Will Power

I am doing my Bachelor’s degree via correspondence. I also work full-time. Those two facts are daunting together. They require some dedication and enough will power to be able to study in the evening after a long, busy day at the office. I have a renewed respect for anyone attempting this, especially those who push through however many years it takes and manage to get their degree. Well done to those people!

I have had it tough the last two weeks. This is my most heavily loaded semester so far. I had a tight schedule planned out and was managing to stick to it, at first. Then we had a friend from Italy visiting who was only going to be in Cape Town for a few days so I left my books alone for a bit. Next we had a heat wave; really it was more than 40 degrees! I sat at my desk, sweltering, and nothing seemed to go in. I did try to study but had to give-up after a while as the heat was making me cranky, tired and unable to concentrate try though I might. It was so hot a trip to the air conditioned Spar down the road was magical and I even considered taking my books there to study in their coffee shop area.

Luckily the heat broke somewhat on Monday, it is still hot but at least with a bit of a breeze in the evening I finally managed to be productive, about time! At that stage I was two weeks behind schedule. I will have a lot to do this week to catch-up. It will be possible though if I push through.

This is what minimalism has given me. The time I need to study and the focus to push on even when I am wondering why I am doing this and putting all this extra pressure on myself. It has definitely helped that my cleaning work load has decreased and that I am spending lee time watching TV. Intentional living has also forced me to re-evaluate what is important in my life and my studies has become a part of that. I even think that the will power I needed to exercise to not go shopping the last 6 months has helped. Will power is like a muscle apparently, the more you use it the easier it becomes. I will make this semester work.

Gardening

Yesterday night and over the weekend I spent some time in the garden. I am excited about my sunflowers coming up (they grow so fast!). My basil is going fantastic, and the rocket is growing like a weed (which it is I guess). I am just battling to get the neighbour’s cat from eating my celery, basil and chives. I sprinkled some chilli powder over these plants so I am hoping he gets a bit of a shock next time he eats them and thus learns to leave them alone. Being in the garden is calming. It is pleasant to be outside and busy. I am also seeing more of the neighbours as a few pass by where I am working. Everyone stops for a chat which is cool. I like our neighbours; everyone seems friendly and interested in the garden. My 2 upstairs neighbours have both been talking about extending the garden. Our building garden is divided into lots of small plots and the woman upstairs is talking about taking the small plot next to mine and seeing what she can do there.

I like the fact that my quietly getting on with things is inspiring other people to try new things as well. It’s true what they say; be the change you want to see. If you live your life the way you want then people will take notice eventually and consider your principles and actions. They might even start to change as well. All of this is non-threatening change, I don’t preach a message, I don’t judge. It may be slow change but I hope it is lasting and in the meantime I am getting to know the neighbours better and their interest in my garden has me motivated to keep working on it, so advantages all round.

Colour!

This week I’ve had some fun playing around with the colours already in my wardrobe and new combinations. I’ve been trying to decide on just a few colours as every post I’ve read so far on minimalism and cloths advises it. Wear just a few colours that all mix and match and you will find it easier to decide on outfits and need fewer cloths. Most suggest 2 neutrals (one dark for winter and a lighter one for summer) and 2-3 brights (which all go together). Ie Black, white, purple and blue.

I’ve already settled on Navy as one of my Neutrals. As a second I am considering white or grey but haven’t really decided which yet and am tempted to keep them both.

It is the colours though that were the most difficult to narrow down. I love so many! I had a look at the colours I already wear; all shades of blues, my hot pink pants, some purples, corals, mint and even some dark green. Then I had a look at the cloths I choose to make my capsules at the start of the week and which colours showed up there. While doing this I noticed one of the necklaces I had used on my Capsule pictures.

This necklace is perfect, I love the way the colours work together! It has coral, turquoise, hot pink and purple, all my favourites!

I wondered if 4 colours were not too much though. Most minimalists preferred far fewer (I have seen a fabulous capsule with only white, black and bright green). In order to get a feel for the combo I made this colourful collage. I worked only with these bright colours here to get a better feel for them, of course if this is too bright everything can be dampened down by adding some neutrals to the mix(Navy, grey and white work well with all these colours). Also remember that these colours are all already in my seasonal palette anyway, I am a clear winter (dark hair, bright blue eyes and pale skin) and might not suit everyone.

I was happy with the way it looked and thought I’d try a collage with some actual outfit ideas on there, firstly using only 2 of the 4 colours and working onto 3. I wore a variation of this to work this morning as a test. I had on my skinny purple pants, my coral shirt, a turquoise belt, some long purple earrings and my purple/orange and white sporty flats. I thought it looked good before I left the house and a colleague at work said as much, saying that they would never have considered the colour combination I used but that it really worked.

So success, I think I have a colour palette I can work with! Since there are so many colours I will have to be careful not to be tempted to go out and buy a set of items in every colour (ie 4 work blouses, 4 handbags, 4 necklaces, 4 scarves, 4 belts etc). Some restraint is needed. So while I already own a pair of long pants in hot pink and purple, I will not be buying others in coral and turquoise as soon as I can (although I might consider a pencil skirt in turquoise). I like that I am honing my style and colour palette. This no buying thing has really forced me to focus on a few items and given me time to properly asses each choice before plunging blindly into the next trend. Also making collages is fun.

