It is now the middle of May and halfway through the 3 month period of my participation in Project 333.

I flouted the ‘rules’ on Saturday and wore a plain red knit top, white ¾ trousers and red/white striped overshirt.  None of these were on my original list.  The weather was unseasonably warm and all of these items are on my ‘big picture’ list.

Let me explain.  Ever since I started the challenge of wearing only 33 items for a period of 3 months, I have been mentally working on creating a master list.  This means I will not look at my wardrobe in terms of the next 3 months but rather the whole year encompassing all 4 seasons.  I am identifying what works and what doesn’t and rather than have a major cull it will be a matter of removing things as they wear out and replacing only if required.

The first part of the journey is to catalogue what I really have instead of simply saying that I don’t have many clothes.  Each week I will photograph and discuss one type of article of clothing.  Today is trousers so you can judge for yourself.

TROUSERS

This category includes everything from trousers to wear to work to trackpants that I do not wear outside the boundaries of our property.

Charcoal grey work trousers
PROS – colour, weight, style
CONS – too big in the waist, slightly too long, only one pair, about 7 years old
DECISION – wear for the rest of the winter  then send to op shop.  Replace with 2 pairs of well-fitting trousers.

Black ¾ trousers
PROS – good fit, nice fabric, suit work and casual wear
CONS – nil
DECISION – keep wearing until they wear out, consider something similar as a replacement

Jeans No 1
PROS – perfect fit, op shop jean which I bought and altered to fit
CONS – nil
DECISION – keep wearing them

Jeans No 2
PROS – good fit, well-worn
CONS – getting threadbare in places
DECISION – keep wearing till the end of winter, send to op shop, look for another pair to replace them

Black Cotton casual 3/4 trousers
PROS – good fit, basic colour
CONS – a few years old, won’t last forever
DECISION – keep them continue to wear

I also have an identical white pair (the ones I wore on Saturday).  Same as above.

Striped 3/4 cotton trousers
PROS – there are 7 nice matching buttons that I can salvage
CONS – 6 years old, a bit faded, the top I always wore with them has gone to the op shop, not really my colour, a bit tight
DECISION – remove buttons, send to the op shop

Navy 3/4 trousers
PROS – go with most tops I have
CONS – starting to fade a bit, am a bit over navy
DECISION – they get a reprieve at least until next summer.  Op shop if I find that I am not wearing them

Navy trackpants x 2
PROS – comfortable
CONS – unflattering
DECISION – keep wearing them at home

Grey drawstring pants
PROS – comfortable
CONS – unflattering
DECISION – keep wearing them at home

Cotton 3/4 pants x 3
PROS – comfortable, suitable for home and local activities
CONS – not my colours, starting to wear out
DECISION – keep wearing them at home

Sage green lightweight jeans
PROS – good condition, bought from op shop
CONS – not my colour, don’t wear them them much
DECISION – back to the op shop

Charcoal travel pants
PROS – comfortable, zip-off legs, love them
CONS – nil
DECISION – keep wearing them and buy another identical pair before we go overseas later in the year.

Beige travel pants
PROS – zip-off legs
CONS – not super comfortable, dry more quickly than the other style
DECISION – keep until we go overseas then decide their fate

This has been a cathartic exercise and if you are trying to minimise your wardrobe I would strongly suggest trying to convince someone else either verbally or in writing why you should keep certain items.  It has also been useful to do all of one type of garment together and then you can see just how many you really have and the range of occasions that they cover.

Watch out for more posts on the same theme each Monday for several weeks.  Categories will include skirts, dresses (that will be short as I only own 1 dress), shorts, cardigans and so on.

Now that I have laid bare the inner secrets of the best and worst of my trousers please feel free to comment – the number, quality etc as well as my thoughts and decisions.