Project 333: The Finished Capsule- Winter 2016

By golly, she’s got it!  I want to remain comfortable, be able to nurse easily in public, and look a little bit more put together than I have been lately.  The capsule wardrobe is done...officially...NO.  TURNING.  BACK.  Ok, here we go…

Tops

1. White patterned tank by Merona at Target
2. Gray oversized tank from The Gap

I probably won’t need tanks in March in Colorado, but if I run out of nursing tanks they’ll be good to have.  I’m also chomping at the bit for spring and summer, so I really want to believe I’ll need them!

3 & 4.  Gray and black striped tee and solid black tee by Apt 9 at Kohl’s

The sleeves on these come almost to my elbows, which is more flattering on my arms, I think, than the regular short-sleeve length.

5-8. V-neck long-sleeved tees in white, black, royal blue, (not pictured) and forest green (I don’t know the actual names for the colors, this is just what I call them) from PINK by Victoria’s Secret

These are, in my opinion, the perfect t-shirts.  They’re so soft and light, but still warm.  Alice loves to rub her cheek against my shoulder when I’m wearing these tees.

9.  Gold, long-sleeved top from Banana Republic

For when I feel shiny!

Bottoms

10. Lee Classic Fit Jeans

Pre-pregnancy, Baby!

11-13.  TekGear yoga pants in black

I still wear yoga pants most days.

Layering and Outerwear

14. Oversized cardigan from Gap Body

Cozy, comfy.

15. Knitted poncho

16. Oversized, wool cardigan from Banana Republic

I’ll use this instead of a jacket on warmer days

17. Black, puffy coat

For the last of winter.

Accessories

18: Infinity scarf from Kohl’s

Will also work if I ever decide to cover when I nurse, which I usually don’t.

19. Cashmere sarong

A gift from my father-in-law last Christmas.

20. Silk and cashmere sarong

A gift from my father-in-law the Christmas after we were married.  Incidentally, this is one of my go-to pieces for flying, because it’s big enough to wrap up in on the plane.  We’re not traveling this season, but I thought I’d mention it.

21. Light scarf

A gift from my friend Christin.  This is interesting.  She doesn’t use gift wrap.  She wrapped a gift for Alice in this scarf for me.  I love this idea!  I think I’ll try it for myself at some point…

22. Flannel scarf

23-25. Black, structured cloche hat; Gray and black, floppy cloche hat; Black beret

The beret is so that I can pretend I’m French!  Just kidding.  Sort of.  Also, I know this photo isn’t great, but it was taken during nap time after vaccinations.  See the napping photo bomb?!

26. Brown, leather bag from Clarks

I know, everything else is black, but I don’t have a nice, black bag that’s big enough.

27. Black belt

You can change the whole feel of an outfit with a belt.  This one happens to be a hand-me-down already, and this month may do it in for good.

28. Earth-tone belt

Jewelry

29. Pink pearl necklace and earring set

Maybe I should count this as two things, but I almost always wear them as a set, so I’m not going to.  P.S. Don’t they look so pretty in this picture?!  They were a Christmas gift from my husband the first year we were married.  We couldn’t afford them, but I love them.

30. Vintage earrings from T.J. Maxx

I coat these with clear nail polish because they’re costume jewelry and I don’t want them to turn my ears green!

31. Silver bracelet

Shoes

32. Dansko Tennis Shoes

Ummmm…

33.  I’m sure I’ve forgotten something that I’ll panic about when I realize I didn’t include it.  That’s where this spot will go.

What do you think? Is it worth taking some pictures of how I combine the pieces and posting? Barring that, this is the last you'll hear of this until the end of the quarter. The idea is, after all, to put it all together and forget it, so that my mind is free to do something else. See you in the next post...

Project 333: The Rules

I’ve had a cold that has sapped all energy and motivation, so I’m still not finished preparing my capsule wardrobe for my first go at Project 333.  By the time I get it done, it’ll be time to create a new one!  In the meantime, I want to talk a little bit about the criteria.  The following rules are taken directly from the “Be More with Less” website:

The Rules

• When: Every three months (It’s never too late to start so join in anytime!)

• What: 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes.

• What not: these items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear,  and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout)

• How: Choose your 33 items, box up the remainder of your fashion statement, seal it with tape and put it out of sight.

• What else: consider that you are creating a wardrobe that you can live, work and play in for three months. Remember that this is not a project in suffering. If your clothes don’t fit or are in poor condition, replace them.

So, my plan right now is to create a new capsule quarterly.  If I find that this time frame doesn’t work well with the seasons in the Denver area, I may reconfigure it.  Though many seem to choose not to include one or more categories (like jewelry), I will be including all of them listed above (clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes).

