BECOMING MINIMALIST - Project 333 Update & Facing a $10K Pay Cut

The goal I set for this week was simple:  Purge 69 items (the minimum number needed for the week to meet my annual goal of eliminating 50% of my belongings) and if I go over that, great!  I also want to sort through a clothes basket of items that's already been inventoried and either put away or purge what's in the basket.

Here is my current Project 333 Inventory:

Bottoms:
1.  White denim Capri pants
2.  Regular (dark denim) jeans
3.  Grey stretchy jeans
4.  Black dress pants
5.  Dark charcoal grey dress pants
6.  White knee-length shorts (These are getting worn, so when the season changes these will be purged)
7.  Black jeans (see Saturday)
8.  Teal jeans (see Monday)

Tops:

9. White 3/4 sleeve top
10.  White & navy "rope design" 3/4 length sleeve shirt  (see "Wednesday" below) - replaced with Magenta open back long sleeve top
11.  Fuschia pink short sleeve top
12.  Burnt orange sleeveless top
13.  Goldenrod yellow top
14.  Solid grey GAP long-sleeve top
15.  Navy/blue sleeveless top
16.  Navy solid 3/4 sleeve top
17.  Black short sleeve top
18.  Black/White Marled open back long sleeve top
19.  Black OSU short sleeve shirt (for casual Fridays)

Cardigans:
20.  Navy cardigan 
       Black/white striped cardigan (got the boot - see "Monday" below)
21.  Black stretchy dressy cardigan
22.  Burnt orange cardigan
23.  Black stretchy casual cardigan

Shoes:
24.  Black wedges (The heel straps are stretched out and they're cracking on the front, so these will be purged as soon as it gets colder)
25.  Brown boots
26.  Platinum Sperry's
       Blush flats  (I haven't worn these in several weeks, so they got pulled out of the "33")
27.  Grey TOMS
28.  Black flats

Accessories:  (Since I'm not so focused on only having 33 items anymore, I separated the jewelry sets and eliminated pieces I haven't worn yet)
29.  Black/silver infinity scarf
30.  Lia Sophia silver w/golden/green/blue beads Savannah necklace
31.  Acorn earrings 
32.  Silver watch  Rose Gold watch  (The silver watch became too tarnished, so I threw it away and replaced it with the other watch I have)
33.  Black/white/silver long necklace
34.  Silver/clear crystal dangle earrings
35.  Lia Sophia Masquerade necklace
36.  Coy earrings
37.  XO Earring Set from the September 2015 PopSugar Must Have Box

Saturday - Day #64

I LOVE my quiet time on Saturday mornings before my husband wakes up and the TV gets turned on!  It gives me a chance to start my blog for the following week and read.  I get the pets fed (and normally head to the grocery before it gets busy).  I usually start purging too.  One of today's first items is going to be the Anderson University t-shirt I'm wearing right now that has 3 holes right in the screen printing on my chest.  I've had this shirt/been wearing it since 1999 or 2000 and I think it's finally time to let it go.  Sentimental pieces are the toughest to get rid of!  Letting go of this one feels like letting go of a connection to my youth.

My husband and I's college football teams played at different times, which means about 6 hours of football viewing today.  Since I can't sit still, I went through that clothes basket I've mentioned while his game was on.  I also tried on the clothes that arrived from The Limited last week.  

Out of the 6 pieces I had ordered, this was by far my favorite:

  
I LOVE these split back tops with the draped part in front!

I will definitely wear this top a lot!!  It replaced my nautical top in my capsule wardrobe on Wednesday since it's officially Fall now.

These jeans are my second favorite piece I ordered!  They're so soft and comfortable!  I will definitely wear these from now until next Spring.  (They became piece #38).  They're much better quality than the pair I wore last year that ended up fading badly!  Sometimes you do have to pay a bit more for items that will last/hold up after repeated washing.  The Limited always offers discounts though on their clothes, so I never pay more than $55 for a pair of pants/jeans through them.  (Note:  I am not affiliated with The Limited in ANY way.  I just really love their clothes and they fit me well)!

My next favorite piece was this sweater with the draped bottom.  This sweater has some weight/warmth to it, which is exactly what I was hoping for!  I love the color and as long as I don't get ink or spill something on the white part, will wear this sweater all Fall & Winter.

These jeans were next on my list of keepers!  They're a beautiful teal color and again, the fabric is very soft!  In retrospect, I probably didn't NEED these jeans and wouldn't say they're "essential", but they are fun and will give my fall wardrobe some color.  They're dressy enough I can wear them to work and they'll look great with my brown, tall boots.  The only tricky part is finding the perfect top to wear with them.

The next two items are pieces I'm debating on keeping:

I LOVE this goldenrod color!  This top was actually my favorite piece when I placed this order online.  However, in person, the fabric is really clingy and with my muffin top, it's not really flattering.  I put it back in the packaging and will try it on another day to see if I change my mind.

The last piece I ordered was this brown and grey sweater top.  The fabric is really nice and it's warm too!  The grey part actually has sort of a waffle texture, which is cool!  I'm just not sure that with my blonde hair and fair complexion this is the most flattering color on me.  It went back into the packaging too and will be tried on another day before I make my final decision on it.  

