Closet Challenge

Let's be honest, I'm a stay at home mom and since most of my hours in a day are spent at home, my outfits usually consist of stretchy pants and a comfy top, or workout clothes.  On the days that I do get out of the house though, I like to move beyond stretchy and wear something else in my closet.  For the past 18 months my wardrobe has been defined by either a pregnant belly, post-birth baby weight and/or breast feeding. I am finally able to pick out an outfit with no agenda. Well I take that back, I'm a girl so there will always be an agenda. Let me rephrase. I am finally able to pick an outfit based solely on what mood I'm in, how fit I feel, what kind of hair day I'm having, where I'm going, oh yeah, and the weather.

Even with all this new found freedom, I'm stuck in a rut.  A clothes rut. I find myself gravitating towards the same clothes in my closet and I keep them on rotation every two to three weeks. It's easy, it's comfortable, but it's BORING.  That's no way to enjoy my freedom and no way to treat all the clothes in my closet (I like to imagine that inanimate objects have feelings too).

Beyond that, I am stricken with the moral bug that there are people in this world who are under dressed while I am living in excess.  Although I have not met them personally, I imagine them to be thankful to simply have one pair of pants, shoes and a shirt.  For some reason I keep thinking of the Somali pirates in the movie Captain Phillips (great movie, have you seen it?).  That's a terrible example because they're bad guys, but for those of you who've seen the movie, you know what I mean.  The point is, I have so many clothes in my closet that I don't even wear them all, while some people have none to wear.

Herein lies the challenge: wear all the shirts in my closet within 4 months.  I've chosen shirts because that's the article of clothing I have the most of in my wardrobe.  Why 4 months?  Because I figure I'll need that amount of time to have enough "non-stretchy pants occasions" on my calendar (aka days I get out of the house).  If a shirt in my closet doesn't get worn within 4 months, then it goes to charity, plain and simple.

I will keep track of the clothes I have worn by hanging them "backwards" in my closet. See the picture below to understand what I mean by backwards.

The only rule is that I cannot wear one of the backwards hanging shirts until 1) I've worn everything else, or 2) unless it is in conjunction with an unworn shirt in order to make an outfit.

Today is April 1st, the first day of the challenge.  The last day of the challenge will be July 31st.