Five years ago, I lost a whole bunch of weight. {Thank you, love life drama.} I lost four dress sizes in three months or three dress sizes in four months, or something like that. Bottom line: a whole lot came off really fast and none of my clothes would stay on me anymore.
I loved shopping in smaller sizes than I had ever worn, and I pretty much had to start over with EVERYTHING...pants, shirts, dresses, all of it. The shoes still fit, I guess. In my glee and delight, I got shop-happy. I bought anything and everything I loved. If it looked good and felt good, I bought it. And a whole lotta everything looked good and felt good.
And now, five years later, most of the weight is still off, but a few pesky pounds are back, and some of those initial purchases don't fit with the ease that they used to. And in the meantime, I've discovered I have all styles of everything in all kinds of colors, and my closet is, in a word, a mess.
I've purchased a bag full of clearance clothes because I could get five things for twenty bucks, and who doesn't love that kind of a bargain? And yet, I truly hate some of those clothes, and the twenty bucks sits in my closet, wasted.
THIS is the reason I even broached yesterday's blog post, about the capsule wardrobe...because I've finally come to the place where I realize I would be better served to own fewer things that I really love and can really maximize through good ole mix and match than to own a ton of things I only kind of like.
When I found the first blog post about capsule wardrobes...the one I showed you yesterday that had all the neutral clothes, I was ready to sell every item of clothing in my closet and come as close to duplicating THAT girl's closet as I could. Then I realized that was rather financially impractical, and I still had the issue of not knowing what to do with the items when I had them.
That's when I found the second and third posts - the one where they showed how all the combinations worked. The one where they laid out a pair of pants and started mixing and matching shirts. THAT makes sense to me. That {I think} I can figure out.
So here's my plan {post full-time job, of course}.
* I want to go through my summer wardrobe, since it's the one that's out right now, and get rid of any clothes I really don't like.
* Then I want to go back through it and lay out the pieces I would consider to be the staples {the pair of jeans, the black pants, the brown pants, the black shirt, the white shirt...etc}. I'll make a list of which of those items I actually truly love and which ones I'm enduring because I already own them and feel bad spending more on something similar. I'll also make a list of any staples I think I'm missing.
* Hopefully my list will help me to be more conscientious when I'm at the store. Rather than the bag full of cheap clearance clothes, I'll focus on finding the pair of black pants that LOOKS GOOD and FITS WELL, and isn't held together by a safety pin. {Not that I own that pair of pants from my class reunion nine years ago.}
* Then I'll go through my remaining clothes and figure out which accessory items I truly love and want to keep and HOPEFULLY there will be some color themes going on in there. {I do tend to wear a lot of blue and teal.} And I'll work on making a list of any clothing items I might want to watch for as I shop.
* I'll pull out the remaining clothes - the ones that didn't make any of these cuts - and put them "away" for now. Not accessible but not sold. That way if I try this, and it just really does not work for me, I don't find myself without ANY of my clothes. But if I try it and it does work, then I can sell or donate the rest, knowing that I really don't need them.
* Then in the future, as I shop, I'll try to keep my eye out for quality pieces that I really need, and if I bring something new in, something else will go out.
* I do think I'll have some additional allowances for dresses and workout clothes, since I do have several dresses that I wear often and don't want to get rid of just yet.
That's where I'm at with the capsule concept. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. And if any of you try it - you'll tell me how it's going for you??
Let the games begin!!! {More inspiration below.}
8 comments:
I need to really get rid of things i just don't wear anymore. I do the "i know i haven't worn it in ages, but maybe next week I will!"
oy!
I love this!
When I first heard about this, I thought it meant that you had to keep everything neutral, which meant you couldn't keep color in your wardrobe...no thanks! I love to see in your examples that that isn't the case at all!
Bekah - one of the best investments I made (way, way, way back in my life) was to have my 'colors' done. Deep in my heart I'm the cheap shopper and I wanted to become the wise shopper and have clothing I liked. So I spent the best money I've ever spent to have a color guide. I think your idea has great merit and hope you will also take the time to assure the color of the more limited closet is also what continues to make you the "star you are". Have fun with this; make the list and check it twice--I know you will. Lois
Tamar - WELCOME TO MY MIND! I do the same thing!
Allison - Thanks!
Erica - Me too! I love color and when I saw the first one, I thought I could be on board with it, but I'm just not sure I can!!
Lois - I've never had my colors done. But I do still have all my red shirts from the days of IWU registration! :) Might be time to let a few go??? :)
This is a good reminder to go through my clothes again. However, like yours, my season of life is changing so it's hard to figure out what kind of clothes I'll need for it! I really do have a t-shirt problem though :)
One of the organizational pros said to turn all of your hangers in your closet backwards, and then as you wear pieces and put them back, turn the hanger the correct way. After a couple of months (or end of the season) consider getting rid of the items that are still on the backwards hangers that you haven't worn. If you had an empty drawer, I suppose you could do the same with your folded shirts.
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