Saturday, October 17, 2015

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!
 
Before                                                           After
 
 





11 comments:

  1. I guess I have been doing this for some time. I have a small closet for two of us and a large closet for the out of season, and the "extras" My problem is all my extras. I keep them because I will buy something new and something way back in the closest matches it perfectly!

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  2. I never understood why wardrobe space is such a big issue in America. Maybe think twice before buying more clothes? Find a colour scheme that works for you and stick to it so that you don't have a bunch of stuff that doesn't match anything? I'm looking at my closet, which by the way is a piece of furniture, not like an entire small room... I think I've never had over 40 items at the same time, excluding socks and underwear. The cold season stuff goes on the coat hanger by the door, the summer stuff (when out of season) goes in a bag on the upper shelf of the closet, so do the sweaters in summer. All my clothes are bought exclusively based on need and they have to match any other stuff, except a few fancy items. I never had a space problem, a what-to-wear problem, or anyone saying I was badly dressed. Small or ugly clothes go to charity as soon as they are discovered. Ripped clothes get repaired or thrown away.

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    1. I an American and I don't understand why some people have soo many clothes. I gave probably less than 40 pieces in my closet (that fit...) and I feel like I've got a little too much most days.

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  3. I have a problem getting rid of clothes. I always think I might lose weigh, or that, I am going to turn them into dog beds or toys,rugs, aprons, mops etc. you name it, but I never do..My" wardrobe' if you can call that a bunch of T-shirts just keep piling up. I have t-shirts to stay home, others to walk the dog, yet some more for gardening., and fancier ones to go to the mall or visit some friends. I own just one dress, but have many jackets and coats, that I should dispose of them. but some are too good to throw away, and some would be an insult t to bring them to the salvation Army.

    Your post has inspired me to purge my small closet and to get cracking with those dog beds...
    Greetings from Alberta, Canada.
    Minervita.

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  4. The problem I have with this whole idea is that I have what I would consider my "normal, everyday clothes" (t-shirts, shorts, jeans, etc.) and then I have my "business casual" (the stuff I would wear to work if I worked in an office or something like that), and then my "fancy" stuff (dresses for evening - not that we ever go anywhere where I would need it...). It doesn't include socks, shoes, underwear, gym clothes, or jammies. About 90% of the time, the weather where we live is the same: shorts weather, sunny. I'm a stay-at-home-mom so I wear shorts and t-shirts most of the time. I rotate them and get rid of things when they don't fit or become damaged. Pretty much everything resides in my closet. And it's not a total disaster (well, not from clothes anyway).

    Even when we lived in Wisconsin, I didn't switch out clothes for the seasons. It just seems strange to me to switch out things for the seasons....

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  5. I tried capsule wardrobing immediately after your previous post about it. I LOVE it (thank you for introducing me to the concept). Over the past year I've gotten less uptight/structured with it which has both benefits and drawbacks, but I'm still buying fewer new clothes, keeping fewer useless ones (although, let's face it, I might not wear it anymore, but there's no way I'm getting rid of the Yellowstone sweatshirt I bought on our honeymoon), and generally feeling less stressed about clothes.

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  6. It does look excellent!

    The trick with capsule wardrobes is limited color scheme. If you love lots of colors that can't be worn together, it's much tougher to achieve.

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  7. My problem is I have no where to put my out of season clothes! But even still, I could do to go through EVERYTHING and get rid of pieces I know I will not be wearing to give away, and to organize better by season. My daughter is one year old and I am just pulling out all my maternity pieces and nursing tops to give away.

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  8. Your "so small" wardrobe is like, ALL the storage space I have in my house for three people and all their gear... lol.
    So, yeah, we would have nowhere to put "out of season" clothes if we did this!

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  9. I did this back when you did it first, too. I recently switched my wardrobe. Instead of doing 4 seasons, I have two. Winter and summer, or short and long sleeves. It has made me so much more conscious about what I will actually wear and knowing what to buy. I love it!

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  10. I did this back when you did it first, too. I recently switched my wardrobe. Instead of doing 4 seasons, I have two. Winter and summer, or short and long sleeves. It has made me so much more conscious about what I will actually wear and knowing what to buy. I love it!

    ReplyDelete

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