I will mostly be following the not-to-be-included rules as written.  If you are familiar with Colorado, you know that it WILL snow in March, but not everyday, so I’m not counting my snow boots, even though I’ll wear them if need be.  I wear my wedding rings and my opal ring (Alice’s birthstone), as well as my watch all the time, except in the shower and pool, so they won’t count.  My karate gi (uniform) and all tees that go underneath won’t count.  Undergarments and nursing tanks won’t count, nor will pajamas, but I did pack away most of my pajamas into storage to be “shopped” later as the ones I’m using wear out.

My running shoes have been serving as my everyday shoes, but I recently started feeling kind of frumpy dumpy, so as I create my capsule wardrobe I’ll be finding easy, comfortable ways to elevate my look a bit.  Ergo, I’ll be replacing my running shoes with my Dansko tennis shoes for everyday wear, and relegating them back to the treadmill where they belong.  They won’t count, but the Dansko shoes will.

Yoga pants are still my go-to when it comes to daily routine, and I don’t plan on changing that, so though they are workout clothes, they’ll have to count because I wear them outside the gym.

I think that’s about it.  Alice is napping off her second round of vaccinations, so I’m going to count out the rest of my capsule and make it official!  My next Project 333 post will give a list of pieces with photos and describe the strategy I used to make my decisions...like and subscribe and stay tuned!

Project 333: The Why

If you’re just joining me, I’m currently participating in Project 333 an online challenge to wear only thirty-three items for a three month period.  The idea is that all your clothing can fit into one suitcase or “capsule.”  Therefore, the clothes you choose to include for your three months is called a “capsule wardrobe.”  

I’m choosing to do this for very specific reasons.  Minimalism is, apparently, in vogue right now, but I didn’t know that until I started this project.  Actually, that fact almost turned me away from doing it at all!  (Here’s where it gets personal, people!)  You see, I have used clothes for years in a desperate attempt to appear “cool.”  I have chased “cool” most of my life, in fact.  Ever since my crush, John King, told me in the fourth grade that I was a “hell no” girl (yup, this was in the fourth grade!) I’ve had a bit of a complex about my appearance, my “cool,” and generally my worthiness to be loved (I know, I know.  Boohoo.  This post gets happier, so stay with me!).  

BUT GOD.  But God found a way for me to realize how silly this really was.  He, in His infinite wisdom gave me my wonderful, adorable daughter.  Through pregnancy and being a momma to her, I am coming to learn that, sob, it’s not all about me!  

Yeah, yeah.  We all know I love Jesus...what’s that got to do with clothes?  I was still focusing on ME.  Me, me, me.  How will I appear to people?  Do I look like I tried too hard (the answer to this, by the way, is this: if you stood in front of your mirror for two hours, YOU LOOK LIKE YOU TRIED TOO HARD!)?  Do I look sexy enough?  Do I look conservative enough?  I’m wearing green, but my eyes are blue...is that okay?  It’s really laughable!  I was buying lots of clothes, wearing only a few things, feeling good in practically nothing, and spending way too much time thinking about my own appearance.  You know what the Bible calls that?  Vanity.

So, what do I hope to get out of Project 333?  Let’s face it.  It’s fun to challenge myself in this way.  I get to play with my clothes in a way I’ve never done before.  I get to pack things away so that, hopefully, I feel like I’m getting new clothes when I create a new capsule.  If I’m not spending money on a bunch of low quality items all the time, maybe I can save up and treat myself to one truly nice thing every once in awhile.  I really expect to enjoy the whole thing, but it’s more than that.  The long and the short of it is this: worrying about clothes and my appearance in general has taken enough of my time and money.  What could I do with the time and money I’ll save when I forget about it?  

We’re about to find out, people!

Baby Products: What I Had vs. What I Used

When I started planning my baby shower, I was super excited about putting together a registry, but I had no stinkin’ clue what to put on it!  I read a lot of blog posts on the subject, took some advice from friends, and finally came up with a passable list.  Some of it was awesome (Avent Orthodontic pacifiers, Sophie Giraffe teether, Safety 1st Easy Saver Diaper Pail, and the Graco Pack n Play)!  But some of it didn’t get used much.  I also found that I wished I had more of certain items that I ended up using often.  Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful to all my friends and family for their generosity, I just didn’t find uses for everything I thought I needed.  Let me tell you all about it…

• What we got:  Receiving blankets  
• The deal is: They aren’t big enough to be swaddles.  They aren’t absorbent enough to be burp cloths.  They aren’t warm enough to be real blankets.
• What I’d like instead: Toddler prefolds.
• Why?: Because they are the perfect size and absorbency to use as burp cloths.

