Day 18

Well, I've been at this for over two weeks and overall, it's going quite well. I'm feeling pretty good about finishing out the month without losing my mind or being irritated at my lack of choices. I think the creativity is the most fun part. Turning a scarf into a blouse and accessorizing a plain sundress so it's appropriate for a wedding has been a challenge, but one I'm happy to say I've risen to. It's funny to do laundry and see my stack be so small compared to everyone else's. Usually I spend all day, every Monday doing all the laundry (except for A.J. and Stacee's), but I can't always last a week on my meager wardrobe, so I've had to do some extra. That's been the hardest part. The other challenge has been not wearing the same thing to church every Sunday and Wednesday that I wore the previous week. I think I sound vain assuming that everyone notices what I wear and maybe vanity is a good enough reason to challenge myself this way.

Whittling down my wardrobe to only a handful of pieces has definitely made me much more grateful for the other pieces in my closet. I caught myself wistfully feeling one of my favorite blouses the other day, being tempted by its color and texture - so different than anything I've worn this month. It's easy for me to do this, knowing that it's only for a month. I keep thinking, though, about all the kids who are wearing shoes two sizes too small and homeless teens washing their clothes in park bathrooms. I keep thinking that there must be something that can be done, beyond raising awareness or being disciplined for a small portion of the year. I know there are clothes closets at non-profits and churches all over the city and thrift stores, which I know from experience keep low-income families clothed on a tight budget. Here's my question, though: if there are still kids, teens and adults without those resources, are we doing a good enough job? The same could be asked about food. Are we, as Americans who waste hundreds upon hundreds of pounds of goods and food PER PERSON each year, doing enough for the society we live in?

I know I'm not.

My Ten Things

The average American throws away roughly 68 pounds of textiles each year, the majority of this ending up in landfills. I was shocked by this statistic. As someone who takes a small amount of pride in my appearance, I am pretty low-maintenance when it comes to my wardrobe itself. I don't spend much on my clothing. In fact, most of the things I wear are either hand-me-downs or come from thrift stores. For the last several years I've had a $10 rule: any clothes I buy have to be less than $10. Still, I was appalled that we, as Americans, throw so much usable stuff away.

Recently, I watched a short news story on a woman who wore only 6 items of clothing for an entire month. She was a career woman, a reporter. She blogged about it and others participated in the experiment with her. It really intrigued me, so I decided to try it as well. I didn't think I could handle only 6 articles, so I upped it to 10: 2 sundresses, 2 skirts, 2 pairs of shorts, 3 shirts and a pair of jeans. That's what I'll wear for a month. I'm not too worried about pulling it off and I'm already enjoying the creativity of pulling in different shoes and accessories so I don't feel like I'm wearing the same thing everyday. I think it will be fun to be challenged in this way. The hardest part will be things that are out of the ordinary this month: a weekend away with friends and a wedding I'm coordinating. We'll see how that goes...

As much as I love the challenge, and it has certainly made me more aware of being wasteful, there's a bigger reason for me to do this. I like the lessons it enables me to teach our kids. I like that I've been able to have conversations about what what we actually need and how it differs from what we want. I enjoy being an example of living a little more simply, and being aware of how much the rest of the world doesn't have by comparison to our country. I'm not trying to punish myself for living here, I just think that living here gives us a responsiblity to not be blind to how people live beyond our borders. I like that I'm able to be thankful that I can choose only 10 items, instead of being limited to them.