- See more at: http://www.jetseotools.com/free-meta-tag-generator/output#sthash.UfVEJ6sq.dpuf Wardrobe Woes - Making Progress on My Capsule Wardrobe - Knitting is the new Nintendo

Wardrobe Woes - Making Progress on My Capsule Wardrobe

Almost a month later I've completed the 2 week program to upgrade my wardrobe. (See my precursor to this post here if you missed it.) Haha, story of my life! I was so busy I couldn't even do the program meant for busy people in the allotted time frame. I suppose had I really committed to it every day I would have gotten it done in a reasonable time frame, but life happens as I'm sure you know!

Anyways, I've finally created for myself a capsule wardrobe! However, I'll be honest, it's not as minimal as I was hoping, yet still a significant improvement. I will not downplay the fact that it was really difficult. Something I've wanted to do for a while, so at least I was mentally prepared, but perhaps maybe I've thought about it too much so it was overwhelming. My dilemma first and foremost is that I have too much. Plain and simple, I had a closet full of clothes, yet nothing to wear. I am a sentimentalist and honestly love all of my clothes, but find it really hard to get rid of old pieces even if I only wear them once in a blue moon. Thus I gave myself some grace in creating my first ever capsule wardrobe. I know some people can go in one fell swoop and donate everything they remove from their closet in the first try, but that's not going to be doable for everyone, me included.

I'm just happy I was able to make some progress with this project, maybe I'm not quite where I want to be, but I'm proud of myself nonetheless. Just look at the amount of hangers I have left after!

Hopefully I won't need this many hangers ever again!
In the end I've paired down my capsule wardrobe to approximately 70 items. Some of you are probably thinking that's how much you have in your closet now! I know, I know, so that's why I needed to do something! But remember this number includes all bottoms, tops, outerwear, and footwear (for me that doesn't include workout or sleep wear, accessories, or dresses). I'll attempt to break down my full capsule in another post another day as I still have yet to tweak a few things.
This is basically my closet now :) so much better!

When upgrading my closet there were two things that contributed to it being more difficult than what the average blogger makes it out to be. Part 1 of my stress was considering the fact that I live in a city where the seasons are not distinct. Last fall we got a huge dump of snow in the first week of September, then we hit +22 degrees mid March. Temperamental weather is the main topic of conversation in this city and that will never change as will trying to keep a wardrobe accommodating to this type of climate change without taking up a whole closet! In addition to the seasons I also need to consider my work life. Unlike most of the bloggers who I've seen do capsule wardrobes, I have to dress business/smart casual for work which means I need to leave some room for extra pieces for that. Some of the blogging ladies recommend doing a completely separate capsule wardrobe for work then, but I've attempted to have pieces crossover to minimize numbers. Plus I'm trying to grow into a more smart casual style in everyday life anyways. Those two things in mind it made it tough for me to eliminate items. Hopefully if you are creating a capsule wardrobe you are able to navigate these challenges easier than I did!

Since I need to keep a seasonal wardrobe, instead of donating everything I simply packed what I am keeping away (the reason behind the name 'capsule') so that when fall arrives I can put away my summer pieces and pull out the cozier items. I plan to do this approximately every 3 months and my hope is that each time it will get easier to get rid of items that I haven't worn in a while, thus lowering my item count a little each time.

All in all, I'm loving my 'new and improved' wardrobe so far! It's a complete shift in thinking for me to have so much less to choose from. It's causing me to be more creative and more importantly to be content with less, ultimately it's the track I want to be on and am excited to see how this goes over the next few months.

Do you think you'd ever attempt a capsule wardrobe?

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