So at the end of April I sat with a friend at work and had an entirely selfish whinge. I'd just read an article on capsule wardrobes & was fully bought in. No problems at all seeing how a capsule wardrobe was a good thing -for other people.

But it couldn't possibly work for me. You see I own a lot of clothes – LOADS. I own enough dresses I could wear a different one every day from now until mid august before I had to move onto separates. And then by my calculations I could move around separates (at 2 a day) until well into the new year.

·         Yes. I hate how long it takes me to get dressed in the morning. Yes.Most days I feel like I look awful when I leave the house

·         BUT capsule wardrobes only work for tall boyish shaped women and models (I am not either of these things)

·         And anyway what would I do without vintage? God forbid I look like a clone.

 I am slightly ashamed to say this whinge lasted a good 10 minutes. In my lunchbreak. Working for a charity that campaigns around poverty affecting families of disabled children (www.cafamily.org.uk) . Yes, you are correct I am a selfish, selfish person. In my defence at the end of the 10 minutes I did say “all of which seems trivial compared to the 65% of parents of disabled children we talk to who go without essentials like clothes in order to provide properly for their children”. (I didn’t make that stat up by the way it’s here along with the number of families – 33%- who can’t afford to heat their homes).

 At this point my friend said something brave, and unexpected and really pissing annoying. She said “ Yes it is trivial. It’d be less trivial if you could find a way to help our families while you are having a meltdown about what to wear to work”. Cowbag. Sometimes I wish I didn’t require my friends to be so honest.

 But also she was right – could I do something about my chronic shopping habit, feel more stylish and help my organisation to support vulnerable families?

 It turns out yes. I turn 35 in a week and during my 35^th year I will:

·         Limit myself to wearing 35 items of clothing (including pairs of shoes, gloves, hats and scarves) for the whole year

·         Donate the money I’m not spending on clothes to Contact a Family

·         Sell most of my wardrobe on ebay to raise more cash

·         Ask friends and family to sponsor me & prove I’m sticking to the rules by instragraming what I wear every day

·         Get 35 of my friends to host #clothesoffmyback parties where they ‘buy’ cocktails and trade clothes to help out

·         Get my friends and family to gamble on most worn items by sponsoring them per wear

·         Blog about it. Not just what I wear, but the reactions of the professionals I work with to seeing me in the same clothes day, after day, after day……

I hope this year I can raise a fair bit of money to support families of disabled children. But equally importantly I’m hoping I can raise some awareness the challenges the families I work with face – and crucially that those challenges (most of them) are preventable if we as a society put the right support in place.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.