A Summer Capsule Wardrobe

If you aren't familiar with Capsule Wardrobing, Ashton's previous post and another one I wrote about a two season wardrobe plus this post about it are good places to start.  While we know summer is almost over in some parts of the world, we still have a few months left here for mostly warmer weather so we wanted to share with you Ashton's summer capsule before we jump to her fall one in October, as well as my Fall/Winter one.  

So here is Ashton-

Hey! So...I know I've talked about capsule wardrobes before but I haven't alked about how I transition from one season's wardrobe to another. So here you go! I first took out all of the things I knew I wouldn't be keeping out for the next season and put them away.  I then got out all of the clothes for the season I was transitioning to along with what was left from the previous season and put it on the floor. 

Then I look at every piece and put what I really loved, what fit, and what was flattering back in the closet, and put away, donated, or gave away the rest. That left me with a closet of clothes that I love to wear.

This is what I had at the start of the summer:
13 Shirts
4 Button-downs
3 Light Jackets
3 Cardigans
5 Dresses
6 Skirts
2 Pairs of Jeans
1 Pair of Capris
For a total of 37 items. 

I do have a confession, I have added and gotten rid of a few pieces since then, but my count is about the same. For me, it isn't about an exact number and I don't include shoes or accessories in my count. My goal is to only be wearing what I love, what fits, and what is flattering on me.

Just for fun, here are some outfits mom and I styled, each set showing one piece used two different ways!

I hope this quick look into how I transition between seasons helps you and maybe the links will even inspire you to start your own capsule wardrobes! Please let us know if you do, we would love to hear about it! -Ashton 

Linking up with friends!-

Lessons From My Closet (A Two Season Capsule Wardrobe)

Does it seem to anyone that God has me learning a lot of lessons lately?  Luckily for me, and hopefully you too, today's lessons are a lot less life altering than those I have talked about lately.

So, about a capsule wardrobe.  If you have not yet read about my daughter's success, you may want to start there!  Boy, has that post gotten the blog buzzing!  She references several sites that are much more knowledgeable than we are.  You will either be inspired or think we are all crazy.

After encouraging everyone to empty out their closets, clean, and start again I realized I had far too many clothes. Far too many. I used to be good at this thing called getting dressed but somewhere along the way I went back to some old bad habits (impulse shopping anyone?) and the clothes were taking over again.

So here is what I have been working on- A Two Season Capsule Wardrobe!

Again, Ashton's post explains the concepts behind it all and shows how it all works, so I would encourage you to read that if you haven't already.  No need to repeat what has been already said.  For now, let's talk about me and my experience.

Hangups-

• Yes, I have a fear that my friends will think I am crazy or get tired of my same 'ole clothes.  First of all, they probably think I am crazy already.  For the record, I wear only black, white and grey with pink, purple, and occasionally turquoise for color.  Therefore, they may be tired of my clothes already. Plus, I can barely remember what I wore three days ago.  I am counting on them having faulty memories as well.

• Will these clothes wear out?  Ashton addressed this last week, but two things as a reminder.  One, you are only wearing most of these things for only several months at a time.  Not all year.  Second, in theory, when you are buying less, you can afford to spend a little more money and buy better quality.

• Will I get boring?  Let's face it, if clothes make us boring, we are already boring.

• Why a Two Season Capsule?  For me it just makes more sense.  We live in a cold state.  I like winter but I do not like being cold, so you will often find me in a cardigan, inside especially.  Because of those cardigans the things I am presently wearing are good for spring, summer, and even early fall here.  Then it gets cold, and I quickly jump to a winter capsule.  So, yes, unlike Ashton's four seasons, I stick to two capsules.  Which means mine have slightly more things in them.  More on that in a moment.

Rules-

• Not many, really.  This is not about numbers for us.  It is about clearing out the excess, spending our money more wisely on timeless pieces that will last longer, and letting go of the stress of getting dressed each morning.

• This is a five month trial.  Surely I can do this for five months, right?  So, for me, that includes May, June and July, August and September!  Depending on where you live and when you start your months, your length of capsule may be different.

