My Capsule Wardrobe: Fighting the Urge To Live In Excess (Part 2)

If you'd like to find out why I am doing this, please read Part One here!

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Now you know the why.

So this is the how.

When I first began "decluttering" my closet, I really didn't know where I was going with it.  I knew I had to get rid of things, but I wasn't really sure what would happen after that.  The wardrobe I had amassed had been growing for years.  I had grown and changed.  I had babies and I lost weight.  I had no idea what I really even had or how much of it would fit, so mostly, I was just so happy that I could do this in the quiet privacy of my closed bedroom.    

And even though I hoarded tons and tons of things, I've never been "known" for my clothing.  Really, like most people, I felt like I was wearing the same three or four things Every. Single. Day.  

So I started with sorting.  I made the three obvious piles: Keep, Donate, Not sure.

I began to count the clothes as they came out of my closet and off the hangers.  

One....two....twenty...fifty seven....

When I hit 175, I just stopped keeping track.  At that point, it really didn't matter anymore.  I knew it was just a silly amount, and I honestly, I didn't want a record to even remember.

I kept noticing that the "keep" pile was consistently the smallest.  I was being very critical.  If it didn't fit, if I didn't love it, if I wasn't actually going to wear it, I didn't want it anymore.  

The more I took out, the lighter I felt.  As I separated my identity from these pieces of fabric, I began to feel bigger than this pile on my bed.  I was letting go of things I didn't need, and they were easily becoming things I genuinely didn't want anymore. 

In the end, I took three huge trash bags of clothes and shoes to Goodwill to donate them.  And I praised God for being my true comfort and for becoming more and more the desire of my heart.  And that was that.

Until it wasn't.

The day after my major clean-out, my closet looked sparse.  It looked sad and sickly.  And it made me a little sad.  It seemed like nothing went with anything.  I loved everything I had kept- about 50 things all together- but none of it seemed to make sense.  Like I said before: I don't think things are inherently bad.  I think beautiful clothes and shoes and jewelry are all good things- if enjoyed in the proper ways.  I felt like I had the keys to do that now, so I started doing research on capsule wardrobes.  

I watched so many Youtube videos and read so many blogs about them.  If you don't know what a "capsule wardrobe" is (like I didn't...), it's basically a small collection of clothes, shoes, and accessories that work well with each other.

Let me interject here.  If you google the term "capsule wardrobe," be prepared to be inundated with a massive amount of information.  There are so many blogs and articles and videos and opinions out there.  Pinterest it, and look at how many things pop up.  It's a LOT.  

Most everything I read or saw that really resonated with me pointed me back to Project 333.  The basic idea is to have a collection of 33 pieces- this usually includes everything except undergarments, jewelry, and home lounge wear or workout clothes.  These 33 items are then switched out every 3 months, or once every season.

I figured this would work for me, so I pulled out all the clothes I had left and began to see what worked well together.  Ultimately, I ended up with two main categories: what went with black and what went with brown.  Since I greatly prefer black during Christmas and brown during the fall, I opted to box up all my black things for now.  I didn't completely get rid of them.  They're sitting patiently and waiting until winter to be worn again.

The internet suggests creating a color pallet of what looks best on you.  There are a ton of fun online quizzes you can take to get this info, but for me, I already knew I owned a lot of (and loved) the colors mustard yellow, turquoise, and a pale pink. I added white as another neutral, and that made my color pallet complete.  It works well because I can switch out my browns for blacks, and these colors still work quiet beautifully.

Ultimately, what I kept was lovely.  I did pick up a couple of dresses and a new pair of jeans to round out everything, and I replaced one mustard colored cardigan for another because my old one was pretty tattered.  Other than that, I went with what I had, and this is what I ended up with:

Four Cardigans

Ten tops

Four bottoms

One sweater

Five Dresses

Six Pairs of Shoes

Three Scarves

I did not include my jewelry because I don't often wear much besides my wedding band and earrings anyway.

So there it is.  That's 33 things.  I probably won't stick to that number religiously forever, and I definitely won't switch out my browns for my blacks in exactly three months, but it was a great starting point for me. 

Every morning, as I open my closet now, I feel like I'm more than a rack of clothes.  I'm bigger than any pile of laundry.  I don't need these things anymore. 

Now I can enjoy beautiful things as I identify as a child of the greatest Comforter who has made me more through Him.

And that's a wonderful thing to desire.