I Needed a Wardrobe Makeover, and I Didn't Even Know It

I've been a busy bee for a couple days now.

Yesterday I decided it was high time to check off an item on my Spring Cleaning list: organize the hall closet.

We don't have any closets in our bathrooms so all of our extra toiletries, cleaning supplies, beach towels, and a bunch of random other things end up in our hallway closet. It's a small closet, with one of those smaller doors, and I felt more and more things were being piled in there with no order. So I pulled everything out, set it on our bed, and started going through it.

I pitched a lot of things and made better use of some tubs and bins we had in there that weren't being used well (like, they had two things in them!) I moved some things out of there that didn't really make sense (like hummingbird feeders) and put everything back together in a more orderly fashion. I have a shelf dedicated to cleaning, not much change there; a shelf now dedicated to health things like gloves, masks, alcohol wipes, neb carrying cases, etc; a shelf of toiletries, the freebies you get from the dentist, and other mini's you might like for traveling; and finally a shelf of randoms because, well, it's impossible to avoid. I was happy with the end result.

Today... oof, let me tell you. I attacked my closet.

You probably wouldn't find me on a show like What Not to Wear, but my closet needed a makeover. I didn't realize it, but I was holding onto so much clothes that I never really wore.

This all started last night. I read a blog post shared by Jarrod's cousin Melissa about some lady who got rid of nearly all of her clothes. She was inspired by a woman who advocates for doing a "capsule wardrobe." I was intrigued and amped up last night right before bed, and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. So instead, I started looking through my closet and pulling out a few items to get rid of. I think I pulled out 8-10 things, I was happy, and I went to bed.

Today, I looked more into this blog called Unfancy by a woman named Caroline, which was the inspiration for the other woman's closet redo. A quick Wikipedia search told me that a "capsule wardrobe" was a term coined by a designer in the '70s and popularized by Donna Karen. The principal behind it is you have minimal clothes, but your wardrobe is filled with staple items that will never go out of fashion and can be paired with almost anything in season.

I started with Caroline's Unfancy strategy and adapted it for myself. She argues to have a 37-piece wardrobe of items that you absolutely LOVE, one for each of the 4 seasons. This wardrobe does NOT include pajamas, workout clothes, t-shirts, and the junk jeans you'd wear to work on your house. She broke each capsule down for herself into:

• 15 tops
• 9 bottoms
• 9 pairs of shoes
• 2 dresses
• 2 jackets/coats

I started to create my own plan. I didn't feel that having a set wardrobe for spring, summer, fall, and winter would really work for me. Our seasons bleed into each other so much, as evidenced by right now where it is 64 degrees, which is a tad chilly when it was 82 like last week. 

I ditched the jackets/coats category. I also didn't want to limit myself to so few dresses. Some recommend using Rent the Runway for special occasions, whereas I'd prefer to go find my own dress at the store. So for myself, I doubled her numbers, made changes, and broke it down to Spring/Summer wardrobe, and Fall/Winter wardrobe. I set my goals as:

• 30 tops
• 18 bottoms
• 18 pairs of shoes
• a roundabout goal of 70 items, give or take in the categories

And then I got to work.

If you want to actually pare down your closet, you MUST pull out everything on hangers and empty you drawers and lay it all out. She says it here, and I 100% agree. (I would also recommend washing anything dirty so that you have everything there, there's no use doing this twice.) Then I would sort things as either:

1. Love's – keepers
2. Maybe's [things that I only 'kinda' like, things that don't fit great, only holding onto for sentimental reasons, are worn out or faded, could be replaced] – put in box, store away, if you don't go back to them during the season, then get rid of them
3. Nope's – donate

I started with my shoes and classified them into Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter. There were a few crossovers (like black flats) but surprisingly most of them fit into either or the other label. I realized I'm not going to wear my peep-toe pumps when it's cold out, and I'm not going to wear my riding boots when it's 90° outside. Check shoes off the list!

Then I got to work on the bottoms. This involved a lot of trying on to make sure things fit. I realized I had two pairs of black dress slacks. Now yes, I've always known I had two pairs but this is a small testimony to why you have to pull everything out of your closet. Because then and there, I realized I had two pairs I hardly wear, since I'm no longer in a professional setting that requires them, so why do I need two? They were different sizes, so I put one in my Maybe pile, and kept the other for Fall/Winter.

Then I got to work on all of the tops & dresses I own. For my purposes, I divided them into the right seasonal category, then I started the hard part. Except, since I was already in the zone after going through the shoes and bottoms, it wasn't that difficult. Once I was done, I went back and added a few more items to my Maybe pile. 

I was curious how I did. I started counting things up and I actually did quite well! I ended up right on target to where I wanted to be. I didn't count tennis shoes towards my shoe count, and I kept jeans for year-round. But even so, here is how it all shook out:

I've got 31 items and 3 scarves in my donate pile. And I ended up with 49 items in the Maybe bin.

I did not end up with a "capsule wardrobe" by any means, neither was I setting out to create one. The idea was simply my jumping off point to actually clean up my closet and finally rid myself of things I never wear, or things that I don't absolutely love. Why put yourself in clothes that don't boost your confidence or make you happy?

I learned that I had held onto a lot of items with the idea that I might someday need them. I had a lot of things that I used to wear in high school too, which was 10 years ago. I don't wear these things anymore, and clearly I wouldn't find an occasion to wear them. I got rid of a lot of things because I realized they just weren't my style anymore. I used to wear very different clothes from what I wear today. At this point, hanging onto them thinking I might dip back into that style is just silly.

I have packrat tendencies, and I completely realize that I need to apply these ideas to a lot of the other STUFF in my life. But it's much more difficult to be so black and white, I love this or I don't like this, with objects from my past. Those are tied more to the memories and feelings they evoke than my clothes are.

But for now, I'm going to bask in my accomplishment and not worry about all of the other things I could possibly get rid of. I did a BIG thing today, and I'm very happy with how things turned out. Deciding what to wear just became easier, because there's less to choose from and my closet doesn't look nearly as overwhelming. I used to stow some items in the spare bedroom closet during their off season, but it wasn't as cut and dry as this. Now, my entire Fall/Winter wardrobe is in there, and I'm not touching it. When I bring it out in the fall, it'll probably feel a little more exciting, almost new in some ways. I'll assess again if there is anything I feel needs to go and shop for new things I might want, and hopefully this simple rotation will help keep my closet in check.

I wish I would have taken some 'before' pictures, but I was so anxious to get started I got everything out of the closet before the thought crossed my mind. So 'after' pictures will have to do:

Fall/Winter 

Spring/Summer