• Things that do not get worn and I do not miss will be donated.  No holding on to stuff "just in case."  Actually, most of the stuff already went out the door.  A few pieces I am holding back to see.  A very few.

• For ME, church clothes and dressy clothes are separate things. Here is why. We attend church weekly and do tend to dress up a bit. I have however also gone through those clothes and made adjustments which we will talk more about next week  Also, because we are a military family and one that goes to the theater often, I do have a few dressy pieces for such occasions.  Again, we will address this later!

Things learned from my closet-

• I tend to buy "cute" over "classy."  The bad news is, I look better in classy.  Maybe I am just too old for cute, but whatever the reason, I need to accept my fate and buy accordingly.

• I love clothes.  Or maybe just shopping.  Or maybe both.  But either way, I can clear my house of just about anything else and not look back, but clothes- well, THAT is hard for me.

• My girls are ruthless.  Want to try this capsule experiment?  Invite my girls over and you are guaranteed success.  You are not however guaranteed to like them when all is said and done.  Ask me how I know this.

• I have an obsession with scarves.  Which is why we are not counting them as true capsule pieces.  Truth is, I cannot bear to see any go. I have agreed not to buy a new one for the next five months.  Yay me!

• I know now why I like fall and winter better than spring and summer.  The clothes and the layers.  Seriously!  I use to think it was about the cool/cold weather.  Now I have decided that it may because of the clothes.  Pitiful for sure.  One, you can cover up a multitude of sins with winter clothes.  I like that.  Two, in my opinion, you can create A LOT more variations of outfits with layering.  When it is so hot that even a T-shirt makes you hot, that's all you've got- a tee shirt.  Not much variation there. And while some people look great in just a solid color tee shirt, I do not count myself as one of them.  Layers, people.  There are great possibilities in layers!

• I love JJill and Ann Taylor Loft! I just always thought they were too expensive to buy on a regular basis.  But here is the thing...I can buy two or three $10.00 pieces on impulse while walking through Target or whereever and wear them, not loving them, for a few months, or I can save that money and once each capsule change over, invest in one or two new pieces from a company I LOVE on a piece I LOVE and will last longer.  This is also where ThredUp can rock your world if you are brand loyal and know what you are looking for and what size you wear.  Do NOT get on that site without a plan!

Remember, one of the reasons we embarked on our 34 Weeks of Clean Series was not to just clean and organize but to declutter.  We want to take the stuff out of our lives that creates chaos and only leave that which we love and brings us joy!  If you don't love or use it, and it doesn't bring you joy, move it out!

There are several other things that I learned from this little experiment of mine, but I will share those with you next week when I show you which clothes made the cut and the outfits we created with them.  Following Kathi Lipps model from Clutter Free, we will be asking-

-Do I love it
-Do I use it (wear it, in this case)
-Would I buy it again?

Here is what I came up with that we will be working with next week, remembering that these pieces will cover spring, summer, and fall.

Hang on to your hat, things are about to get crazy here.  Who's in for a little fun?


Linking up with friends-

 Blessings,

An Unordinary Capsule Wardrobe

Hey! I'm Ashton. There has been a bunch of buzz on mom's Facebook page around a post on a capsule wardrobe. THAT actually stems from one of her 34 Weeks of Clean assignments when she challenged everyone to take everything out of their closet and purge! (She's crazy like that sometimes!) Most of the buzz has centered on questions about how a capsule wardrobe actually works. So I'm here to hopefully answer some of those questions!

I can't really remember where I heard about capsule wardrobes, but the first person to sell me on it was Caroline at Unfancy. Here's why: most who utilize a capsule wardrobe have 1 capsule that they wear year-round. Which is cool if you live somewhere with a fairly even climate. However, I live where the temperature goes from -50 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. Which is why Unfancy's concept of four capsule wardrobes makes way more sense for me.
Also, this version of a capsule only includes clothes you wear everyday. So, it does not include:

Underwear

Pajamas

Workout clothes

Garden clothes/Painting clothes

Formal/Special occasion clothes

Swimsuits

Jewelry/Purses/Accessories

I also added:

 Shoes and heavy winter jackets

Layering pieces (for cold weather or modesty)

You can read about what a capsule wardrobe is and how Caroline does it on her site, but here is how I did it.

