My Kind of Capsule Wardrobe- Decluttering More Than My Closet
The idea of a capsule wardrobe has always alluded me. Scaling my wardrobe down to a small handful of thoughtfully styled pieces that all coordinate with each other? It all seemed too daunting. With the arrival of spring I knew it was time to make a shift in my organizational approach and wardrobe essentials within my closet.
My only requirements, spend little to no money, and scale down the sheer volume of my wardrobe. I’ve done very little research on how to create a capsule wardrobe aside from understanding what it is.
But a beginning must start somewhere, and for now I’m content with simplifying my wardrobe. I’m not ready to be a complete capsule wardrobe pure-ist, nor will that ever be my intent. My personal hope in sharing my process is that you can find your starting point too.
Minimizing, and decluttering life on any level is one of the most freeing things we can do.
I declutter All.The.Time. Just now, I stopped writing and spent ten minutes organizing my little home office corner. For one, it was messy and I couldn’t focus, and two; craft supplies out all helter-skelter can get old. Now, my workspace is beautified and my head is clear.
So let’s get started.
No journey to a capsule wardrobe can begin without first assessing your own clothing situation.
While I love many things about this house, I don’t love the master closet. It’s surprisingly narrow. But for it’s sad existence, it has a lovely amount of built-in shelves and compartments that have wonderful potential. However, due to the uncomfortable size of the galley style closet, we haven’t taken the time to over haul our wardrobes or our organizational tactics since moving in. Before I could begin really diving into the thinking behind a capsule wardrobe, I had to first tackle a major task. Cleaning out and organizing my closet.
I stayed home with my kiddos full-time for five years, then I started teaching part-time for another five. I’ve been working full-time for three years now and haven’t done a major wardrobe purge since I resumed daily classroom teaching. It was time. Things were in such a bad state, I ended up filling five trash bags (kitchen-sized mind you). I went through everything. Every article of clothing was pulled out and sorted through. Each time I held up an item I said, “Do I love this?” “Am I excited to wear it again?” If my inner voice uttered anything close to “no” or “meh,” into the give pile it went.
Only keep what you love, and do not settle for something that can be worn only once or with only one other article of clothing.
I spent close to two hours on this part of the process. I vlogged it all via instagram stories, and the whole process looked a little chaotic. But the deeper I got into my pile the easier the process became.
If you, like me, want to begin a pursuit toward a capsule wardrobe keep this in mind.
A Capsule Wardrobe is a collection of essential clothing items you wear throughout one season. It’s a small wardrobe of styled pieces that you absolutely love. Ideally, everything coordinates and you are never at a loss for something to wear
After I went through all my clothes, I started to pile items together in seasons.
Again, my only requirement was that I only keep items I truly love. I veered from a traditional capsule in that I did not focus on developing a matching color palette. I’ve always shopped with the rule in mind that I should be able to wear everything with at least four other items in my closet (thanks Mom). So I knew mixing and matching wouldn’t be a problem. My hope was, I’d take each season down to under 30 pieces of styled core clothing items. To make matters slightly more complicated I live in Colorado where Winter can show up on May 20 just as easily as Spring can peek through on January 15. So due to my climate constraints, I did not include what I call transitional pieces in my seasonal capsules.
Wouldn’t you know, every season was easily scaled down to under 30 pieces. Several pieces over lap, like my jeans, or cardigans which helps keep numbers low. And my friend Heather will be so proud, every Khaki toned article of clothing hit the road.
No special rhyme or reason here, I just started making four piles.
Next, time to rebuild my closet organizational system.
I really had no system to my closet before. When we moved in, tops were on one side, dresses and pants on the other. Now though, I was determined to restock my closet much more methodically. I took out knits or poly pieces that could be forgivingly folded and hung the rest of my items on velvet hangers. The foldables were nicely placed on an out of eye sight shelf. Then I hung everything for the current season in my closet. Again, Colorado is weird, so I have two seasons out at once. Currently, I have 48 articles of clothing hanging in my closet for spring and summer.
*Tip, I started buying velvet hangers on Amazon a few months ago. I bought one pack a month until I felt I was ready to swap out and purge the bulky plastic hangers.
I placed shoes, and bags within easy reach on first meet the eye shelves. Now, the entire {small} space looks much cleaner and less cluttered.
So if the closet door is open (and it often is because lets be real), the first thing anyone sees is a clean, organized, set of compartments that will stay styled 90% of the time.
To store my other two seasons, I used a plastic under-the-bed-sized tub for foldable knits and sweaters. Then I hung the rest of my clothes on velvet hangers. I split them into Fall and Winter piles. Finally, I bundled each within a freshly smelling kitchen sized trash bag (you know, the febreeze scented kitchen trash bags). I hung the bundles of clothes in an obscure corner of our oversized foyer coat closet.
Styled by new rules
Like any change for the better, there are some fringe benefits and new ground rules I’m beginning to follow.
- I don’t lay out or think through my clothes the night before now. My options each morning are limited and I always love everything I wear (bad hair days not withstanding).
- I’m still purging. Just yesterday, I pulled a dress off a hanger because I realized I didn’t listen to my inner voice a week ago when I said, “meh.”
- I know what I need. No more buying on impulse or getting another black and white striped top that is nearly identical to one hanging in my closet. I have less so I remember what I have, because I wear it all, all the time, and feel fabulous when I do.
- The new rule: Buy and replace, don’t buy to increase. It’s easy to buy a cute top on Jane.com but if I want to do so, great, no biggie. However, it has to replace an item I currently have. But wait I love everything? So do I really need to buy that adorable peplum striped top? Hmmm, maybe not this month.
- My closet organizational system is functional and manageable for longterm success. I invested the time to think through how my closet and wardrobe would work best for me so that I’d simply maintain the new system.
What I was really decluttering.
I’ll be honest, during the first hour, deciding what to place in the give pile was tough. Especially as I got to clothing items that were more expensive. Or items that were gifts from precious people in my life. After I reconciled my mind to the fact that I didn’t have enough room in the closet and I was holding onto things that could be loved by another person, the decisions became easier. Then I realized, I was doing more than just going through my clothes. I was decluttering my heart too. With each piece of clothing discarded, I was allowing what felt like a fresh breeze to blow through my soul.
Do you have areas of your life like this? The day before I cleaned out my closet I said to my husband, “I can’t even stand to go in there any more. That whole area just makes me feel awful.” Sure it was operational, but it felt yucky. Perhaps it’s your garage? Your linen closet? Or your schedule, so jam-packed you haven’t eaten as a family in weeks? Or how about my personal favorite, clogging my life up with unnecessary requirements that take my focus from my most important earthly treasures? Are you settling for simply operational?
What areas of your life can you allow a fresh breeze to blow through?
I’m glad I decluttered my closet and started my kind of capsule wardrobe. The real fringe benefit, with each item placed in a bag, I was resetting my heart to the most important work I do. Shepherding and caring for my home, my kids, my marriage and my work. And looking at a clean closet everyday never hurts either!
