As most of you know, back in the fall I put together a fall capsule wardrobe. To find out what that even means, as well as, why and how I put it together, click HERE. This post is mainly to give you an update on how it has worked out and to show you how I transitioned my fall capsule wardrobe into a winter capsule wardrobe.
First, I’m not lying here, making a capsule wardrobe may have been one of the best decisions of my adult life. Yes, it took some time and money (but not much!) on the front end, but then once I had my wardrobe set, it saved time and money on the back end.
Once my capsule wardrobe was set, I didn’t buy any clothes for myself for the entire fall season and I loved the clothes that I had. It was so much faster getting ready each day and for the first time in MANY years I felt that I could actually look “put together.”
Now I will say, that among the many many reasons that I’ve loved having a capsule wardrobe, there have been a couple drawbacks that I have found.
1) It was a slight inconvenience that my clothes were mostly limited to everyday clothes. Therefore, I didn’t have a ton of options for church or dressier occasions. So, if you have to dress up for work every day, I feel like you would almost need a work capsule wardrobe and an everyday capsule wardrobe (which is actually what my sister did).
However, since I only have church once a week and I only had to dress up two other times, it worked out okay for me.
2) If you enjoy dressing for certain events, for example, if you like to wear red around Christmas or Valentine’s Day, you may find yourself a bit stuck. I own one red casual shirt and a dressier cranberry colored shirt. Normally no big deal, I hardly wear red at all. However, we had a Valentine’s Thing at church and I was kinda stuck with the cranberry shirt because it was pretty much all I had.
Is this a big deal in the grand scheme of things? I would say no, but it depends on who you are.
My Hubs even thought it was completely ridiculous that I thought I needed to wear a certain color. He was actually going to wear bright yellow pants, which I may or may not have talked him out of right before we left.
But ya know what?
If he went in yellow pants, we still would have had a great time, and it would NOT have been the end of the world.
These ARE just clothes we are talking about people.
So anyway, for three months, (October through December) with the exception of maybe twice, I stuck with my 39 articles of clothing. It was great!
But by the time Christmas rolled around, I was ready to change it up a little bit.
I decided that for my winter wardrobe (January through March), I was just going to pull out a few of my lighter shirts and cardigans from the fall wardrobe and replace them with a few thicker sweaters and vests. I didn’t need a total re-haul, I just needed to add a little spice to my life!
I got a few clothes ideas from jane.com and puttingmetogether.com. These websites are both great for helping me see what is trendy right now, and they give me ideas on how to wear the clothes that I already own!
To start off, I pulled out a few heavy sweaters from my stored away clothes bin, and since Christmas was coming up, I also found a few items that I really liked and I put them on my Christmas list for my family. …and lo and behold, I got a few!
Probably my favorite gift was this shirt here…
Pretty simple right?
I wanted it because A) it’s really soft and comfy and B) I knew it would match all my other clothes and add a little fun.
And it TOTALLY has! Here are a few new winter wardrobe outfits that I’ve been able to come up with wearing this shirt and adding a couple vests, scarves, and sweaters…
I show you these because there’s an important point here…just because you may be a little bored of your clothes, it DOES NOT mean that you need to start all the way over!
Sometimes, you just need one piece (like my checked shirt) to add life to your existing wardrobe!
As you see in the pictures, it’s not even the focal point of most of the outfits, but it just adds a little somethin’ somethin’…AND it’s always the first layer because I love how soft it is!
I also discovered something wonderful this last fall and I added it to my winter wardrobe capsule. It basically defines what I want in all my clothes…Comfy AND Cute.
It is called…
The Cowl Neck Sweater
They are pretty popular, so I’m guessing a lot of you know about the awesomeness. But if not, let me tell you that…
It is basically the perfect article of clothing.
It feels as comfortable as a hooded sweatshirt, so I can wear it with my pajama pants at night. BUT I can also wear it with some jeans and boots, and look cute!
I can add my sporty vest and hat and we can go hiking, or I can put on my dressier vest with a scarf and go out to dinner!
It’s so versatile! …and did I mention comfy?
So basically, to transition from my fall capsule to my winter capsule, I just took out 8 articles of clothing and I added 8 articles (all of which were given to me, or I bought with Christmas or Birthday money).
I needed fewer shoes because I’m mainly wearing my two pairs of boots. Then, I added a couple vests, collared shirts, and thick sweaters.
It was just. that. easy. ..and now I’m ready for another three months of cute outfits!
So, all in all, I would say the capsule wardrobes have been MAGNIFICENT!
I love how much room I have in my closet, I love how simple it has made the clothes aspect of my life, and I love that it’s been fun, cheap, and that I no longer look disheveled and homeless…well at least most days. Ha!
I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with my spring and summer clothes (which are always the toughest for me).
So, have any of you tried a capsule wardrobe??
Are you thinking about it but aren’t sold on it or have questions? I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions!
Simple and Sweet 