The Most Perfect Infographic for Shopping

Just a little something to consider as you peruse the great sales this weekend...

This is perfect and I'm going to ask myself these questions when I buy anything. Yes, shopping trips will double in length but my closet will thank me! Thanks, WhoWhatWear! See the whole article here.

On purging and saving

Today I spent a bit of long overdue time going through what I like to think of as my "should it stay or should it go?" pile. I have a bad habit of forming piles of clothing that linger for weeks as I decide what their fate will be. There's a Goodwill pile near the door, a "possibly sell" pile near the window, a "pawn off to friends" pile that sometimes mixes with the "possibly sell" pile... Basically my room is a reject pile while my closet has become a shining example of the things I actually want to wear. My poor, sweet E has to dodge around too-big jackets and shrunken skirts while I make up my mind! These piles used to be the norm for me- I would go shopping and come home and do a mini-closet purge, getting rid of some of the items that my new purchase would replace. This was a regular habit, once or twice a month I'd haul away a trove of new treasures for thrifters to rummage through.

Now that I've begun work on a consistent capsule wardrobe, my piles are getting smaller and my trips  to drop off more frequent. I don't know that I would call the feeling of getting rid of a bunch of stuff that I don't want or need exhilarating, but it definitely is a great feeling. Now that I know what I need/want to function, I can get rid of so many things. Do I need 5 pairs of jeans? No! Do I want this ill-fitting shirt? No! Off to the thrift store for someone else to hopefully enjoy. 

Now that my closet is significantly less cluttered, I'm seeing the same problem and solution in everything. Why do I need a pile of old magazines, or 20 half-burnt candles? Into the trash! I see the benefit of ditching things I don't immediately see use for. I can feel myself getting a little manic about it. It's kind of exhausting, actually. Clutter now stresses me out. I'm looking around our living room now, and there are at least 3 things I'm craving to donate. I guess I need to find a good balance between donating and storing. There are some things that I want to get rid of, but I know I'm going to want again in a few months. When I was researching decluttering, I came across this theory of how to decide whether or not something stays: The 20/20 rule. This rule states that you can and should get rid of something you don't currently want or need if you could get it within 20 minutes and for less than $20 if you suddenly required it. Example: Biking. Now, I used to be an inspiring biker when I lived in Wichita- with its quiet, flat streets and my copious free time. Living in Texas and working and going to school have left me with neither free time nor quiet streets. What should I do with my biking gear? I don't need it currently. My bike was significantly upwards of $20 and it would be hard to find a similar model, so I should keep my bike and store it. My old biking shorts, however, are just sitting around, taking up space, and reminding me that I don't have time for this hobby I enjoy. If I suddenly had a great need to ride my bike, I could easy just go buy new shorts for less than $20. So, bike is stored for later, and shorts are gotten rid of.

I want to apply this rule more universally to my life. For all the random knickknacks and books, the chipped plates and vases sitting around. I don't need those things, and they certainly wouldn't be hard to replace if I wanted them. Our homes, closets, and lives should be filled with things that uplift us and bring us joy to look at and use!

Now that this has become my mindset, I find myself only wanting these happy, productive items around. That means I need storage for the happy, productive things that I don't need currently, but will want later. I have a system in place for seasonal decorative things like our vases, votives, and tablecloths, but I really need a good storage solution for my out of season clothing. Our closet space is a little tight, but manageable. Any tips on how to appropriately store my sweaters and boots? I'm all ears!

Simple Gray

As I put together this outfit this morning I thought, "My! this is boring." But is it? I'm not sure. I don't know if classics can be boring. I saw the white and the gray together and it felt so fresh and clean I had to wear it.

Mango button up, Gap sweater, Gap jeans, Gap ankle boots (sold out, similar), Target necklace (reallllly old, similar)

In case you were wondering, this is my team's jeans week at school. We can wear jeans with non-school shirts for a week, whereas usually we can only have on jeans with school shirts on Fridays. So usually I'll be sharing workwear that doesn't involve denim, it just happened that two weeks into blogging I had this fluke. Back to normalcy next week!

Trying on a Capsule Wardrobe

Last week, my sister-in-law Aleah and I were discussing shopping and my self-proclaimed mild shopping addiction, and she showed me this beautiful blog, Unfancy. After reading about Caroline's journey towards a simple, cohesive wardrobe, I was inspired. She created a system for capsule wardrobes that I decided ((full disclosure: Aleah totally convinced me)) that I would give capsule wardrobes a try for this season. Although I'm not totally convinced that this method will work for me, I don't want to continue filling my closet with great deals that gather dust in my closet. This post on shopping has given me great perspective about how to make my purchases (including thrift store scores!) more meaningful and this post really hit home with me about how I feel about so many things in my closet . This is her simple guide to capsule wardrobes, and while I didn't follow the rules exactly, I still found her method helpful.  This is the process I went through to get to my own 37 pieces ((full disclosure: more like 39. Or 40. I want to be flexible)) which, I will mention, that I did most of this process without looking at my clothing... So... I don't recommend that.

1. I wrote down  the items I wore all the time, both to work and otherwise. These are my go-to, wear all the time in every season pieces, like my black skinny jeans and button up blouses. If I had been at home during this process, I would have pulled them out of my closet and made a pile, but between 8 hours in the classroom and 3 hours of class every night... You get the picture.
2. I wrote down the items that I love, but don't necessarily wear frequently because I don't want something to happen to them (read: glue smears, marker dots, a 3 year old's boogers, salad dressing drips). Looking at my closet, I wrote down things like the beautiful blue silk blouse I've had for 2 years and have worn 4 times, the mauve button up I bought full-price because I couldn't wait to wear it. I added those to the list because I want to wear them. I realized that most of my wardrobe was bought from clearance racks and thrift store piles, and therefore didn't cost much. Almost all of my favorites are basics that are easily replaceable and therefore if something happens to it (read: a 4 year old is so excited to see me they don't wait to wash their hands after painting to give me a hug), I can always find a great deal on another similar piece. 
3. I filled in the blanks. I used Unfancy's guide to building a capsule, I rounded out my list and included some things I didn't think about immediately- like flats (I hadn't worn any since November until yesterday) and a blazer. 
4. I created a color palette. I think ideally this step should be coupled with the planning process, like before you shop or pull together your pieces- but being away from my closet I used this more as a check to make sure the colors I put together made sense. I used this tool, then shared my palette with Aleah. We compared our color selections and we nearly had the same palette- classic colors with soft accents. 
5. I actually looked in my closet. This step should probably come second, no? At this point I made my adjustments to my list- added slacks (I forgot to include workwear, that's why my list is 39 piece instead of the usual 37) and removed some sweaters (I forgot its Texas winter- its 80 degrees today). After I adjusted my list, I adjusted my closet. I moved my other items into storage, or made piles for giving away or selling ((full disclosure: this is still happening. Sorry for the mess, E!))

I found this whole process both exciting and exhausting- I made the mistake of starting building my wardrobe the same week my university semester began... Not recommended.

Although I've only been working within my capsule for a few days, I've had one insight: Having a capsule wardrobe gives you permission to wear what you love all the time. I'm no longer guilt-tripped every time I get dressed- I can wear my all-star piece every day! That alone might keep me using a capsule wardrobe. We'll see how the next two months go!

These are the majority of my pieces- a few of them are thrifted vintage pieces I can't find equivalents of online.