Mission accomplished

I've finally managed to complete the clear out of non-technical clothes, so I can tick off one of my New Year resolutions for 2015. Four more sacks have been taken to the clothes recycling bank and I’ve got two ‘vintage’ items lined-up to offer on the French ladies’ Facebook group later in the year. The current total, now including shoes, stands at 94 items. This includes the ‘black capsule’ – a number of more formal items reserved for funerals and an outfit that might just scrape by in the unlikely event we were invited to a formal evening out.

It has been a struggle to actually get rid of these remaining items and I have been dithering about it for a couple of weeks, taking the odd bag to the clothing bank now and then. I’ve been tinkering with the Project 333 spreadsheet too and now have two pages. One is a list of all clothes, made just after I started the Project when the count was 180, this details the items thrown away and the date. It’s motivating to see the amount I’ve recycled. The other page lists all the remaining clothes and the capsule plans for each three month season. I’m starting to introduce shoes now and plan to add scarves and bags later.

The only way I found to actually complete the final purge was to set a date by which it would be completed and add a reward. The thing holding me back was three pairs of linen trousers and their co-ordinating tops and jackets. All bought in charity shops and all totally unsuitable for the Limousin lifestyle. Last year I wore the brown pair of linen trousers twice, the cream pair once and the blue did not leave the clothes rail. None of the jackets ever left the house. All I really need is one pair of crease-resistant Rohan travel linen trousers that I can wear with the Rohan travel linen jacket I already have and various tops. So, I told myself that if there was a suitable pair in the new Spring catalogue launched this week it would be ‘a sign’ for the clear out to be concluded, of course, there was. So, now I have a pair of travel linen trousers on my spring wish-list, along with a couple of other things.

Most of the things had already been packed away in the suitcase under the bed, so they weren’t looking their best when I started to sort through. Apart from the Per Una jeans I don’t think anything had been bought brand new and none of the charity shop finds cost more than a couple of pounds. So, now the mission is accomplished I just need to make sure that I stick to the one in – one out rule for any future acquisitions.