First, pick the months for your four capsules based on your weather, not the typical seasons. (If it works for you, you can choose to do only two capsules, spring/summer and fall/winter.) I chose to break mine down like this-

Spring - March, April, May

Summer - June, July, August

Fall - September, October, November

Winter - December, January, February

Second - Purge your stuff. Go through everything. Seriously, from shoes to underwear to sweaters to scarves - if you can wear it, go through it. Keep only what you love, what fits, and what is is in wearable (or good) condition.

Third - Divide what you have into your 4 capsules (remember the exclusion list above). So, heavy sweaters that you only wear in the winter go in your winter capsule, along with the shirt that you only wear under those heavy sweaters. Light summer blouses go into your summer capsule. Here is a key: pieces can overlap multiple capsules. I have a jean shirt that goes in all of my capsules and my jeans stay out year-round. But besides the overlap pieces, you will wear only what is in each capsule for the three month "season" that you assigned it.

Fourth - Finalize your current capsule. (Unfancy has several good posts on this.) If you want to shoot for a number (33 and 37 are common), then either pare down or replace as needed. Or, decide what pieces you still need to be able to make outfits.

Here is where I landed. After clearing out everything that didn't fit, was worn out, I didn't love, etc. etc., I still had more than 37 items in my spring capsule. Now, I did choose to include four dresses that I pretty much only wear to church or parties. But I decided that there is no reason for me to get rid of perfectly good clothes that I love, that fit, and that are in perfect condition, just to get down to an arbitrary number. And Caroline talks about not worrying about rules and finding a number that is right for you. Hers is 37, mine is...more. The key is that an item must fit and you must love it and love wearing it for you to keep it. Once an item wears out, stops fitting, or I decide I no longer love it, it will be donated or disposed of as appropriate.

So, practically speaking, what does it look like? Here are pictures and a breakdown of the capsule (my spring capsule) that I am currently wearing:

In my spring capsule I have:
- 3 pairs of jeans
- 1 pair of capris
- 3 jean skirts
- 7 skirts
- 4 dresses
- 4 cardigans
- 1 vest
- 3 light jackets (jean, khaki, etc)
- 20 shirts
- 4 sweaters

For a grand total of 50 items of clothing. That may seem spartan or excessive to you, but its just where I'm at right now, and that's ok!

So let's stop and address some questions!
Caroline at Unfancy has a great F.A.Q page, but here are some I've run into:

Do your clothes wear out faster? Nope. Yes, you are only wearing the clothes you love, but that is probably what you were doing before! Plus, you are only wearing an item for three months before giving it a rest for 9 months. In addition, if you buy fewer items, you can save up and buy nicer clothes that are well made and will last longer. And, when you have less stuff, you take care of it better.
Bonus tip: Try buying your clothes from a thrift or consignment store. You can find great brands at really good prices. Then, if something wears out after two seasons, you spent less than $8 on it and you got your money's worth.

What about business attire/work/church/special occasion/formal clothes? If the items can be worn with your everyday clothes, include them. If not, like formals or your one Christmas-day sweater, keep them separate. You could always make a mini capsule for business or work clothes.

Why would you do capsule wardrobes? Lots of reasons. It makes it easier to get dressed when all of your options are viable options, meaning they fit, you love them, and they are seasonally appropriate. And, by putting clothes away for a time you make them last longer and curb the shopping impulse (pulling out stored clothes is so much fun and is like having new clothes!). Another advantage of a capsule wardrobe is that if the pieces all go well together, you actually have more outfits even though you have fewer items of clothing.

