Do You Capsule?

"Organizing is just well planned hording.  The best way to organize is to get rid of most of your stuff." 

 The Minimalists podcast

Stay with me! I am not suggesting you get rid of all your stuff.  Really I am not.  But I am challenging you to think about what you have, why you have it, and what you really use or need.  Rearranging your hordes of stuff still leaves you with hordes of stuff.  Just in pretty containers!

Ya'll this move has really been an eye opener for me in several areas of our lives.  Moving is pretty easy for me.  I just move things from one room in a house to the same room in a different house.  Done!  But this time we did parts of the move on our own (the military has always moved us before) and saw a few areas that needed some attention.

Like clothes!  Yep, back on that merry-go-round.  Seems like one I keep revisiting.  Is it just me?

I moved all my clothes up here myself.  And I put them all back in my closet.  And then I had a heart to heart talk with myself and decided some things needed to be changed.  The lack of organization made my head spin.

I would certainly not call myself a hoarder when it comes to clothes, but let's just say I like them.  A lot.  I am also pretty fickle about my "style" and therefore often end up with a bunch of random pieces.  Thankfully, I have moved back to a place that has four seasons, though mild, and can go back to more of a capsule wardrobe.

Here's my plan-

• 3 tubs of off season clothing (one for each of the three not currently being worn)

• Current season hung in closet hung up

• Church/dress clothes hung together (all seasons)

• A few "completer" pieces that span the seasons left hanging

Yep that is it. Not rocket science.  well, deciding what season a few things went into were a bit harder than others, but luckily my oldest was here to help when I got the wild hair to get it together!

Here's what it is NOT-

An amazing curated 33 item wardrobe for each season-  While I love the Project 333 idea, I am not as much stuck on a number, as I am determined to have only what I need a love, and while I LOVE seeing pictures with all those coordinating colors and beautiful monochromatic color palettes, that is just not me.

Here is what it IS-

Suited to fit me.  And you should do the same.  Copying someone else's' capsule does not work.  Trust me on this one, I know.  You will end up with a closet of stuff that looks really cute on someone else.

Random number of items.  My winter and spring capsules are smaller than my fall and summer.  Who knows why.

Fewer things, but nicer items!  I am all for a fun graphic tee shirt or trendy item at a cheap price, but I want to focus more on quality items that will last for more than three months.

A few things will travel from one capsule to the other and probably never see the bins.  There are jeans I have I wear all year.  There are a few basic layering tees, short and long sleeve, that I wear all seasons.  They will just stay put once I turn to a new capsule.

A lesson in progress.  I am new to this area.  In reality, I have NO real idea of how the seasons will look.  I am tentatively planning on-

Dec/Jan/Feb= winter
Mar/April/May=spring
June/July/Aug= summer
Sept/Oct/Nov= fall

But I may find I need to expand or shorten those once I get there.  We will see and that's ok!

This is also a time that I want to evaluate each piece as I bring it out for a new season.  If I love it and wear it, it stays.  Otherwise, off it goes.

A quick update on some of the ideas I was processing through about minimalist clothing  a few weeks ago

• I am still committed to 20 in 20 where you only buy 20 articles of clothing in 2020.  I am up to 6, but they all have been carefully thought out pieces and filled holes in my closet.  Like two new sweaters because I am not in Phoenix anymore and it gets cold up here in the mountains.

• Buying second hand.  Trying to stick to this mostly, but I have seen some sales that I think would be less expensive than buying used, so that I am pondering.  Maybe the point is not about the price but about being good stewards of things and "recycling."  Hmmmmm, thoughts on that anyone?

• Project 333 Again, I am not following that down to the letter of the law, but it did remind me of why I love capsules and has some good general rules to follow.  It spurned me on to get it together!  Founder Courtney Carver has a new book coming out soon and I cannot wait to read it!

Minimalist Clothes

Before you get too excited, no, I am not a minimalist and yes, I have too many clothes.  I have in the past pared WAY down and even done a two season capsule, but somehow it tends to get away from me and once again I will find myself with too many things, half of which are not my favorites.

I do sway towards wanting to be a minimalist.  No, not the "get rid of everything you own and sit on the floor," but more the "surround yourself with only the things you love and use."

Shop purposeful.
  
Live purposeful. 

