ODP Day 1: Simplify

Today is the first day of the October Dress Project. I have started out fairly plain; I am wearing the dress with grey knit leggings, black flats and a black knitted scarf (one of those ones that is just a big round circle you wrap around, what are they called?)

I'm looking forward to this month of simplifying my wardrobe. Already this morning, I did a quick and ruthless clearout. All maternity stuff is finally out, along with loads of things I just don't wear no matter how much I wish I did. I made three piles: items to keep, items to charity shop and items to ebay. I then put the keeping items back in the wardrobe, the charity shop items in a bag to take out TODAY, and the ebay items in a laundry basket to iron and photograph at some point this week (after going through kids' and husband's things too).

But I've also got other ideas for simplifying our lives and possessions. Someone on the Facebook ODP page mentioned dishes, how they know a family who has only one bowl, plate and cup per family member, and they wash it and reuse it daily without dishes piling up. What an idea! I thought on this as I filled the dishwasher completely this morning, and still had a sink full left to handwash (or, in reality, leave for the next load in the dishwasher). I looked at all the kiddie cups, tea mugs, plates and bowls and thought, 'I don't need all this!' Then I imagined a world where we each only had one plate, bowl and cup, and I made a decision.

I have two sets of dishes, one set aubergine and one red. I use the aubergine most of the time. I am going to put the red set away - not out of the house completely, because I want them available in case we have a large group of friends over for dinner - but out of use. That leaves 8 plates and 8 bowls. There are 4 of us who eat so that gives us 2 each. When those are dirty, we clean them. Preferably right afterwards.

Tea mugs are GOING. I have an entire cupboard of tea mugs, most of which don't match each other (which has always been a thorn in my flesh), so I am totally clearing them out. I'm keeping the matching sets only - which is still more than enough for guests and ourselves daily. They will need to be washed daily though or else we'll run out.

Kiddie dishes are getting pared right down. I will keep only the best ones; the semi-good ones will go aside for childminding and the rubbish ones will get binned. Kiddie cups are getting pared down to a couple sippy cups for Jaguar/childminding, the stack of plastic cups for Fifi and Lolly/childminding, and the rest are getting binned.

This month of October is going to be the month of simplification. I'm going to ruthlessly go through each room of the house and declutter it. I can feel my lungs breathing easier already. I can't wait. It's going to feel so good.

We are taking part in the October Dress Project in support of Macmillan Cancer Support. Please consider donating to our cause.