Intro: Project 333

For those that didn't know, I am a stickler for optimization. I love to work with systems and try to improve upon them. And another thing that I have been known for is attempting to live a minimalist life style. I will admit that it has not always worked in all areas of my life as I am also a pack-rat and apparently having kids throw part of that lifestyle out the window. I am one of those individuals that have things still in boxes from grade-school. Not that I still have much sentimental value to it but rather I just don't like throwing away stuff. And clothes has been one of those areas of my life that I have been very bad with. I have lots of clothes but in the past couple years I have noticed that I am normally cycling through only a few things that I prefer or like or feel matched well together or with me. To be honest, I have clothes from my elementary and high school days. They may not all fit properly. They are rather snug and quite a bit worn over the years. But the fact is I don't throw much out or better yet donate them like I should to someone that needs it more than I do.

Anyhow, recently I run into a site that was promoting a Project 333 Challenge. The premise of the challenge is that over the course of 3 months, you are only allowed to have 33 pieces of clothing items excluding gym-wear, sleep-wear, house-wear and underwear. So essentially it is 33 piece of clothing or accessories that you would wear when you are out doing life, whether just out for chores, work or leisure. And at the end of 3 months (season), you switch it out for seasonal things. Anyhow, I decided to take the plunge. I took the effort with the help of my wife to par down my clothes to 33 items. These are items that will serve for me when I work either in a more formal setting as a clergy or in the more informal setting of leading, teaching and mentoring and it will also allow me to professionally meet with professionals, officials and representatives of other organizations, government and companies. Also, these will be pieces that will serve for more casual days out with the kids and family. So it needs to be pretty versatile set of 33 pieces. Anyhow, it took about an hours but I feel I have it down.

Here is the list of things I have choose:
2 Polo shirts
2 Long sleeves button down shirts
3 Short sleeves button down shirts
1 Blazer
1 Long sleeves t-shirt
6 T-shirts
2 Blue jeans
1 Dress pants
1 Khaki pants
1 Cargo shorts
4 Pairs of shoes
2 Jackets
1 Zip-up hoodie
2 Track jackets
2 Belts (dress & casual)
1 Pair of flipflop
1 Baseball cap

Anyhow, wish me luck. I will keep everyone posted on how it goes and if I need to make any switching out of items midway through the 3 months cycle. It is my hope that this will help me filter out the used from the unused so that I can give away the ones I don't use to someone that would use it.

If you want more info about the challenge you can google up Project 333 or go here to this site: http://bemorewithless.com/project-333/