• What we got: Many, many muslin swaddles.
• The deal is: We used a few for swaddling, covering while nursing, and covering the bassinet for naps, but we didn’t need more than 3-4.
• What I’d like instead: Summer Infant SwaddleMe Original Swaddles.
• Why?: They’re easy to use in the middle of the night, and ain’t NO baby gonna break out of those things!

• What we got: Tall bottles.
• The deal is: We never have to feed her more than 4 oz at a time, so an 8 oz bottle is silly.
• What I’d like instead: Just two-three short bottles are plenty.
• Why?: They take up a lot of room in the kitchen, and we rarely use them anyway, since Alice comes with me to work.  She really only has a bottle while I’m at karate.

• What we got: A superfluous amount of baby towels.
• The deal is: I do laundry regularly.  She bathes twice per week.  We don’t need ten towels!
• What I’d like instead: I can’t think of anything bath-specific to replace the towels, but I could use more warm blankets.
• Why?: I’m starting to use them in lieu of coats unless it’s freezing out.  So much easier than putting her in the coat, taking her out to strap her in the car, putting the coat back on, then taking it back off when we get inside.  What a pain!  I prefer to wrap her in a blanket, then drape it over her lap in the car.  Add a cute hat, and we’re rocking!

• What we got: A gazillion cloth wipes.
• The deal is: We just don’t need as many as we have.
• What I’d like instead: More changing pad covers.
• Why?: The Free Pee.  Alice likes to pee as soon as I get the nappy off of her butt.  I’m constantly having to find something else to cover the changing pad.  This is the only use I’ve found for the receiving blankets (see above), but they bunch up and fall off, so they’re not ideal.

• What we got: Sleeveless Sleep Sacks
• The deal is: I’m sure they would have been fabulous in the summer, but they’re not warm enough on their own right now (in February).  It’s inconvenient to have to pull them all the way off, then undo the jimjams, change her, redo the jimjams, then put the stupid blanket back on, so I don’t like them over Sleep and Play outfits either.
• What I’d like instead: Sleep Sacks with sleeves.
• Why?: We use them as jimjams right over the nappy.  One zipper = easy nighttime changes.

Did you have anything like this?  Do you actually have a use for receiving blankets?  Are you out there?  Please like and subscribe if you found this helpful!

Project 333: Getting Started

I’ve been really enjoying a YouTube channel called “Light by Coco.”  Coco is a Dutch minimalist living in San Francisco, and her channel mainly deals with what she calls, “living light.”  Since we moved into our beautiful duplex last summer (which I love, love, love, LOVE!) I’ve been feeling like I’m just overwhelmed with stuff.  The home is smaller than our last rental place, so all the stuff we accumulated doesn’t really fit.  “Light by Coco” has been inspiring me to declutter and lighten the load, so to speak.

Coco mentions Project 333 in many of her videos.  I decided to see what’s up.  It is an online challenge where you only wear thirty-three items for 3 months.  Sentimental items like your wedding ring don’t count, and neither do undergarments.  Everything else, shoes, hats, bags, purses, and jewelry are fair game.  I decided that participating in Project 333 would be a great start to the decluttering of my new home.  

My first step, I think, is to do an initial decluttering.  I’m not really ready yet to throw a lot of stuff away.  We’re not spending ANY money right now, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to trash anything I might use.  In the last couple of days, I went through my closet and packed away all the things I’m not wearing regularly, whether it’s because I can’t nurse in it, it doesn’t fit me postpartum, or whatever.  I did pack a small box up to go to the Goodwill, but the rest went into large storage boxes to be “shopped” later as the seasons change, as things wear out, or as my situation evolves, i.e. Alice stops nursing.  

I also went through my jewelry box.  I had a ton of jewelry that I never wore.  I pared it down to this:

Next, I’ll be counting my clothing items and doing a second paring down to get to thirty-three items.  I’ll also be deciding how many item spots I’ll save for bags and shoes.  

It’s late February now, so the quarter is more than half over.  I plan to put a winter capsule together for the remainder of the quarter, then do a whole new capsule starting in April.

I’ll be writing a series about the project as I go, so don’t forget to subscribe!

