My Experience with "7" by Jen Hatmaker--Week 2 (Clothing)

In the next chapter of her book ("7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess") Jen tackles our obsession with clothing.  She counted up the number of garments in her closets and found it was well in the hundreds range.  Do we really need so many clothes?  To prove that we don't, Jen encouraged a clothing fast by wearing only 7 articles of clothing (not counting underwear) for one month.

Our Bible Study group took on the challenge for just one week.  And I have to say, this week was easy for me...too easy.  Maybe I don't care enough about clothes and I look like a perpetual slob.  But I actually found this week quite enjoyable because I didn't have to decide what to wear each day.  There just weren't many choices!

My seven chosen garments were:

• One pair of exercise capris
• One short-sleeved T-shirt
• One pair of jeans
• One nice-looking maternity top
• Coat
• Shoes
• Pajamas

So basically, if I was exercising, I wore one outfit; if I was not exercising I wore the other. If I went outside, I wore my coat.  That's it!  Laundry became a bit more complicated, but choosing my clothes in the morning was a breeze.

Benji would have been happy to participate in this week's fast.  In fact, he is happiest with no clothes on at all!  :)

I started to congratulate myself on how un-obsessed with clothing I am.  'Clothes? No problem, Jen!' I thought.  And then I took a look in my closet and in my drawers.  I may not have as many clothes or shoes as the "typical" American woman, and I may not think about clothing as much; shopping is not my favorite activity, and I hardly ever buy a brand-new outfit.  But if I can go a week with just seven articles of clothing (and even enjoy it!), then why do I still have way more clothes than I need?  Why do I still have two pairs of black dress pants?  Five different sundresses?  Six pairs of jeans?  If I have more clothing than I need, then I am guilty of excess in this area.  Period.

So here are my takeaways from Week 2:
1. Less clothing in my closet = fewer choices = much less time and energy wasted each morning!
2. I really have a lot of clothing that I can (and should) give away.

Which leads quite nicely into our challenge for Week 3...Possessions.