This latest move has shown me once again that random stuff is not what I want in my life.  When you have to pack and unpack everything you own every several years it makes you reconsider what is truly important to you.  This move has been no different, and I have been so thankful that 34 Weeks of Clean is not just something I write about, but something we live!

Honestly, if I went around with a bag and tried to gather up things I could throw out and not miss, the list would be small.

Except for clothes.  Yes, I may have fewer than many people, but I still have more than I need.

My issue is what to do about that.  I like to shop, so the first step is to stop shopping for a while.  In stores or online.  This means staying OUT of stores and OFF online clothing sites.  YOU may have more will power than I do, but sister, those places are bad news for me.

The other ideas I am still processing through look like this-

• #20in2020dressing- Committing to buying only 20 clothing items in the year.  No judgement- from your side or mine.  This was recommended to me by some friends who are doing it and the idea is intriguing.  I am working through this idea.  You can see her plan at her blog!

• Only buying second hand.  This is actually more of a challenge for me.  Full disclosure- I love Stitch Fix. I love shiny stores.  I already told you I love clothes!  But places like Poshmark and Thred Up (referral link!) sell things at a fraction of the cost and often in perfect condition or even tags on.  Since I know what sizes I wear in the brands I like, it will be easy for me to search for exactly what I need.  Notice the word need!

• Back to basics!  I love the idea of a capsule wardrobe and have written about them in the past and I love the many pictures I see of them.  They speak to the organizational side of me.  Lately I have been following some friends in a group called Polished Plaid Fashion Challenge that helps you create a capsule and then use it to get dressed for about a month.  It works for me, takes the guess work out of my "what to wear" problem, and makes my mornings pretty thought free.  (Not to mention I LOVE the community these gals have created! Seriously, want to make some new friends and be encouraged and cheered on, join this group!  They will begin a new challenge in March.)  Since we are now living in a 4 season climate what I would like to do is create a 4 season capsules that I can rotate through. 

• Project 333- This is where capsules rubber meets the road.  While I am not stuck on the magic number of living with 33 items (in total or in each season's capsule!) the principles she uses are solid and I am hoping to learn from those principles, taking what works, and tweaking what doesn't.  I am not an all neutral girl, but I do own a few too many floral tops.  Just saying! 

So yep, as I am unpacking this week, these are just a few of the MANY things running through my head.  Once I land on a plan, I will be sure to update you!  In the meantime, I would LOVE to hear how you manage your clothes.  Really!  Leave me a note.

Blessings,

Too Many Books?

Some sweet friends asked me last week how to organize and declutter the books.  Like I know.  haha


"Michele - do you have a blog post about purging books... I have a major book problem. Especially children's books. And with kids ages 9, 8, 5, and 2, nothing's really outgrown yet so I don't know what criteria to use to get rid of anything!"


Yep, it is hard.  Which is why you have not seen a post around here about it until now.  They kind of put me on the spot. ;)  It is also why I am going to turn this post over to my wise daughter in a moment and let her guide you.  She is a minimalist, remember - but she LOVES books and could have books problem like the rest of us if she was not very careful.  She also guilts shames helps me hold my book problem to only a minor problem.  Mostly.

Before she gets you all straightened out let me say this -

I love books.  Biographies, fiction, children's books, antique books, it doesn't really matter.  In the past I have not been too picky.  Now I am trying to be more so.  I also do own an iPad on which I download books to read.  Many of them are still sitting there to read because I forget about them.  It is a concept that I embrace, but not one I am real good at implementing.  Yet.  I am trying.  We also are trying to utilize the library more.  Don't get me wrong, we have always loved libraries.  But in the past we have just added those books to the dozens a month we bought.  Now we are trying to let the library buy the books and just borrow them instead.   Keep in mind, that I also have kids in four very distinct age groups so I understand that problem.  I am also a military wife and we move.  Often.  And my husband is sure that most of our weight is in books.  He may be right.  SO that being said - here's Ashton!

As mom mentioned, I am pretty minimalistic in many ways, but my biggest weakness is books.  I love books. I actually own a NOOK and have the NOOK and Kindle apps on my phone but still, I have this need to hold a real book.  I have, however, been thinking about ways to cut back on books. It started when we moved and almost all of my books were packed up in boxes and then re-packed in tubs because there simply isn't space in my room for them. So I've been without most of my books for almost a year now. And while I have missed many of my books, but there are others that I had forgotten I had. Clearly those need to go.

