Project 333 is not a book that feels relevant to me at all, but maybe it will be more so to you. I know I have more clothes than I wear, but I’ve never been the type to shop for fun, which the author, Courtney Carver, definitely was. I’ve never spent beyond my means on clothes (except maybe those leather pants when I was in college) and I do not have a vast collection of handbags or shoes.
What I do have is handknits. Dresses I sewed. (I wish I had more of those, but I’m working on it!) And I wear those things, often.
There are probably more than 33 of them.
What is Project 333?
The idea behind Project 333 is that you clear your closet of everything out of season, things that don’t fit, things you don’t wear, etc. Then you pare down what’s left to 33 items that you will wear exclusively for the next 3 months.
Those 33 items includes shoes, bags and accessories, but it doesn’t include undergarments, workout clothes if you actually work out in them, pajamas or jewelry you wear every day like your wedding ring.
Once you’ve selected your items you pack everything else up and put it somewhere out of sight until it’s time to pick the next season’s clothes.
Carver says she developed the challenge to “change the way I thought about my clothes, closet and shopping habits” and that starting with clothes allows you time, space and energy to simply your life in other ways.
My Problem with Project 333
All of that is great, and if you find that your clothes are taking up too much space, mental energy, time in your schedule, money, etc., this project or something like it will probably be a benefit to you.
It just doesn’t feel like a fit for my life. My last shopping trip was months ago, to a vintage store to buy a pair of jeans, and I couldn’t tell you what I bought before that or how long ago it was. I don’t put a ton of thought into what I wear as long as it’s clean.
I dress to show off things I made, and those things make me happy and fit my body.
Maybe that’s the difference. If you don’t make your own clothes you probably don’t have a closet full of things you love. But I have a wall of sweaters (and I wear them all year because I’m always cold) and I definitely would never put them in storage just because it’s summer.
Or maybe it’s just me.
The Snowball Effect
If you don’t make your own clothes, or you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, guilty, etc. about your clothing, this approach could be really helpful.
And to the extent that clearing out stuff in one place gives you momentum to clear out other spaces, that’s a great thing. Starting with clothes is generally easier than starting with other things (Marie Kondo starts with clothes, too) and it might cause you to rethink other aspects of your life, too.
“It’s about making the space, time, confidence and clarity to create a life that is full of what matters most to you,” Carver writes. “Use the motivation from your capsule wardrobe to take the next step in reducing clutter in other areas of your home and life.”
The book has advice from other people who have done Project 333 and how it works for them and has freed them up to do other things. Carver notes an increase in creativity as well as motivation to make big changes like moving from a house to an apartment, quitting a job and getting healthier that all started from cleaning out the closet.
What Does This Book Say to Crafters
This book is pretty tightly focused on clothing and how to remove the excess from that portion of your life. This doesn’t immediately transfer to how you’d approach things like craft supplies.
It’s possible if you have a lot of excess supplies for projects you aren’t currently working on you could put supplies into storage for a period of time and focus on a particular craft for a month or three months.
But I feel like packing up craft supplies is advice that doesn’t really work for crafters because we’ll forget we have things and go buy more.
If you commit to going back through those boxes regularly and being honest about the things you’re really planning to make, this strategy could work.
But I think this book is really just a starting point if it makes sense for your life, to get you thinking about what enough looks like and feels like, which could be helpful when dealing with decluttering craft supplies too.
What do you think? Have you done Project 333 before? I’d love to hear about it!
