The Challenge of 7: Clothing

Monday, January 13, 2014
Week 1:Clothing Challenge

    My history with fashion and clothing has always been a love/hate relationship. I would "love" to look cute and trendy, but I very much dislike shopping and spending money on clothing. I would "love", to love peruseing the mall, window shopping and trying on clothes, but I could think of a thousand better ways to spend my time. I would "love" to have the ability to put together outfits and look stylish and cute, but the truth is I am a terrible failure at it!
    But at the end of the day, I'm ok with this. I admire those that have a love and knack for fashion. I love my close friends that are "cute and trendy." And I know most of all that if I really wanted help, one of them would be willing to take me shopping and help me look fabulous!
So when it came time for me to choose my 7 articles of clothing for the next month, I thought to myself, "easy peasy lemon squeezy!" Well, it wasn't as easy as I thought! But after trying some things on, I finally came up with my list:


1 pair of navy dress pants
1 pair of jeans with a belt
1 red lace cami
1 gray sweater
l sweat shirt (cause I'm always cold)
1 pair of sweat pants
1 t-shirt
shoes: tennis shoes/dress shoes


    Ok, so there's my list! And yes there are 8 things listed. Here is my logic. I work two days a week outside of the home, so I need  professional work attire, that I wouldn't necessarily wear inside the home. So the jeans and t-shirt are for hanging out at home. Shoes, again I need something to go to work in that  I wouldn't  wear around the house or use for running errands. (Plus, the author of the book allowed herself two pairs of shoes!) And then there is the issue of under garments and pajamas! Of course I'm not counting those because, well.....I think everyone understands why! I have also automatically included a coat and gloves in my wardrobe because, well, its winter in Montana and it is something that is not optional!

Things I am leaving out this month are: 

Extra accessories
Jewelry (accept my wedding band)
Scarves (which I did strongly consider)
Hats


    So for the next month if you pass me on the street and I'm wearing the same thing I wore the day before please know that I have not succumbed  to utter laziness, but am simply experimenting  with a mutiny against excess!

The Challenge of 7

   This week as I labored hard at taking down all of the Christmas decorations, reclaiming my kitchen and finding places for all the new "toys" I was completely overwhelmed at the amount of stuff we as a family have. Yes, there are 7 people in our family and I know that 7 people require lots of stuff, but it begs the question "when does a lot of stuff become way to much stuff?"

   Most people that know me well, know that I am pretty simple. My home is not lavishly decorated, (I can actually count on one hand the number of pictures hanging on my wall), I am not a fashionista, (my mom would sometimes threaten me with "shopping" when I was a kid and I still feel the same way about shopping) and I rarely purchase things for my kids (with the exception of birthdays and holidays). So this begs a second question, "where does all the stuff come from?" Its like our stuff has this ability to grow and reproduce until it consumes our homes, our lives and our time. And maybe its just me, but I have noticed lately that our stuff eventually consumes our local Salvation Armies and giveaway houses so much so that they throw out our stuff by the dumpster full.

   And this is exactly where I found myself this week. Shaking my head and feeling a deep need for a purge. As luck or the Lord would have it, I just happened to jump on Amazon and search for a book that I had been wanting to read since last summer. "7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess"by Jen Hatmaker. It was there, and the best part was that Amazon was offering the Kindle version for only $3.49! Whooo! My heart skipped a beat as I pushed the purchase button and yes bought one more thing!

If you have not yet read this book, I highly recommend it. Here is a description in a nutshell.

"American life can be excessive, to say the least. That's what Jen Hatmaker had to admit after taking in hurricane victims who commented on the extravagance of her family's upper middle class home. She once considered herself unmotivated by the lure of prosperity, but upon being called "rich" by an undeniably poor child, evidence to the contrary mounted, and a social experiment turned spiritual was born. 

7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseased of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.

Food. Clothes. Spending. Media. Possessions. Waste. Stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, boiling it down to the number seven. Only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits and observe "seven sacred pauses." So, what's the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It's the discovery of a greatly increased God- a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence."


   Awesome! Right? or maybe a little borderline crazy. But I am always up for a something new that will help challenge my thinking, and challenge my "norm." So for the next 7ish months I have decided to tackle the challenge of 7.  Starting Sunday January 12 I will begin the clothing challenge! Stay tuned for more posts on how I'm faring :)

http://www.amazon.com/7-Experimental-Mutiny-Against-Excess-ebook