Capsule Wardrobe, Take Two!

Good morning!

Those of you who have followed us for a while may remember when I did a capsule wardrobe post a while back, you can find that here for a refresher. I was a little hesitant because it was so different from what I had done in the past, but I ended up really liking it! Fast forward to now...we have graduated college, moved states, changed schools, and careers and my closet looks like this on any given day...

 

Or this...

 

Either way you look at it, it's not great. I feel disorganized when I walk into the closet, I feel like I can't make a cohesive thought and I don't feel like I can really see what I am doing or what I have to choose from as far as what to wear that day. This closet is significantly smaller than the one in our last apartment, I miss the old closet SO much! I will probably never have a closet like this again! :o

My beautiful old closet. This one was probably 2.5x the size of the one I have now.

 

Whose to say though that the closet I currently have can't be an oasis??

 

First off, what is a capsule wardrobe?

As far as I have understood, from various fashion and lifestyle blogs, magazines, websites I have gathered info from over the year(s) it is a wardrobe that reflects only the current season and is restricted to (+ or -) 40 pieces that you mix and match to have a more cohesive look. This is supposed to include bottoms, tops, shoes, scarves, coats, vests etc.

This can be HARD! There are pieces you can become attached to, pieces that don't fit that you want to keep "Just in case", and pieces that were gifts that you just can't part with!

There are several steps to this kind of change. First take everything out of your closet. Everything!

 

Lucky for me I just did a massive take down on all of my stuff earlier this year so this step was small for me today. Marquette and I had a HUGE yard sale this summer, we ended up having five families participate and we each made sever hundred dollars! Woohoo! I sold most everything I owned, the majority of the stuff I had leftover were clothing items.

Here are all my clothes out of my closet:

Ah! Panic attack! I'm a total clothes horse in case you didn't know...

 

Next, go through each piece and section them out into groups; Fall wardrobe yes, fall wardrobe maybe, out of season wardrobe, donate, and trash.

 

I didn't have any trash, and seeing as I just went through everything a few months ago I only had a few donate pieces, but here is my first round of categorizing.

 

 

 Obviously some pieces are out of season here in mid-October in northern Utah...

 

Then I had to attach the yes pile and lighten it up, somehow I had 20 extra pieces in my yes pile...having too many options for clothing everyday can be overwhelming. A lot of times certain pieces will always go unworn, or it can be difficult to know what to choose when you have so many options, this system really helps you pick pieces that you enjoy wearing, and because you only get so many you tend to pick pieces that go with more instead of that one shirt that only goes into one outfit.

 

Next I categorized my yes selection of 38 pieces into skirts, button-ups, shirts, sweaters, causal tops, bottoms, and dresses.



 

 

I should note that I don't count undershirts that I use for modest coverage in the final count because I don't ever wear them by themselves, they are just for added length or sleeves. Also, this time around I didn't count shoes because I don't have a separate closet for those so they stay in the room and I just thought it would be silly to only allow myself to wear three pairs of shoes when I have them all in the same place. Shoes have never really been a tough choice as far as wardrobe goes for me so I wasn't too worried about it. I also don't count jewelry, underwear,workout gear  or socks in this count for obvious reasons..."Well I only get 38 pieces and I need at least 7 pairs of underwear and at least 2 bras...that's 9, and then socks...does each sock count as one?! Ah!"

Now that you have your final count, you can start putting stuff back into the closet (after it is picked up and organized a bit).

Next is the fun part! Bring in your new organized closet!

 

Organized shoes and purses (the tote beneath this is rain/snow and cowboy boots).

 

 Various coats, and undershirts.

 

Chip even went through his stuff and has his fall wardrobe.

 

 My final selections!

 

 

I think this looks SO much better!! What all do you think?!

 

In case you were wondering where my other stuff went, and maybe you are thinking, man I wish my closet looked like that...I present to you the spare room closet of horrors...

 

This has three seasons worth of clothing for two people and all our other random junk...so much for organization.

 

I hope this was helpful to someone, I love having my organized capsule wardrobe, it makes it easier to get ready in the morning because all of your options are right there and they all go together (for the most part). Has anyone tried this? How did it go for you?! Any other tips I'm missing or I could use would be great!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

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