Mommy fashion and Project 100

Matt has been bugging me for the last few months about spending more money on myself. He thinks it's silly that I get more excited about dressing Madeleine than dressing myself. We aren't so cheap that I can't get new clothes if I need them. He says there is no reason that I hang out in the house some days in our old high school P.E. clothes. It's been an on going conversation and last night I finally cracked and started to do something about it.

The biggest reason is our bedroom isn't functioning as well as it needs to be. It works great for Matt and me sleeping there, but Baby X sleeps in there for his naps. I hate having to kick aside clothes aside to put his bouncer down while he's screaming. It really annoys me, and clothes on the floor is one of Matt's pet peeves.

I also got these two articles in my facebook newsfeed. 

This one on general home organizing and this one that is specifically on laundry.

The first one made me feel less guilty about getting rid of perfectly good clothes and the second is what I've been thinking about for the last few months.

I loath doing laundry with all my heart. I told my mom in college that the only reason I was going to college was so I could make enough money to pay someone to do my laundry. I've done laundry a total of four times since we got married (Matt is a "bit" OCD about his laundry so it works out). But even still, if I can reduce the amount that Matt has to do this evil chore, then I'm being a sweet wife and should do it for his well-being. 

This idea of reducing laundry had occurred to me before. The thing is we don't have a washer and dryer. So we went the other way, we have a lot of clothes so we only have to do laundry every 3 weeks. It was working for a while, and when we had enough clutter that the rest of the house seemed pretty clean the clothes were at the bottom of my list. Now they are at the top, right under dishes.

So last night I went through all my clothes. I got rid of everything that I have owned that was stained, ripped, or more than five years old. 

Stained and ripped clothing

After that I took inventory of everything I own, according to the Project 333 rules.

Blouses                          2

Button downs                4

Long sleeve t-shirts        5 

Short sleeve t-shirts       10 

Tank tops                      5

Cardigans/Jackets         4

Sweaters                        2

Sweatshirts                    2

Coats                             3

Shorts                            1

Pants                             2

Skirts                            6

Dresses                        3

49

If you include all my shoes and accessories, the total is 58.

I don't know if that seems like a tiny amount or a large amount to you, but before I started this I gave myself the goal of 100 for a year round wardrobe. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that limit now that I'm quite a bit under it, but I'm definitely going shopping.

"Matt, I only own 49 articles of clothing."

"Uh huh. I told you you need to buy more clothes."

"Okay, you're right. Want to go shopping for date night?"

"..."

So today I went to pinterest to figure out what I need to buy to look less like a bum around the house. I quickly found a big problem. A lot of the "stylish mom" outfits are not kid toddler approved.

(So cute! But do you think the skirt can get thrown in the wash? And that shirt would have a baby hand down it in less than a minute. And how in the world does she have a spare hand to hold a clutch?)

1) I use to wear light happy colors. I really did. Just each of them encountered some type of food that made a stain that left me sobbing by the counter as Matt explained to me why he couldn't get it out. Now I stick to clothes that I either can't see the stain on or can bleach.

2) Blazers. So cute. Not so comfy when juggling a kid on your hip.

3) Same goes for heels. Cute, but not practical when you're running out of toy store because your toddler decided she liked Kate Spade better.

4) Scarves and necklaces. How do you train your child not to choke you? Big pretty colorful jewelry looks nice, until you can't breath.

5) Quality. I love quality clothing, but it's hard to justify the money when small people just like to smear strawberries on my clothes multiple times a day. But the lower quality clothing pills and doesn't drape as well. How do you solve that problem?

6) V-necks and scoop necks look flattering, but little people like tugging on said necklines and then everyone is staring at your bra. I'm so grateful that fellow mommies are oblivious to bras and breast flashing. Saves me a lot of embarrassment.

7) How do you find t-shirts that you can't stick your finger through or won't lose it shape? I can't scrub a stain out if the material is only a 1/128th of a inch thick. Toddler clothes are made so much better than women's clothing.

So these are my current questions that have prevented me from buying clothes for myself. I know there are stylish moms who probably think that these are just minor inconvenience that know how to easily work around these problems. But I group those ladies into "the people that know how to pull off the color brown." I still puzzle over that one.

What problems do you come across when buying clothes? Do you have any solutions or suggestions?