Sunday - Day #65

Today was cleaning day around my house.  Things didn't start off well.  While loading the dishwasher and washing dishes off, the garbage disposal blew up.  Then I tried to clean the rusty cast iron skillet in the sink and decided it was time to toss it instead.  And of course an argument ensued with my husband (which I knew was going to happen) because I threw the pan away.  In the end, he conceded it had gotten very rusty and wasn't supposed to soak.

Through cleaning and watching NFL football and DVR'd Real Housewives episodes, 113 items had been purged by the end of the day (total for the weekend) and my goals for the week were met.  Who-hoo!!

Monday - Day #66

Today I had the first "I have nothing to wear" day since doing Project 333.  Nothing in my "33" (OK, 36) excited me!  I even decided I hated the black/white striped cardigan as far as a work piece goes and pulled it out of my 33.  The high for the day was in the upper 70's.  However, the air conditioning vent at work pours straight into my office, so it's always freezing in there!  I wanted to wear something colorful, with comfortable pants and a cozy shirt too since I didn't have any professional meetings scheduled.  Normally, I would've thrown on my white capri pants, but they were still waiting to be washed.  None of the clothes on the left side of the closet appealed to me either.  

Enter #37 (actually it's listed as #8 above).  I decided the teal jeans would satisfy my desire to have a "pop of color" and to wear something comfortable.  The grey top and TOM's shoes would also satisfy the cozy top and comfortable requirements.  The Lia Sophia Queue necklace matched my jeans perfectly and pulled the entire outfit together/made it a bit dressier.  One of my co-workers even complimented my necklace and one of the individuals we serve noticed I was wearing a new pair of jeans.  I'm going to wait to see if the Queue necklace gets added into my capsule.  After all, the other 2 longer necklaces I have in there already would match my jeans.  Time will tell!    


Tuesday - Day #67 & Wednesday - Day #68

Tuesday I dropped some more items (189 to be exact) at Goodwill on my way to work.  I had a late meeting in another county and didn't get home until after 8pm.  Wednesday I went to see my nephew after work and didn't get home until late again.  So, there was no major new purging to be had these two days other than items that I used up during my normal daily routine (some allergy Rx, some magazines, tea light candles, etc).

These were my Tuesday (left side) and Wednesday (right side) outfits.  Ironically, on the first day of Fall, I wore my nautical top for the last time this season.    

Thursday - Day #69

No meetings today and I wanted to wear these teal jeans again before I washed them.  

I've heard people talk about only washing their jeans once per month or even once every six months.  My jeans seem to get too stretched out and misshapen though to do that.  Wearing them twice is about my max before I wash them.

My plan was to wear this shirt and these shoes one last time today and then purge them.  The shirt has several holes around the neckline and the heel strap of these shoes is stretched out and they're scuffed all over.  However, the more I think about it, the more I think I'll mend the black short sleeve top and wear it for every day/after work.  (I have another one of this same top that's never been worn, so I can replace the holy top in my capsule wardrobe if I want with the new one).  I tightened the straps on the shoes and now they fit better.  I could use a permanent black marker and fix the scuffs on the front of the shoes and wear them a few months longer.  They're the only wedges I've ever owned that I can wear repeatedly and they don't kill my lower back, so to me they're worth saving for a while longer.

I did end up ordering this ring today on Etsy.  I've had my eye on it for a while now and last night I saw it went on sale for 50% off.  I waited overnight and asked the seller if she could adjust the band size.  This morning I still felt like I wanted to buy it, so I did.  It's a handmade piece from a lady whom I've bought several pieces off of previously and loved.  I didn't "need" another ring since I currently have 55 others, but I LOVE the blue stone in this one and know I'll wear it for many years to come.  Definitely worth $63.95 to me!

I did sell two more items on eBay, bringing my total items sold in the past 10 weeks to 80 items and I've made back $592.29 (after all listing and selling fees were taken out) of what I spent on those items.  Again, not getting rich by any means, but it's nice to get some of that money back.  I need to put some more items on there, but kind of burned myself out on listing things by spending several days of doing nothing but that.  It's so much easier just to donate them.  At the same time I'm of the motto "every dollar counts", so it's worth doing in the long run.

Friday - Day #70

Today started off with me being anxious to receive my first review at my job.  I wore my magenta top and new black skinny jeans though and felt cute and open to hear any suggestions for improvement the owner may have for me.  The eval went fine, but then the owner dropped the bomb that the Company is losing money right now and he wanted to cut my pay by $10,000 effective a little over two weeks from now.  Um - excuse me?!!  It's not like I make a huge salary!

Long story short, I informed the owner I was not OK with taking a pay cut and would not stay at the company for anything less than what I'm making now.  I then excused myself from the table and left.  The biggest slap in the face about this is that when one of the Directors left, I took on her entire line of the business and didn't get a pay raise, nor did I ask for one.  I just did what had to be done to make the business successful and then this is how I'm repaid for my hard work and dedication?!  The owner said he definitely doesn't want me to leave and is going to try to re-work the numbers and see if there's any way to avoid the pay cut scenario.  We'll see what happens....  

This situation makes me so glad I've been working to pay off my debt and that I've been selling things on eBay and downsizing my lifestyle in general.  You just never know when things may change.    

Totals for this Week:

Current Inventory - 10,366

Items Purged - 2973
Items Donated - 1287
Items Used - 521
Items Sold/Returned - 84 
TOTAL ITEMS ELIMINATED = 4865

(4865/15231) = 31.94% of items inventoried have been eliminated so far

Next week's goal:   Purge another 69 items and update my resume.

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XOXO,
Stephanie