How We Save Money

If this is your first time joining me, you should know that, though right now I bring my cute little baby to work with me, my contract is up at the end of June and I will be staying home with her thereafter.  My salary comprises about a third of our income, so when I stop working we’ll have to be very cognisant of how our money behaves!  In preparation for this, we are attending a Financial Peace University class at our church.  This is a 9-lesson class on all things money based on seven baby steps.  I won’t go into great detail here (seriously, find a class or pick up a copy of The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey) except to say that we are focusing on steps 1-3 right now:

1. $1000 in the bank as an emergency fund.
2. The debt snowball (paying off all debt except the house).
3. An emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses in a money market account.

In an effort to put as much of this together before we lose my income, we are in super saving mode!  I thought I’d share some of the things we do to save money.  Here we go…

Cloth Diapers and Wipes

According to awesomebeginnings4children.com, it costs around $2400 to diaper one child from birth to potty training.  That’s some expensive poo!!  We chose to use cloth (or fluff for insiders) for Alice.  I purchased my whole stash, including prefolds, covers, pockets, inserts, wipes, wet bags, wipe warmer, and even a box of detergent for $175 at a Facebook garage sale.  You can really spend on fluff if you don’t look for deals, as some diapers run $30 per, but if you search you can usually find someone willing to sell you some quality hand-me-downs.  See my cloth diaper post for more information.  You might wonder if I make up the cost difference in laundry, but with my HE washer/dryer combo, I only spend about $.17 extra per MONTH!  Which brings me to…

My Beautiful, Wonderful Washer/Dryer

I have an LG washer/dryer combination machine.  It’s fabulous!  It was a little costly up front, about $1800, but it’s soooo worth it.  Our family needs about two loads of laundry done a day, so I could be spending a buttload on laundering our clothes.  The LG is an HE machine that uses AC technology to dry.  In other words, the dryer is actually a dehumidifier, which saves energy to run.  A word of warning: this machine does not get clothes completely dry.  I usually have to hang dry everything to finish, but it’s worth it to save on energy costs.  Plus, it’s easier on the clothes themselves, so they last longer, which saves us money in clothing replacement.

Our Paperless Kitchen

We do a 99% paperless kitchen.  Instead of paper towels, we use dishrags and kitchen towels.  We use cloth napkins at every meal, and I even pack them in lunch boxes to save on paper towel use at work.  I don’t buy disposable sponges.  Instead, I have a couple of cute, washable dish scrubbers.  We do buy paper towels to clean up cat puke messes and the like because I’m a wuss when it comes to nastiness.

Brita Water Filter and Contigo Water Bottles  

No plastic water bottles to cost us a ton, poison us with plastic, and fill up the landfills.  I love my Brita and use it to fill my bottle every day before I leave the house.  The Contigo water bottle is my favorite because it is stainless steel, has a pop-up straw to prevent spills while drinking in the car or on the treadmill, and never leaks in my diaper bag.

Cook/Bake/Make it Myself

I LOVE Costco.  You can find all kinds of neat pre-made, pre-packaged products for consumption there.  I fell into this trap bigtime.  I thought I was saving money by buying in bulk, but really I was spending way more than I needed to for the convenience of having someone else prepare things for me.  We recently pared down our grocery list to the absolute essentials: flour, sugar, eggs, milk, coffee, cheese, cottage cheese, baking powder and soda, corn or arrowroot starch, potatoes, oatmeal, pasta, salt, canned fruit, and frozen veggies.  I mix my own pancake batter, bake cookies from scratch, and even use my breadmaker to replace buying Orowheat.  My next goal is to be able to can my own fruit so that I can spend even less!

Freezer Meals

As a working momma who also attends at least one karate class per night, my evening time is at a premium.  I could really spend money on delivery, fast food, and pre-packaged dinners if I’m not careful.  According to thesimpledollar.com, an average meal out costs about $12.72 per person.  Let’s say Dan and I ate out as often as I cook, which is about five nights per week.  That’s $25.44 per meal, which totals $127.20 per week and $508.80 per month.  If we wanted to have drinks or desserts it would cost even more!  Here’s a better plan:

Once a month I prepare a month’s worth of freezer meals.  I started by downloading meal plans from Pinterest, but we rarely liked all the meals in the package.  Now I plan them myself so that I know we like every meal on the plan.  It takes a whole day of planning, shopping, prepping, and filling freezer bags, but it actually saves time!  Instead of spending an hour each night making supper five nights a week, I spend about 6-8 hours total for the month.  Then I can just grab a bag out of the freezer and throw it into the oven, crockpot, or skillet and have supper in a flash!  The ingredients usually cost around $200.  Combine that with our essentials-only grocery plan from above, and our monthly grocery budget is less than $300.  That also affords us homemade cookies and cakes, and the occasional bottle of wine.