Talk about colors, please. Typically, it is easiest to build a capsule off of a color scheme or a few neutrals and a few accent colors. To be honest, most capsule wardrobes you see are black, gray, and white with maybe two colored scarves thrown in. If you like that, go for it. But you can do whatever you want. I, for example, do not wear black because A. I look horrifically pale in black and B. I just cannot stand to wear black. At all. So I don't wear black. But you may have noticed that I absolutely love blue, particularly navy. So, for my spring capsule, I have navy and khaki as my neutrals and I paired them with blue and white with pops of mustard yellow and deep orange. Oh, and that one pink sweater. Mom only wears black, pink, purple, and hints of turquoise. (You will get to see her wardrobe soon!) So do what you want!

Can you really make outfits out of a capsule wardrobe?

Yup! To demonstrate, I took 13 items and one scarf straight from my closet and made 20 outfits. 

 Top row - 1 jacket, 2 nice T-shirts, 2 blouses, 2 sweaters, 2 buttondown shirts.

 Bottom row - scarf, 2 skirts, 2 pants.  

See, you can totally do it!

Here are some things to consider:
- I did wear a plain white cotton camisole under most of the outfits, but of course you wouldn't count that in your capsule.
- Remember, this is not my entire capsule, it's only 13 pieces of it.
- I wore the same pair of shoes with each outfit, but changing up shoes can change up a look.
- I did not use any jewelry, which makes a BIG impact on an outfit!
- I was not crazy or even creative with pieces. I didn't wear a skirt as a dress or do anything weird.
- I did not wear any piece (besides the pants and skirts) more than four times. See? Your clothes will not wear out.
- Just adding a few more tops, a second scarf, and a khaki skirt would add so many more outfits!
- The outfits run from very casual to nice enough for me to wear to church and also work for a cool to pretty warm climate.
- It is possible to "dress up" and look decent without sacrificing ease, comfort, or practicality. These are actual outfits that I have worn or will wear. I'm not a mom but I do have a 7 year old brother and I can tell you from experience, you can wrangle kids in these outfits.

Creating a capsule wardrobe doesn't have to be hard or tied to a set of rules. The goal is to create a closet that contains things that you love to wear and that serve you well.
I want to leave you with a few links besides Unfancy
Erin has a great series on a minimalist wardrobe.
The Coletterie has a great series called Wardrobe Architect that walks you through building a wardrobe, and it geared toward sewing part of it if that is your thing. Its still a great read even if you don't sew.

If you have comments or questions or want to share your capsule wardrobe, feel free to comment!
       -Ashton

Linking up with friends!

Project Organize- Pens, Pencils and glue-oh my!

How many pencils are enough for one family? 5, 10, maybe 20?  Certainly not more.  And yet we have a lot more.  How about pens?  And glue? And, you get the idea.  It is starting to feel like an office supply store around here.

Not sure why we have so many of each.  Not even sure where half of it even came from.  But I am pretty sure we have enough to last until the rapture.  I mean, really, when was the last time you remember throwing out a pencil or pen?  And yet we still buy more.  Those silly back to school sales get us every. single. time!  We don't even GO back to school here- we school year round.  And so all those supplies begin to gravitate throughout the house.  A few here, a few there, until they are everywhere.

I thought the stacking plastic bins were the answer.  And they will have to be for some items like folders and notebooks.  But they, too, seem to be multiplying and taking up more floor space than I like.  Oh, how I would love to open a closet and actually see the floor.

And so this caught my eye. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/107593878570124386/

And I have been debating it ever since.  (see why I am not a huge fan of pintrest?!  Those images call my name and then haunt my dreams!)  After a long debate with myself, I gave in, bought a $5.00 shoe organizer, and decided to give it a try.  What do you think?

Adult stuff at top, kids stuff at bottom!

For now, I have decided not to label the pockets.  I fugured we could see what was in them!  ;)

A little more floor space!  We keep the block basket handy for when little people come to visit.

In the spirit of decluttering, I will note that I did throw out a lot of old pens and dud pencils!  Even a few sparkly craft items left over from the girls that I am pretty sure the boys are NOT interested in. And now I have cleaner drawers and fewer plastic bins. 

I have even seen this done with toiletries!  What do you think???

Blessings!

Join me next week for Project Organize- Clothes!