Challenge Update: Week 48

Four more weeks to go!

Challenge Rule 1: Buy No Clothes/Don’t Covet

I bought nothing, and I’m going to be honest, I didn’t really covet much this week, either. I can’t tell if it was a function of having planned what I would wear a week ahead (which it definitely could be–more on that in a minute), or that the weeks was busy and left me little time alone to think. In any case, the no-coveting rule was not broken and that is very satisfying.

Challenge Rule 2: The Inventory

I relied on the Go-To Catalogue for my Mise en Place this week, which meant that everything was already in the Inventory and accounted for.

I did a little bit of decluttering, notably socks that were holey and removing passing on items from some of my recent inheritances that I know for sure I wouldn’t end up wearing.

Challenge Rule 3: Go-To Catalogue:

Instead of telling myself I could just “remember what worked”, I finally took to writing it down a few weeks ago. This, now that I have gotten it started, has been nearly as life-changing as doing my Mise en Place. It means that I have a palette of choices when I am feeling uncreative, which notably happened on Sunday afternoon after church.

Naturally, I like to get dressed up for church on Sunday, and I plan for that. But I don’t typically stop to think that I won’t want to wear that all day (especially not when there is a nap on the agenda for the afternoon!) Often, this means that I end up picking the first things that my hands land on in the closet, and quite often, these things do not work, but I don’t have the headspace to reconsider.

Having my Go-To Catalogue meant that I could quickly put together a few things and not have to feel (and look) fuddy-duddy for the afternoon.

Challenge Rule 4: Mise en Place/Plan Ahead:

I took my sister up on her challenge to do my Mise en Place one week ahead.

What is great about this is that sometimes, just before bedtime when I normally do my Mise en Place, I am tired or distracted. Planning a week ahead (or a few days in advance) means that I can work on it when I have the headspace to work on it.

This method starts with the calendar and works from there: what activities do I need to do on which days? Then I can decide if it is a dress-up or dress-down day. If I am disposed to being creative, I can write down something I haven’t worn in a while but want to try. If I have little creativity, I can return to the Go-To Catalogue.

Then, the night before, all I have to do is check the weather so I know what footwear to plan for, and get everything out and put it in the bathroom.

For all the times, when I first started doing Mise en Place that I said “thank you” in the morning to the benevolent, optimistic me who put out my clothes the night before, now, at night, I am thanking the benevolent, thoughtful me who planned my outfit up to a week before.

It is such a small thing, but it makes me feel so loved.

Challenge Rule 5: Repair and Mend, Alter when Necessary:

As I mentioned last week, there will be no more sock mending done by me in this lifetime. However, I had a really pleasant pair of pale pink socks which had worn clear through the soles. This made me sad, because I really loved these socks. They had just the right feel, and I loved their heathery pink color.

So after last week and I made the decision to no longer repair them, I ripped them right through the holes. (This was rather satisfying!) But I couldn’t bring myself to throw them out, nor did I want to use them for dusting. They were just too pretty.

So you know what I did with them? I turned them into a little pair of fingerless mittens. I hand sewed one little stitch to separate the thumb. I love fingerless mittens and gloves. I wear them all day at home, because I staunchly refuse to turn the heat on when I am home by myself (and often when I am not by myself, too.) Now, I can enjoy their pretty pink color and keep my typing hands warm and keep them out of the landfill. Win win win.

Round-up

Mise en Place and Planning Ahead have been the breakout all-stars of this challenge. It’s astonishing how much more satisfied I feel with what I have in my closet when, at a moment when I am favorably disposed to thinking about these things, I can sit down and plan several days in advance. This allows me to take into account all the lovely things in my closet, not just the things I feel like wearing right now.

I wish I had learned this a lifetime ago.

In other news…

I had coffee with my blogging guru Izabela on Thursday. We had plenty of things to catch up on. As we parted ways, I had a flash of renewed enthusiasm for my French-language project, which had been left to languish while I bustled about being a mom in a pandemic.

This next week is going to be highly music-centric: the orchestra I sing with is performing this weekend, then next week we will be having our Christmas concerts!