Building a Capsule Wardrobe {Fashion + How-To}

This year I have really been trying to purge a lot of excess stuff in my life, and clothes have been a big one! Before becoming a mom I used to get dressed up for work almost everyday. Now days a pair of jean shorts and t-shirt do the job just fine, or even workout clothes. I do still try and get dressed everyday, it just helps me mentally to be more productive. But I have a lot of dressy clothes that I just don’t need anymore, or at least I could put some away for now. Then I heard about the Capsule Wardrobe and I was intrigued!

If you don’t know what a Capsule Wardrobe is, here is a great explanation from the creator Caroline herself:

(photo cred: un-fancy.com)

There are some fun rules as well, but I wasn’t doing this to follow rules per-say.I just wanted to have a less cluttered closet, with less stress on finding what to wear, more room to be creative for what I have, and stop spending money on clothes I don’t need. I love Carolines quote:

I remembered why I do it: So I can do more meaningful things with my time and energy. So I can avoid emotional purchases, avoid overspending. So I can build an intentional wardrobe that makes me want to do a happy dance.

I decided to go with the number 50 and maybe eventually I will scale down from there. I was very pleased at how my closet turned out. I love patterns and color, so my capsule closet is a bit brighter than most peoples, but hey what can I say I am just not a black and white girl.

So here is my before closet (the bottom is all workout tops, that’s for another day):

And after: 

Side by Side: (I promise there are about 50 items less)

I am donating a ton to goodwill and friends. The stuff I wasn’t 100% sure about a put in a box and will take out in three months and see if I even missed it. I also stuck with all white hangers and that helps the de-clutter look a lot!

As far as pants and shorts, I narrowed them down to just a few.

I put up four dressed that I know I will wear this summer and about eight pairs of shoes (not including running shoes, those are in the garage).

My goals for myself are to pair down even more as well as not shop for three months for a single item. If I feel like I don’t have anything to wear, then it is time to get creative! The hardest part of this challenge is just finding time to do it. It takes time to sort through everything, but in the end it is quite freeing!

Question: Do you think a capsule wardrobe is something you could do or are doing?