If you go through your books, you will probably find you own different books for different reasons. The first step is to decide why you own a book. Is it because...
1. You love it - This is a great reason to keep a book. If you plan to read it over and over again, by all means, keep it.
2. It is helpful/a frequently used reference book - If you garden, keep the gardening books you use the most. But if you never garden, don't keep books on gardening.  With the internet, you might be able to do without owning a dictionary, or more than one dictionary.  Do you use that book often enough to warrant keeping it, or it is good enough that you can check it out at the library?
3. Someone gave it to you - Sometimes this is a good reason to keep a book. Most of the time it is not. If it was a gift and you are never going to read it or you didn't love it, pass it on to someone who will read it and love it. And let us all pledge to stop giving coffee table-type books as gifts. Thank you.
4. It makes you look intelligent - This is not a good reason to keep a book. You are going to look downright un-intelligent when you have to confess that you haven't actually read War and Peace, but you keep it on a prominent shelf to make people think you have read it.
5. You might need it someday - How likely is it that you are really going to need that book on...whatever obscure topic? Give it to the library and you can borrow it if you do end up needing it.
6. You needed it...once - But do you need it now? Yes, you needed that text book in college, but do you need it or reference it now?

If you are overwhelmed, start with a shelf. Pull out a book. Do you love it? Yes? Great, put it back on a shelf. No? Ok, so why do you own it? If you haven't read it, do you honestly plan to? If you have read it but don't like it, why are you holding on to it?
Bottom line, if you wouldn't read it or reference it again, don't keep it. It is pretty much that simple (or not).

Antiques. I love antiques, and I used to own a lot of antique books. But I realized that they were a problem, for several reasons. First of all, few of them were books I would actually read. Second, few of them were in good enough condition to actually be read. Third, I have serious allergies, and dust and mildew and mold create huge problems for me. Guess what old books usually contain? Right. So now I don't keep an antique book unless it is a book I actually want to read (and love) and it is actually readable. (I now only own the Bible Dictionary in the picture up there.) It does you no good to have an antique Dick and Jane if it is falling apart and you can't let your kids actually hold it and read it. Let a museum or library or decorator have it (and antique books usually sell pretty well).

Collecting. I hereby confess to owning every one of the 50 original Nancy Drew books. But I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with them. They are special because some of them were mom's, others I found and family found for me, and I just love reading them. I am a total Nancy Drew nerd. And before they were packed away, I read them all the time (they are the perfect length to read during lunch, just saying). So if you love a series, keep them. But don't keep a series if you don't love it or just to keep it. And books are meant to be read, not looked at. Oh, and no multiple editions. Trust me, you can only read one copy at a time.

Children's books can be harder, but there are ways to manage them.

1. Only keep books your children like (within reason). Don't hold onto books just because you like them, especially if your children do not like them. Of course, there will be exceptions to this one.
2. Stick to favorites and classics. When choosing which books to keep for the next child or even their children, stick to the favorites and classics. Choose books that mean something and skip the Tonka truck and Barbie books (unless those are the ones that mean something to you). Also, skip the ones you can easily find at the library.
3. Be careful with "classics." Ok, I am about to tell you a dark secret. Many books that are considered "classics" are actually terrible books. There. I said it. Don't keep a book because it is a classic, keep it because it is good. This goes for any "classic" book.
Example. I can't stand The Scarlet Letter. (Please don't come after me.) I know there is great symbolism, history, etc. etc. etc. in that book, but I thought it was terrible. So I don't own a copy. If I ever hit my head really hard on something and want to read it again, it is easily found at the library and is not taking up space on my shelf in the meantime.
4. Focus on books for all ages. I am always amazed at what little ones pick up by just listening. And while it is great to have books at their level for them to enjoy, they are also capable of listening to and enjoying many books meant for older kids. They may not catch every detail, but someday they will.

I am sure there are more ideas that I'll think of later, so this post might have a part 2, but I am not promising anything...And while my books are packed away right now, I will definitely be donating a bunch when I unpack them someday soon!
What did I miss? Are there tips you would add? Do you hoard books like mom? =)
   -Ashton

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