Minimalist Wardrobe

The average American woman owns a lot of clothes and only wears a fraction of them. Most people wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time- which means we have clothing in our closet that is simply not being worn and we should ask ourselves- WHY? Why are we holding on to it? Why are we not donating it, so someone else can use it?

Since becoming a minimalist several years ago, I’ve been working hard to create a capsule wardrobe. If you’re not familiar with that term, it is a wardrobe that centers around a few colors and pieces that ALL fit and make you feel great, and they all mix and match making it SO easy to get dressed. I feel like I’m almost there and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned in the process and what exactly I have in my wardrobe now.

One of my favorite authors on this topic is Courtney Carver, she created the famous Project 333 - if you’ve not heard of it, it is a minimalist clothing challenge that challenges you to wear 33 items of clothing for 3 months (or a season). You can read more about the challenge on Courtney’s page www.bemorewithless.com. This would normally frighten people - but it excited me!

There is nothing like a good challenge to motivate you to do something you’ve been wanting to do anyhow! Since becoming a professional organizer over 5 years ago, I have sorted my clothes over and over but still didn’t feel like I had anything to wear. I realized the problem was that a lot of the items I still owned did not fit my current lifestyle. I went from working in an office and being pregnant two years in a row to now being a professional organizer and stay-at-home mom. I had way too many fancy clothes for the type of life that I was living. So, I did another quick declutter of my closet pulling out the things I no longer need (maternity clothes, fancy clothes, and business clothes).

Next up, I wanted to get crazy and find a way to log all of my clothes on an app. I wanted to see exactly what I had so I could make packing lists, and outfits and just generally keep on top of my wardrobe from now on. That’s when I found the Your Closet App. It is SO Fun- you take pictures of all of your clothes and assign them to a category. From there, you can put them on the calendar to wear on certain dates, create different outfits and make packing lists. This is where I saved my Project 333 clothes. I made one list per season and just added the clothes to it (bonus! it keeps a tally of the # of items, so I knew if I was getting close to 33 or WAY over).

After a lot of hard work, I’m excited to share what I currently own. There is no magic number that works for everyone, this is just what feels right to me. You just keep paring down until you get that feeling of ENOUGH- and what enough is will be different for everyone. For me, everything I own fits and is something I will actually wear- gone are the aspirational clothes or the various sizes. I own just what works for me right now. It’s so freeing when everything in your closet is an option!

Bottoms: 4 pairs of jeans (black & blue), 1 pair of shorts, 1 jean skirt, 1 jogger, and 2 pairs of leggings

Tops: 2 button-down chambray shirts, 2 flannels, 2 sweaters (a pullover & a cardigan), 10 T-shirts (V-neck, various colors), 4 tank tops, 4 sweatshirts, 4 Dressy shirts

Jackets: I own 5 Jackets- Denim, Leather, Military Green, Plaid Shacket & Fleece

Outerwear: Raincoat, Black Puffer Jacket & a Black Vest

Athletic & Lounge: Yoga pants (4), Tank Tops (5), Sports Bras (4), Sneakers (1), 2 Sweatshirts for walking outside (Zip-up and Pullover). Pjs- I have a few pairs of leggings and tank tops that I sleep in

Swim: 3 Bathing Suits, 1 Romper, 1 Cover-up Shirt, 1 Cover-up Dress

Dresses: 1 Dressy (Black), 1 Maxi Dress & 6 Summer Dresses

Shoes: Snow Boots, 1 Ankle Boot, 2 Sneakers, 1 Flip Flop, 2 Sandals (I have no dressy shoes! they all hurt, so they all went- I would definitely need to go shopping if an event came up)

Bags: 1 Clutch, 1 large backpack-laptop bag, 1 small day backpack, 1 cross-body bag

And that’s it! - almost all of my clothes go together so it’s easy to pack for a trip and to get dressed on a daily basis. Shopping has become a breeze now too! I usually have an idea of what I need and since I stick to the same color palette (black, white, denim, pink, rust, grey, & olive), it’s easy to add something new to my wardrobe instead of just wandering around the store.

Clothing is one of the main reasons my clients reach out to me for help. I think it takes time to find your personal style and get your wardrobe to a place of just ENOUGH. Enough for you could be a walk-in closet full of your most favorite pieces to a small wardrobe of just black clothes, to anything in between.

The goal is always simplicity- is it easy to find what you want to wear? is your wardrobe easy to take care of? is getting dressed something that stresses you out, if so, it’s time to make a change!