“The best way to wear your favorite things every day is to only own your favorite things.”

Courtney Carver is the mastermind behind Project 333, a hugely successful minimalist fashion website that encourages people to keep only 33 items, including accessories, shoes, jewelry, and outerwear, in their closet at any given time. Every three months you can change the collection, switching items for other, more seasonally-suitable ones, while boxing up the remainder for future use.

The idea is to wean people off their addiction to clothes and shopping, to help them realize that you don’t need much to look presentable, and that you’ll feel fabulous when you wear only clothes you love.

Carver wrote a great post titled ” 5 essentials in your capsule wardrobe ” that really resonated with me. Instead of listing physical items, she delves into the ideal emotions one should experience when dealing with getting dressed each day.

“The trends will come and go, but there are 5 essentials in your capsule wardrobe that you can’t find at the mall or on Pinterest. They are classic pieces that you can’t buy, and in fact, if you try, you’ll only replace them with shirts and skirts that you are unhappy with in a few months.”

What are these classic pieces?

Peace: Having fewer choices in the closet means less anxiety about making a decision and a greater overall sense of peace.

Ease: Fewer items in the closet means less work to find what you want to wear, and less sense of frustration at spending so much money on clothes you never wear. Make it as easy as possible for yourself.

Love: When you buy only what you love to wear, not what magazines tell you to buy, then you’ll always feel good when you get dressed.

Clarity: Take advice from successful individuals such as Steve Jobs, Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg, and Vera Wang, who consciously wear the same thing (more or less) every day to minimize decision fatigue. Limit your own choices and be confident in your decisions about what to wear.

Space: The creation of physical space leads to a sense of increasing mental space. Carver writes, “When you dress with less, you naturally have more space in your closet. That space is a daily visual sign that you are making room for your life to unfold.”

You can join the Project 333 challenge online and read more of Carver’s in-depth posts describing how to pare down your wardrobe effectively.

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