. Bought it. Then bought a teeny tiny sample size on ebay to pop in my bag when I go travelling. It doubles as cheekstuff so that’s one product less to cart about.

The little pot on the far right is another sample from BeneFit. It’s a tinted moisturiser called You Rebel. The “lite” one for my pale skin. Where do they get these names? I’m pretty impressed with it, so that’s going on the shopping list next time I’m in town.

And the final thing is my perfume. For years I’ve worn Issey Miyake eau d’Issey but a few months ago I wanted a change, something less floral, more green. Chanel Cristalle Eau Verte fits the bill, and I wear it almost every day.

Of course it’s entirely possible that I might add to this collection, but for the moment I’m happy and I think this is all I need.

What’s in your make up bag?

natalie

PS I decided to link from my work blog to this one. If you want a peek at my work-life, visit The Yarn Yard.

#project333 – the 9xt way

You remember my higgledy piggledy wardrobe piles? Well yesterday they got the 9xt treatment. It’s quite odd to see all your clothes in a big heap. For someone who has made their work life all about colour, it was interesting to see the dearth of it in my clothing choices.

This is the box of clothes which are being put away for now. They don’t fit, but I like them and harbour hopes that they WILL fit soon (ish) so I’ve kept them. The olive, taupe, grey, brown and navy is pretty much all there was on the shelves.

And it’s not as though the heap which is heading for the charity shop was any brighter. Does this make me boring, or a savvy shopper, or am I just confident with my choices? That flash of bright is a pair of handknit socks.

That’s another thing. I hate pink. How did I end up with a drawerful of pink toned socks? Bizarre.

These are the three pairs of shoes I am keeping for 9xt.

The trainers don’t count because they are workout wear. I also have ancient, dye-spattered “work” birkenstock two bar sandals, wellies, and old gardening trainers. I’m not counting those because I have dogs, chickens, a garden and a messy worklife and these all have safety reasons for being kept.

So after the clearout, these are the things which made the first cut.

Elderly woollen sweater belonging to my husband which is my snuggle up on the sofa/walk the dogs wear.

Grey soft T.

Grey hooded fleece jacket.

Grey sweater (old, this may yet go in a box).

Grey drape front cardigan.

Grey V neck slipover.

Hmmm. A bit of a theme is developing here. Now that the washing machine is working again there will be some brown, taupe and tan added over the next few days.

After all, it’s not as though I am stuck for hanger space, is it?

bags and boxes

Two weeks ago, the washing machine packed in. No spin, sopping wet laundry and a fortnight until a repair person could come and inspect it and diagnose the problem. Having my wardrobe suddenly curtailed like this is an object lesson in how few clothes I really need. There was some washing of “smalls” in the shower, but apart from that I managed alright and as far as i know i didn’t smell!
Today the engineer came and fitted a new motor – thank goodness for the ten year warranty. Three loads of washing were done in quick succession, and while the machine did it’s thing, I decided it was time to tackle the wardrobe clear out, or at least, do the first yes-no-maybe sort through.
It didn’t take too long once I got started. One largish heap of clothes for the charity shop. One middle sized box to be stored containing things I will wear again once I’ve lost a few kilos. And one smaller bag of stuff fit only for the bin.
At the moment there are five items on hangers and one skirt on a rack, plus a small pile of old T shirts and joggers for working in. This will increase once the laundry is done, but I’m determined to make sure that every item earns it’s keep.

It was interesting going through it all. There was a definite theme to the colours.
50% brown or shades of brown.
20% grey.
20% olive green.
10% navy.

My hand knit socks all seemed to contain pink.
PINK!
I hate pink. How did that happen?

celebrations

It’s my birthday.

It’s an “odd” year. Much more fun and sparky and interesting than the sedate and plodding “even” ones.

My business is five years old. I’m not a gazillionaire, but I am very happy.

For the next ten days until his birthday, my husband and I are one hundred years old!

All worth celebrating.

space, the final frontier

I am not a truly tidy person. There, I said it.

I like the idea of being tidy, but it doesn’t come naturally.

This is the drawer in the bathroom chest. All higgledy piggledy because I like the top of it kept clear – I know, bonkers. So today, on Twitter, my alter ego asked what nine products people would consider essential, and you know it was really interesting. A surprising number had real trouble making it to nine, even when they included things like shampoo and toothpaste. There were some suggestions for multi purpose products I haven’t heard of before too.

In this photo you can see three lipsticks, all of which are more than five years old. I can’t remember the last time I bought Clinique, so it’s probably ten years for those.

Do I need them? No.

Why am I keeping them? Because I tell myself that it’s wasteful to throw them out, barely used. Except that it isn’t. I’m not sure what the shelf life of a lipstick is but I’m pretty sure it’s not ten years, not once it’s been opened and used and smothered in bacteria.

The drawer is by no means full. I don’t need to clear it out because it’s overflowing, but I do think that having space is more restful on the eye and perhaps I’m more likely to use the items I do have so tonight I’m going to empty the drawer. Bath stuff will be kept and used, old makeup will be thrown out. Ideally, I want nine products in that drawer tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll get there but I will at least have a clear vision of what there is instead of a jumble sale of half used warpaint.