It's been the only one to stick with me. Sure I'll glance at the Unclutterer from time to time, or sneak over to The Minimalists or Zen Habits (more about habits elsewhere...), but Project 333 got me thinking.
33 Items
3 Months
Um, hi closet, how am I supposed to pick only 33 things? And where am I supposed to put everything else?
Convinced I didn't have "that much stuff", and a self-described lover of spreadsheets, I created a Google Doc in August that I could use to document every item of clothing I had. Mittens. Socks. Everything. My guess was about 200.
I had 406.
My Ultimate Closet Cleaning Tracker (free to use here!) was my new transparent tool to get rid of stuff. And it was fun! My goal was 100 things: swapped, donated or tossed. Things I definitely wanted to keep floated to the top of the list, and things I didn't like (or really didn't need) ended up on the bottom. Instead of aimlessly sorting through a pile of clothes, I was making objective decisions based on all other items in that category, and I could see them all at once.
By the end of the year, I had added 20 items to my closet, and had removed 201. 47% simplified!
My first Project 333 started at the end of November, and I had donated another 10 items from that list in just two months. When you're stuck with a small bunch of items, you quickly see what you really don't want to wear. I now shop for exactly what I need, and if I buy something and really don't like it... it's gone! No guilt about it. It's an excellent thing to bring to the next swap!
Next goal: Under 200 items total!