I think I’m going to do this.

I’ve been looking at my house the way a mama cat looks at her young over the last two months-

ready to pounce and clean the crap out of it,

whether they want it or not.

Part of this is my latest fascination with minimalism. An old idea coming around again as times get tight, and as people become increasingly weary of a society that seems to always be focused on more, more, more, and bigger is better.

I like the peace of simplicity.

I loved living on my own in university in a tiny bachelor apartment. With the exception of the mice right before I moved out, I had so much freedom.

I could clean the entire place in an hour,

I never felt like it was hard to find things,

and I loved everything I had in it.

Fast forward to a bigger house and kids and pets and things, and life has become supersized in all the ways that matter, as well as those I’m less keen on.

I want to downsize my life.

To have more time for loved ones

To have more time for what matters

To move into a smaller home eventually, and avoid that painful later-in-life move I’ve watched too many others do at a time when they have the least amount of strength or energy to do it.

So one thing that sounded brilliant to me as a way to kick-start this conscious downgrade is Fashion Project 333.

33 items of clothing for 3 months.

That’s it.

Pack everything else (but underwear and workout clothes) away, then see how it goes.

It’s brilliantly simple,

and honestly,

I’m not sure I wear more than about that anyway,

but my closet is still packed full of clothing I haven’t worn in over a decade.

Sure, I’ve thinned it out over the years,

but I’ve also stubbornly hung onto jeans and dresses I wore in another life;

before children and work,

when I was free of responsibility the way I feel now.

I’ve been reluctant to part with many of them because I may, someday, want to wear them again and getting rid of them is so permanent.

And maybe because I’m not ready to give up that carefree version of the woman I used to be.

But packing them up for three months?

A lightbulb went off when I read that.

I can easily pack them away for three months.

And maybe when three months has passed,

I’ll finally be able to say goodbye to the past

and hello to my future.

It’s a start.