Foam Roller and Homemedics Massager

My husband spends his days hauling furnaces in and out of attics, installing boilers into basements, and the like for his HVAC job.  I am a momma and an athlete.  We have our share of aches and pains!  We were shelling out about $100 per week for chiropractic plus the occasional massage, but we decided it was just too much.  Dan bought me a Homemedics percussion massager for my sore back during my pregnancy for about $45.  We also have a firm foam roller that I purchased from my chiropractor for about $30.  Each night we take turns massaging each other with the machine, then rolling and stretching with the foam roller.  It’s not quite the same as having a regular chiropractic tune up, but it’ll do until we have some wiggle room in the budget again.

No Cable

Simply put, we subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime.  No cable tv.

I know there’s more, but I can’t think of anything else specifically, and this post is getting long anyway.  Do you have any tips for me?  How do you save money for your family?

First Shots...Yikes!

I don’t know about you, but before I had Alice I had no idea what first vaccinations would be like.  Everyone said how awful it was, but no one gave any details.  Every baby is different, but I’ll record our experience here for anyone who wants a more detailed picture.

Alice and I arrived at the office to be greeted by an over-enthusiastic receptionist who wanted us to fill out a questionnaire about her development.  The questions asked about her motor skills, social skills, etc; I assume they are meant to paint a picture of how she’s developing overall.  We weren’t given nearly enough time to fill out the whole form (that may have been my fault, since I sprinted through the door only 10 minutes before the appointment) before we were ushered back to have her weighed and measured.  

The doctor checked her out and asked me about how she sleeps (On her tummy!  I know.  Maybe I’ll post about why later), how she eats (breastfed or breast milk by bottle), and whether or not I have concerns.  She was very nice!  Then crap got real.  

The nurse came in with the vaccinations and oral inoculation for rotavirus.  The latter was easy.  It was just a little tube of liquid.  Alice made cute, “This tastes terrible!” faces, but drank it willingly enough.  She was also slated to receive DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis), Hib (haemophilus influenzae type b), Hepatitis B, Polio, and PCV13 (pneumococcal disease).  This would all be delivered via three needles.  

The nurse was fantastic.  She had me hold Alice’s arms while she administered the shots.  She lined up the needles and whipped out those jabs, 1! 2! 3!  The whole thing took about eight seconds.  Alice didn’t even register what was happening until the second shot, but then she was pretty upset.  Poor thing screamed bloody murder and turned all purple!  Still, it wasn’t nearly as bad as people had warned.  I gave her a boob and she calmed right down.  She even took a nap in the car on the way home.

Once there, she seemed a little hesitant to smile or nap, but she had just been through her first vaccinations and I thought she was doing incredibly well, considering.  I chose not to give her Tylenol because she seemed fine.  Dan took over while I went to karate.  I always phone him on my way home, but when I did this time he sounded pretty frazzled.  

“How is she?” I asked.

Not being one to dramatize things, he answered, “She’s been freaking out pretty bad.  I have to go, I can’t stop shushing.”  I could hear her start to whine in the background.

Upon my arrival home, she was calm, but Dan insisted that she needed some major boobie soothing and he needed a major break.  As he handed her off, I found out what he meant.  She began screaming and turning purple all over again!  It was so pitiful and sad.  She was obviously very uncomfortable to say the least.  I was seriously regretting my choice against Tylenol, but the doctor had told me that Alice “might run a slight fever and be a little uncomfortable.”  She didn’t say that Alice would “freak the f*ck out!”  I administered a dose right away and cuddled and nursed her until she dozed off.  

She was in and out for the next couple of hours before she finally settled into a deeper sleep.  One more feeding and the crazy night was over.  She awoke happy and normal, but I gave her a little more Tylenol, just to make sure.  Thank God, she has been fine ever since.

Here are my recommendations for your baby’s first shots:

1. Don’t give Tylenol beforehand.  I was glad I didn’t because it can mess with the effectiveness of the vaccinations.
2. Apparently you can ask for two nurses so they can get shots in both legs at the same time and decrease the time it takes to administer the medicine.  I think this is a genius idea!  It took Alice a second to register the pain of the shot, so if we did it this way she may have been done before she knew what was going on.
3. Just give the Tylenol.  I’m not a doctor or anything, but I don’t think one dose is going to hurt, but doing without can be excruciating for all involved.
4. Don’t leave one parent alone.  All that screaming calls for lots of love and support for the whole family.

That’s it.  What was your experience?  Do you have any tips for me as I get ready to do the next round?  A more natural remedy than Tylenol perhaps?