When I was pregnant, I loved getting dressed. Not only for the opportunity to accessorize my cute little bump, but also because it was easy. Of course, I bought plenty of cute maternity tops and pants and dresses - but compared to my pre-baby wardrobe - the amount of clothing I had available to me was negligible.
Quite awhile after I had Olive and recovered (and lost all of that baby weight), I packed up my maternity clothes and tucked them neatly into 1.5 under bed storage bins. All of the clothing items I had worn day in and day out for the past 5 months could fit into 1.5 bins. Bras and maternity underwear included. When I turned back to my actual wardrobe, filled with hundreds (literally, hundreds) of tees, sweaters, jeans, dresses, skirts, blouses, sweatshirts, dress pants... it was overwhelming. And the irony was I didn't want to wear half of it for one reason or another. The fit wasn't quite right, or the color didn't suit me, or I bought it because it was super cheap on sale and I didn't even really like it, or the classic - I'll keep this until I can fit into it...
Getting dressed was a chore and I had to try on every outfit I put together to make sure it fit alright. It wasn't 'fun' anymore, Then, I started noticing bloggers doing capsule collections. Picking a set number of tops, pants, dresses and shoes, and wearing and re-wearing them only for a set amount of days.
This was very appealing for a working mom of a toddler who doesn't want to think so much about her clothes but still wants to look "fashionable".
I did some more research and one blog in particular said to do this -
- Take everything out of your closet. EVERYTHING.
- Take each piece and put it in one of three categories:
- LOVE IT. I'd wear it right now. No questions asked. - These items go back in your closet.
- NOPE. - Get rid of it.
- Maybe. - To me, this was anything outside of Love it and Nope. Put it in a box and store it. If you don't go looking for any of it over the next 6-12 months. Send them the way of the nopes.
Can I just tell you how freeing this process was?
This blog (
here) had for more in depth options for paring down even further and creating a perfect 37 piece capsule collection, however, I didn't need to take it that far. By doing this process alone, I had more than halved my wardrobe and the irony was I felt really,
really good about it. I'm living on my LOVE ITs and having no problems feeling good about getting dressed every day.
My maybes are still hanging on the bottom rack, just in case, but over the past month I haven't touched them. In fact, I think now is already a good time to pick through them again and find a few more 'Nopes'.
If you haven't done this to your wardrobe in awhile - DO IT. If you are frustrated and feel like you have nothing to wear - DO IT. Make the tough calls and be honest with yourself. You'll feel so much better about your wardrobe when you do!
Simplify y'all!