Re-discovering meaningful items

I have been de-cluttering for more than 6 months now. I have gotten rid of a lot of things, my home is easier to clean and I feel quite liberated. There has also been an interesting additional advantage to the de-clutter:

Finding loved but overlooked items

I will explain with an example: This is a sea-gull necklace. I received it from my mother on my 8^th birthday while on holiday in Brittanie, France.

I have kept it all through the years out for sentimental reasons although the last time I actually wore it was probably when I was 18.

This weekend I did a clear-out of my jewellery, getting rid of damaged pieces and items I never wore and I had no attachment to. I found this necklace at the bottom of one of my jewellery boxes completely forgotten. I remembered the holiday that lead to its purchase, the long days on the beach and the carefree happiness of back then. I couldn’t get rid of this piece since it meant so much to me so why was I neglecting it?

I wore my necklace today and people have already asked me about it, so not only is it a good memento but it looks pretty enough on me to elicit comment.

This is not the only item that I have re-discovered. It is amazing all the pieces that have been lost amid all the clutter. Pieces completely forgotten and worthy of attention can now shine in the forefront. It has been a bit of a trip down memory lane at times as well. I am happy I can wear this piece again and I look forward to the next discovery!

My attempt at Capsules

Some smart advice for aspiring minimalists: Wear fewer colours. Decide which work for you and keep your wardrobe within that pallet. This makes it much easier to mix and match your clothing.

I’ve previously noticed which colours I tend to wear a lot, these are: Navy, Pink, Purple, all shades of blues and some coral in my summer pieces. Then I did a seasonal colour analysis and found out I’m a deep winter (dark hair, bright blue eyes, pale complexion).

These are the colours I can wear according to that analysis:

Actually I was already wearing most of these colours. I was ecstatic that I had over the years automatically already gravitated towards the colours that work best for me.

Next I decided to have a look at what a capsule would look like for me specifically, using items I already owned or liked. I decided to do a work capsule first. These colours would be more muted and formal and I choose navy, black and grey as my base. I used 13 clothing items and 9 accessorizes (including shoes). I used 4 bottom pieces (only 1 skirt since I’m not a skirt kinda girl), 6 tops, 2 cardigans and a blazer. Everything works with everything else in this capsule.

 

Next I thought about a casual capsule. For me, I love pops of colour and would need some colour to alleviate the darker, formal tones of work. I tried however to re-use pieces from my work wardrobe so as to minimise the number of items I would need in total (all except the black, I don’t like wearing black in my free-time). For colours I choose hot pink, coral and navy. I kept the same basic number and grouping as the work capsule. I swooped out only 5 clothing items and 6 accessories. I also included some bold prints.

 

There is some overlap but the general feeling of the capsules is quite different. Unlike the work capsule I feel like not everything goes here (I would not for ie wear the pink pants with the pink top!) but most of it is interchangeable still. I counted the total number and came out at 33 items. This is do-able for a minimalist wardrobe. 

 

My first sunflower

Yesterday morning before work I had to go outside and get this picture of my first sunflower. It came out just this week and is officially the first flower I have grown from a seed to completion. It makes me happy. I even have a second one coming through. Unfortunately the other seeds I planted originally didn’t germinate but after the success of these two I planted a whole bunch of extra seeds over the weekend so I am hopeful that those will also still come out. Sunflowers are a special flower; there are few that are such ‘happy’ flowers.

 

Now if only I can find a way to get our neighbours cat from eating my celery all will be perfect!

Side effect of shoes

Last post mentioned too many shoes! Determined to try and actually justify most of them I wore my black wedges to work yesterday. I wore them the whole day and they were actually more comfortable than I remembered, even with the heat that had my feet slightly swollen.

Because of the heat I also, for the first time at work, decided not to wear full length pants. Instead I wore a ¾ pair that ends about 10cm under my knee (ideal for me since I feel like my knees let me down and don’t like them on show). I received quite a few comments from work colleagues that I looked amazing and how pretty the shoes were. Maybe the shorter pants accentuated the heels.

Then in the evening I was having a drink with a girlfriend and thought I’d wear my purple stud heels. Since the heels were already so flash it motivated me to add a pretty top, a waist coat and some edgier jewellery. Not a combo I would normally wear but I felt great!

To continue the trend I combined my turquoise flats (also being broken in) with a pretty patterned Desingual top today (I find this top so pretty but a bit hard to match with other stuff) and my black pants (which I am also trying to wear more often). Again I received quite a few comments. I am realising having less clothing is meaning I usually wear better fitting and higher quality stuff. It also means I have to experiment more so I can still get the variation a larger closet allows. Another unexpected advantage; getting dressed is quick since I have fewer options but this frees up some time for me to properly asses what I am wearing, check it really is a good combination and maybe even add some jewellery before I head out the door. I am better dressed now and more confident about what I am wearing. All this from an existing closet, I have bought no new clothing! However there is still room for improvement.

I have realised that my wardrobe is split in two, work and home cloths and that means that I need far more clothing (since I typically wear two outfits every day). I am now trying to mesh the two and when I buy new clothing focus on items that would work in both situations. This means that for ie instead of buying shirts (my classic work top) I should try a blouse, something pretty enough to wear anytime.

 

This means my work clothing will become a little less ‘uniformy’ and my home cloths a bit more stylish. Of course I can’t buy any new stuff until July (my year without) but this gives me ample time to still experiment with what I have, hone my style a bit and really settle on the look I want so hopefully no more buying errors. I have been considering trying some second-hand shops though and have thought about taking an objective friend along. That way I can try on lots of different cloths and see more clearly what suits me well.